Kentucky Blues. On October 7, 2000, South Carolina eked out a 20-17 win over Kentucky in Lexington. That began a run of ten straight and 13 out of 14 victories over the Wildcats for USC. (Strangely, the only loss was during the Gamecocks’ SEC East title season in 2010.) Some years during that run the Gamecocks were a little bit better than Kentucky, and some years they were a LOT better than Kentucky. But there was no question during the Holtz and Spurrier years that South Carolina was a better PROGRAM than Kentucky. Better players, better teams, better recruiting, pretty much better everything.

And that’s the way it should be, right? The universe decided long ago Kentucky was going to be elite at basketball, and football would forever be relegated to being a second-rate opponent worthy of scheduling for homecoming. As USC fans, we decided Kentucky should be a dub roughly 13 out of every 14 years for all eternity.

But in 2013 UK turned their program over to Mark Stoops, an uninspired hire that felt like they were simply scraping the bottom of the Stoops brothers barrel hoping for a little magic. As it turns out – while they haven’t exactly built a title contender up in Lexington – Stoops continues to field teams that are a royal pain the butt for USC. How much of a pain in the butt? After Saturday’s 16-10 loss to UK, Carolina has now dropped seven of its last eight to the ‘Cats.

There was a lot of excitement and anticipation going into Saturday night, and rightfully so. Hope springs eternal, and the fightin’ Shane Beamers had given us no reason to NOT expect an early statement victory over a middling SEC team.

Alas, it turns out middling SEC teams play pretty good football, especially against teams coming off a 2-6 season with a new head coach and a ton of unproven players on both sides of the football. The Wildcats had hosses along both lines of scrimmage, playmakers on the edge, and a bulldozer disguised as a running back. Even when they tried to give us the game, we couldn’t take it from them.

As much as it pains me to say, at this point in time Kentucky has a better football program than we do. And until we start beating them again, we should stop looking down our noses like we’ve beaten them 13 out of the last 14.

Scatterfield. What happens when you can’t pass, catch, run or score? You become statistically the worst offensive team in the SEC. (I’m currently not counting Vanderbilt as a team in the SEC for obvious reasons.) Take away the opening game victory over Region 4-AAAA Eastern Illinois (or was it Eastern Iowa? Or Eastern Indiana?) and the Gamecocks are averaging a measley two touchdowns per game.

I don’t have to tell you savvy readers, but scoring two TDs per game in this day and age is pretty…hmmm, what’s the word here…oh yeah, pathetic. I know, I know, one game was against Georgia, a team that basically has an NFL defense. And one was against Kentucky, which has, um, potentially an NFL player or two. And one game was against East Caroli…ok I quit. Pathetic was the right word.

So what’s the problem? Well, a lot of it is players who can’t make plays either because they’re simply not good enough or because they’re hurt (more on that later). A much more frightening possibiity is that Marcus Satterfield simply isn’t very good at his job. Based on some interactions this weekend a few of you have aleady come to that conclusion. I’m not there yet, and probably won’t get there soon based on the fact nobody would be a good offensive coordinator with that offensive line, a hobbled QB, running backs who aren’t living up to their billing, and for some reason a couple of our receivers are playing with oven mitts on their hands.

Of course there’s this to make you feel better:

Juju McDowell calls Marcus Satterfield an “offensive mastermind” and that their playbook is constantly changing. “We have a gameplan each and every week and we adapt to it."

— Mike Uva (@Mike_Uva) September 28, 2021

MASTERMIND!!!

Wounded Walking. Something I have to continue to remind myself is how playing with and/or recovering from injuries can impact a player. I’ve been disappointed we haven’t seen the explosive MarShawn Lloyd this season that we were all expecting. But even when cleared to play, players coming back from an ACL, particularly running backs, often aren’t the same for two years.

Everyone keeps saying Kevin Harris doesn’t look the same, and he doesn’t. Twice on Saturday night he was stonewalled by a guy his size or smaller that he would have steamrolled last season. He had a mysterious back procedure in the preseason that must have been worse than we’ve been told.

