Some quick, barely researched, not fully-formed thoughts from South Carolina’s 31-13 victory over Missouri.
Expectation Management? Nah, we’re good. Two weeks into the season, South Carolina football is 2-0. If you’re being honest, on September 1 I think the vast majority of you would’ve signed up for (and not been terribly upset with) a 1-1 record after two games. The thought of this Gamecock team beating an on-the-rise, senior-laden North Carolina State team at a neutral site, followed by an SEC road win over a high-powered Missouri team, seemed like it might be a bit of a stretch.
But now, admit it, you’re peeking down the schedule a little bit, aren’t you? The next two games at home are definitely winnable. Then you have a tattered and torn Texas A&M squad, followed by an Arkansas team that is searching for its identity. At Tennessee will be a tough one, as will a home date against what appears to be a good, veteran Vandy squad.
What am I suggesting? I’m suggesting that if things go to form our game in Athens on November 4 could be worth a lot more than lower-tier bowl jockeying. I know, some of you out there right now are thinking “HEY MAN WE NEED TO TAKE IT ONE GAME AT A TIME”. And my reply to that is no, as fans, we don’t. We can look ahead and speculate and talk about match-ups as far down the road as we want. Nothing we say or write as fans is going to impact what happens this week against Kentucky one bit. Now Will Muschamp, HE needs to take it one game at a time, as do all his coaches and players.
We haven’t had a tremendous amount of fun or success as a program the last three years. I personally think we deserve this limited success we’re having right now. And we deserve to think ahead and hope and dream about what this team might be able to do down the road. I realize we’re still in rebuilding mode, with a coach who has been on the job for all of 15 games. But because we somehow still reside in a stinky division where a handful of traditional powers can’t seem to get their act together, we have a shot.
We’re 2-0, have fun and dream big Gamecock fans.
Momentum. Momentum is not a tangible thing. It can’t be measured. But you know it when you see it, and when Drew Lock hit Jason Reese for a 61-yard touchdown to give the Tigers a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter, you knew they had momentum on their side.
You also saw South Carolina reverse that momentum in the span of three plays and 30 seconds of game time. First, Deebo Samuel returned his second kickoff for touchdown in two weeks. Then, freshman Jamyest Williams intercepted his first career pass on the first play of Missouri’s next possession. The very next play Samuel took an end around 25 yards for a 14-10 lead. In all the Gamecocks would outscore the Tigers 31-3 after that early deficit.
Three plays, 30 seconds, 14 points. Momentum.
Lucky 13. Very few people predicted anything short of a shootout Saturday. Most score predictions I saw had both teams in the 30s or 40s, which seemed very reasonable considering Missouri’s explosive offense and porous defense. Even though we lost the yardage battle for the second week in a row, we were able to hold the Tigers to an astounding three points over the last 43 minutes of game time. That’s a real testament to the job T-Rob is doing with this defense.
Lock’d Up. Let’s not get caught up in Drew Lock’s non-SEC numbers any more, shall we?
Mr. Roper. Kurt Roper may have had his best game calling plays for South Carolina on Saturday night. He was patient and stuck with the run game even though it was getting stuffed early. We also saw more creativity and formations out of the run game as well. After this week I believe more than ever that Roper has a long-term plan for this offense, and it’s evolving nicely. (Yes, even the jet sweep to Hayden Hurst.)
Here’s an excellent breakdown by Ben Breiner from The State of some of the offensive play calling.
Wild thing. Jake Bentley seems to come out throwing a little wild early in games. He did it again Saturday and missed two touchdown opportunities on the first drive. Maybe before the first drive of the game the coaches should tell him it’s the second quarter already.
Identity crisis. Javon Kinlaw made his presence known Saturday night with two batted passes and one blocked kick. Unfortunately for him he was continually identified as Dante Sawyer. I’m not sure the announcers ever mentioned Kinlaw by name at all. After Kinlaw’s first pass break up, the announcers even told a story about Sawyer and how he played at East Mississippi Junior College of Last Chance U fame, all the while with the camera trained on Kinlaw.
Keep doing your thing big man, we see you.
New number 1? Someone asked after Ty’Son Williams’ breakout performance against Missouri if he would be the new number one tailback. At this point I believe the answer is no, unless Rico Dowdle is banged up. Dowdle has earned his stripes, and while it’s been tough sledding for him so far this year it’s hard to see him being displaced at the first running back to see the field. I do believe we will see the carries split between the two, which will be a good thing, and AJ Turner spelling them on third downs.
Jam, oh jammmmm. As mentioned above, Jam Williams picked up his first pass interception. Which is a good reason to post this masterpiece by @kevroshay:
Go Cocks, whip Kentucky.
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