Ready, Set, Recruit

The Gamecocks arrived back in Columbia, SC early Sunday morning after licking their wounds from a hard fought game against the Tigers of Missouri, dropping to 0-2 in conference play and 2-2 overall. Carolina had -9 rushing yards on 22 attempts and 14 penalties for 98 yards; that kind of performance is not going to win you very many football games against a power 4 opponent, let alone any football game. Shane Beamer said as much in his post game presser, essentially saying everyone needs to get better on offense and defense to win these games. Fans may hear those words from the head coach and roll their eyes, hearing the same coach speak after every disappointing loss gets a bit tiring when things don’t seem to turn around the following week.

Coming into week 5 against a flailing Kentucky team at 2-2 was not what most around the country envisioned the Gamecocks record being, but its the unfortunate reality of being outcoached and out executed. With Kentucky visiting Williams-Brice this Saturday, you cannot overlook their ability to win this game. So far, SC has looked mediocre at best on offense against a terrible Virginia Tech team, struggled to get going against FCS opponent SC State, got blown out by Vandy at home under the ligts (yes, I know Sellers was out most of the game), and could not execute when it counted most against Missouri. Kentucky may not be the best team in the SEC, but they have kept it close with a ranked Ole Miss team a few weeks ago, and can certainly do that against the Gamecocks too.

Overall, South Carolina’s offense looked surprisingly alive, like I had predicted in my pregame preview. What I did not expect was for the gamecocks to commit 14 penalties and have -9 rushing yards. We could play what-ifs all day, but the truth is these penalties killed drives. You can replay almost any drive in Saturday’s game and find an instance a drive was stalled from someone holding or from an egregious false start.

There is plenty to point out about when you take a quick look at the box score. First and foremost you will probably never win a game if you have negative rushing yards and give up nearly 300 yards on the ground. The main focus of my pregame analysis was to stop the run at all costs, this running back is probably the best in the country. Dominating on the ground like Mizzou did also sets up play action quite nicely, which was mostly effective against the SCAR defense, except for Kilgore’s great read to pick off Pribula. It looked like there was a lack of effort on the defensive side of the ball, missing who knows how many tackles, leading to huge gains for MIzzou’s offense.

Lanorris Sellers did look great on Saturday night, throwing for 302 yards, 2 TDs and no picks. Sellers was the entire offense for the Gamecocks, throwing players open and keeping plays alive when they should have been dead. Sellers did a great job in the play action and RPO game despite the lack of run game success.

The star QB did however make some questionable decisions that did hurt the offense. As Coach Beamer alluded to in the press conference, Sellers held on to the ball too long trying to force a play on the goal line instead of throwing it away, which spiraled into a costly penalty and most certainly cost the Gamecocks a touchdown on that drive, changing the complexion of the game.

The play calling was much better this week, using Sellers’ skillset to their advantage for what seems like the first time since the opening drive of the season against Virginia Tech. However, giving up on the run so quickly hurt this team, and like I have already emphasized negative rushing yards is how you lose a football game. Despite the improved play calling this week, Carolina somehow did not score any points in the 4th quarter, which is inexcusable.

Panic Time?

Do I think its time to panic in Columbia? Short answer is no. The Gamecocks started in a similar fashion last season with a 3-3 record after a close loss to Alabama in Tuscaloosa and turned around and ran the table. If this team can do the same as last years team is yet to be determined, but I do trust in Shane Beamer, he’s given me all the reason to believe.

The issues the team faces are very fixable, and are all self-inflicted. I assume after last week’s embarrassing performance the team sees this upcoming game as an opportunity to right the ship and show the can hang with their SEC peers. The Gamecocks have made marginal improvements each game this season (with disregards to the Vandy game) and I expect them to come prepared to this game.

Check back in Friday for my prediction for the Kentucky – South Carolina game.