And then there’s the case of Luke Doty. There was fear that Doty had broken his foot in preseason practice, but then we were told it was a sprain and he would be back early in the season. But now it turns out…his foot was broken!

Context: https://t.co/0UDe0xco8y pic.twitter.com/wNAn3gT5Ew

— BrentH (@HJhughes79) September 28, 2021

Last year Luke was more of a “reckless abandon” kind of guy, but he’s obviously not running well and is ducking out of bounds as soon as possible when he does run. Now we know why.

So when three of your top weapons are not close to 100%, that’s a pretty big contributor to why your offense might not be clicking.

Scatterfield Part Deux. Marcus Satterfield last week said you can’t get a running back in a good rhythm when he has to share the field with three other guys, and he promised to scale back the running back rotation. The casualties were ZaQuandre White, who got zero carries and I think zero snaps at running back, and Lloyd, who got one snap and one carry if my eyes didn’t deceive me.

The biggest surprise of the season continues to be Juju McDowell, who doesn’t really care who he has to compete with for playing time, he just makes plays.

Those types of dudes we need, you know.

To go or not to go. So real quick – down 13-7 in the fourth quarter, you have fourth and medium or you can kick a 40-something-yard field goal to cut the lead to 13-10. You go for it, you don’t make it, Kentucky drives down and kicks a field goal to make it a two score game with four minutes and change left to essentially seal the game.

So for me, and I’m not saying I’m 100% right, I’m kicking the field goal. You extend the game and put pressure on Kentucky to play perfect football. Not making that fourth down conversion was also demoralizing, as was Chris Rodriguez picking up eight yards per carry on the way to that game clinching field goal for the Wildcats.

“But we had the right call on fourth down and the ball hit him right in the chest.” Right, and he dropped it. If you go for it, you have to be sure you have the players who can execute and ensure you get a first down. When you don’t have playmakers (and for the most part we don’t) that’s the risk you take.

“But we still lost by six so that field goal wouldn’t have mattered any way.” You can’t assume the game would’ve played out exactly the same way, because it wouldn’t have. Maybe Kentucky fumbles the ensuing kickoff and we recover. Maybe Kentucky returns the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. Maybe, maybe, maybe. You have to make the decision in the moment, and we made the wrong decision.

Wait, did I just say I was 100% right? Oops!

What’s next. A 3:30 pm game against a Troy Trojans team we should whip soundly…hopefully. And hopefully we’ll find some offensive weapons we can depend on.

So let’s just kick their butts and get ready for Tennessee shall we?

Go Cocks.

Dog days. On October 12, 2019, the South Carolina football team went into Athens and pulled off one of more improbable upsets over Georgia in the history of our rivalry, 20-17. At that moment in time there was a feeling of, “hey, maybe Muschamp has figured this thing out”. Indeed he did not have it figured out, as the fortunes of both schools have gone in drastically different directions since that day.

South Carolina would win three more games under Will Muschamp against 13 losses until he was fired at the end of the 2020 season. Included in those 13 losses was a glorified scrimmage against Georgia last year that illustrated just how far USC had fallen behind the Bulldogs. The talent disparity was borderline embarrassing and the lack of effort from USC signaled the end of a bleak era.

Going into last night’s game USC was a 32-point underdog, which I think (but never confirmed) was the largest point spread the Gamecocks have faced since joining the SEC in 1992. Throughout the game the talent gap was on full display, as Georgia’s defensive line pushed us around, and their offense easily converted third downs and got behind our defensive backs for long scores multiple times.

But despite the 27-point loss, there was something different about last night. There was hope. Not the kind of hope that kills you, but the kind of hope that breeds more hope. The Gamecocks fought hard against what is most likely the best team in the country at the moment, and while we didn’t land nearly enough punches, we were able to land a few.

Are we anywhere close to the level of Georgia right now? No, not really. But we’re closer than we were a year ago in both attitude and talent. This is a year for Shane Beamer to build momentum and gain ground on not just Georgia, but all of the teams ahead of us.

