With wins in the last 2 games, and an improved effort on defense, South Carolina coach Will Muschamp was asked what’s changed about the base defense and when he decided to move from a base nickel alignment, to a 4-3 look.

The Gamecocks showed considerable improvement against Kentucky after the Missouri loss when they yielded 194 rushing yards. Against UK, they gave up just 115, and dropped the number of plays from 87 to 62. Against Georgia and facing 95 plays, South Carolina gave up 173 yards. They also held Georgia to 9-of-18 on third down conversions.

Muschamp said Tuesday at his regular press conference that he made the call sitting alone in the locker room at Missouri, “figuring out what we needed to do to get better.”

“That was just in my mind, knowing that (LB) Sherrod Greene has played better than the other guys we were putting in the game at the time and we needed to adapt some things defensively and make some adjustments, this is what we’re doing,” Muschamp said, and agreed that it’s allowed the defense to play faster. “We have narrowed some things down and it’s helped us play faster. We identified what our players are most comfortable playing. We took player feedback, as well. If you start thinking too much on defense, you’ll get burned.”