Last night was a glimpse of just how far we have to go.

Cool hand. Zeb Noland has done an admirable job and has been a good story for us the first two weeks of the season. But after having his hand stepped on in the first series last night, we were able to get our first look at Luke Doty in 2021.

Doty is still a little raw, but it was quite obvious to these untrained eyes that he has a skill set that no one else on our roster can match. He obviously can move around inside and outside the pocket, which adds another dimension to our offense. I was also impressed by his arm strength, which is something I don’t recall from his limited action last year.

Regardless, it’s obvious he is our QB1 and will be for the foreseeable future. I’m looking forward to watching him break out over the next few weeks.

Unmarked Vann Again. Josh Vann continued to cement himself as our number one receiving threat with three catches for 128 yards and a touchdown. He had another acrobatic 40-ish yard catch called back when the replay officials said the ball touched the ground, which it clearly DID NOT…maybe.

BROOKSIE. Jalen Brooks made what might turn out to be the catch of the year. Brooks has potential to be a solid number two receiver, but he has to start making the easy catches along with the hard ones.

Boneheaded. On one of Vann’s catches he immediately jumped up and mugged over the Georgia defender, drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty. Now look, you can get mad at the stupid rule, and you can get mad at the stupid SEC official for throwing the stupid flag. But eventually our guys have to realize they’re putting the team in a hole with these types of antics, and we’re not nearly good enough to be able to absorb those types of penalties. Shane Beamer expressed frustration with it as well after the game, saying he’s had to talk to the team about it after each game this year. Clean it up fellas.

Boneheaded Part II. With about half a minute left in the second quarter USC stopped Georgia on third down just on our side of the field. Not wanting to concede the half, Shane Beamer called a timeout. I liked it! Who knows what could happen – bad snap, blocked kick, long punt return – give it a shot I say!

What happened next is Georgia punter Jake Camarda pinned the Gamecocks down at the one-yard line with 32 seconds left in the half. The choice to me was clear – run a QB sneak once, let the clock run out and we get the ball to start the second half down by two scores and feeling pretty good.

Instead, we ran play action against a defensive line that had been destroying us all half. Doty dropped NINE YARDS DEEP in the end zone, and was swarmed and sacked for a safety. We then kicked to Georgia, who hit a couple of long passes and added a field goal as the half expired. Five crucial points that took the air out of a team that was still in the game, only two scores down.

I know it’s taboo to criticize Shane so early after he’s done so much so well, but this was a boneheaded decision. What exactly were we going to accomplish from 99 yards away in 32 seconds? Against THAT defense? Some of the arguments I heard in favor were:

• “We need to be aggressive, unlike Muschamp!” – Muschamp lacked aggressiveness when we had the ball in plus territory with 30 seconds and three timeouts left. This was not the same. The situation matters. Also, for the second week in a row, quit bringing up Muschamp.
• “The o-line was playing so poorly the QB sneak was just as much of a risk.” – Please, please stop.
• “We weren’t going to win anyway, take a shot!” – I’m certain our coaches were not thinking this, even if some of the more pessimistic fans were.

Look, this is of course forgivable, but it’s about risk/reward. Beamer took the blame for it after the game, and hopefully it will be a lesson learned. I like being aggressive, but again, the situation matters.

What’s next. The Kentucky Wildcats come to Williams-Brice next Saturday in a game I think our fan base is all of the sudden pretty confident about. UK struggled mightily against UT-Chattanooga yesterday, but they were impressive at times in their first two games, including a win over Missouri.

We’re still young, and a win over the Wildcats would go a long way confidence-wise. But this will be a tough, tough game, as it pretty much is every year. My gut tells me this entire year will be filled with inconsistent play, some really good, some really bad.

Which will we see next week? Heck if I know, check back for Snap Judgments next Sunday…

Go Cocks.

A win’s a win. South Carolina took a right cross to the jaw at the opening bell yesterday, giving up a 75-yard touchdown on the first offensive play of the game to East Carolina. Then they took jabs and body blows for rest of the first half with penalties, missed assignments, turnovers and generally bad play at the game of football that led to a 14-0 deficit with about a minute left in the first half. With ECU poised to add to the lead, Damani Staley took advantage of a fortuitous bounce off a botched screen play and raced 63 yards to cut the lead to 14-7 and change the complexion of the game. The second half was no thing of beauty, but a stout defense, some key plays from Josh Vann and Juju McDowell, and a clutch kick from Parker White helped the Gamecocks escape Greenville with a 20-17 victory and a 2-0 record.

This was an ugly win, something we’ve become used to as Gamecock fans no matter the coach or roster. The good news is Shane Beamer managed the game beautifully down the stretch to make White’s kick about as anticlimactic as a game-winning kick can be. Beamer is the first USC coach in four decades to go 2-0 in his first two games as head coach. The schedule gets exponentially harder next week with a trip to Athens, but after games against a really bad team and a moderately competent team, the message is…so far, so good?

They have the Big Mac, we have the Big Mic. I watched JuJu McDowell last December in the Georgia AAAAAA state championship game roll up almost 300 yards of total offense, and I thought “wow, he’s a good ball player but it will be a while before he sees the field at South Carolina.” It was a reasonable thought considering we were bringing back the SEC’s leading rusher in Kevin Harris, our highest rated running back recruit ever in MarShawn Lloyd, and a very capable backup in Zaquandre White.

But with the game on the line yesterday it was McDowell who was in the game, and he produced. On the final drive, he ripped off runs of 8, 15, 5 and 16 yards to put White well within his range to hit the game winner. Throw in a 63-yard kickoff return on the previous drive when the Gamecocks tied the game, and it looks like we have quite a freshman ballplayer on our hands.

Unmarked Vann. Last week I lamented our lack of a big play receiver on the team. Yesterday Josh Vann finally looked like he might live up to the considerable hype he had coming out of high school, hauling in five passes for 116 yards and almost a touchdown. But beyond the stats, I’m a big believer in body language on the football field, and for the first time Vann looked like he WANTED to be the man.

Is our defense…good? Well, who knows, but after two games the defense appears to be better than it has been in recent years. The defensive line is salty, and the cobbled together back seven are flying to the football and for the most part not giving up explosive plays. Clayton White isn’t afraid to blitz, which I LOVE, and has called a really good first two games.

Blind leading the blind. Yesterday’s officiating crew called about the worst game I can remember an SEC crew calling, and that’s saying a lot. The most egregious (non) call is when they failed to overturn a Dakereon Joyner fumble when his entire lower leg was on the gound before the ball was pulled out. There was an blatant false start on the ECU left tackle in the third quarter that wasn’t called, but in our favor Z White was moving towards the line of scrimmage on Zeb Noland’s touchdown throw to Dakareon Joyner. Those are the ones that stick out off the top of my head, but I know there were many, many more.

And for the record, the Vann fumble at the goal line and the Vann TD that were called back were both the right call. One Twitter follower disagreed on the TD saying he was “transferring” the ball, but when you look at it over and over, he was still gathering the ball, not transferring it. Anyway, we won, so don’t matter.

Zeb. Zeb’s numbers turned out OK – 13/24, 214, 1 TD, 1 INT – but man he looked lost at times in the first half. He settled in the second half and made some very nice throws. I think he gets the start at UGA next week, but I’m certain we’ll finally get our first look at Luke Doty at some point.

Where there’s a Will. People are still strangely obsessed with Will Muschamp. Last week after the win over Eastern Illinois, we saw tweets of “a Muschamp team would never put away a team like that.” And after the win yesterday, “Muschamp never won games like that”. First of all, as bad as Boom was, neither of those statments are true. We actually had some moments of positivity under Muschamp, even though they may be overshadowed by his face plants.

Second of all, let…it…go. This is Shane Beamer’s program now, let’s judge him based on his merits and not those of the bumbling defensive guru who preceeded him.

Go Cocks.