Mizzou football: Why Saturday’s game at South Carolina is dangerous, even without Will Muschamp
The Missouri Tigers snapped a 3-year losing streak against South Carolina last season, routing the Gamecocks 34-14 at Faurot Field.
This year, they’ll be expected to make it 2 in a row against the team from the other Columbia, especially since the Gamecocks just fired coach Will Muschamp. OC Mike Bobo will be the interim coach as the Gamecocks search for a full-time replacement.
This should be an easy win, right? Well, in the words of the iconic Lee Corso — not so fast, my friend. The Tigers can’t be caught looking past the Gamecocks. If the Eli Drinkwitz era is really different from the Barry Odom era, this is a game Mizzou has to win.
Here are 3 reasons the Gamecocks won’t be a pushover Saturday night in South Carolina:
1. Potential re-energization of the Gamecocks
Teams that fire their head coaches often have a resurgence in the weeks immediately after. Heck, the Atlanta Falcons were 0-5 when they fired Dan Quinn this season. Since then, under interim Raheem Morris, they’ve won 3 of their 4 games. The Houston Texans fired Bill O’Brien after an 0-4 start. The very next week? Their first win of the year.
In the SEC, there hasn’t been a midseason firing since 2017. That year, Randy Shannon went 1-3 as Florida’s interim post-Jim McElwain. Brady Hoke went 0-2 at Tennessee as Butch Jones’ replacement.
But that doesn’t mean the Tigers can take it easy on Saturday night. Bobo has plenty of coaching experience (he led Colorado State to bowls in his first 3 seasons). And, now that he doesn’t have to answer to Muschamp, there’s a chance he could do something completely different with the offense. Will he stand by QB Collin Hill, who followed him to South Carolina from Colorado State? Or, will he turn to Ryan Hilinski or Luke Doty?
The Tigers will need to be ready for everything on Saturday night. Bobo will be eager to show he deserves to be a head coach again.
2. Mizzou’s long layoff
No, the Tigers won’t have to deal with star South Carolina CB Jaycee Horn, who opted out of the rest of the 2020 season after Muschamp was fired. But the Tigers also won’t have played for 3 weeks when they take the field Saturday night.
Yes, this team should be well-rested, but that doesn’t mean they’ll come out on fire. In fact, there’s a chance they could be rusty, especially with some COVID-19 related quarantining and contact tracing that has impacted the Tigers during recent practices.
Plus, the Tigers won’t have been in a live situation since Halloween. There’s only so much you can simulate in practice. The feel of an actual game is much different. This one will be in front of a limited crowd, too.
If the Tigers come out sluggish and dig themselves a hole early, it could be difficult to climb out. The Gamecocks are sure to be playing hard after last week’s disappointing loss and the firing of Muschamp.
3. Kevin Harris
The Gamecocks have a breakout star this season, and he does his work out of the backfield. His name is Kevin Harris, and the sophomore back has run for an SEC-best 817 yards this season. He also has 13 rushing touchdowns and 1 receiving score.
He was absolutely electric against Ole Miss on Saturday, running for 243 yards and a whopping 5 touchdowns. South Carolina didn’t win, but Harris was spectacular.
Bobo has been getting him the ball early and often this season. Harris has gone over the 100-yard mark in 4 of South Carolina’s 7 games.
Now, of course, here’s where I mention that Mizzou’s defense is much better than Ole Miss’s. Mizzou has the No. 5 run defense, giving up 131.2 yards per game. The Rebels, on the other hand, are giving up an average of 243.4 yards on the ground per game (ironically, the same number of yards Harris ran for). That’s the worst run defense in the SEC.
Still, Harris has shown he can run against tough defenses. LSU has the No. 6 run defense in the SEC, and Harris torched those Tigers for 126 yards and 2 scores.
DC Ryan Walters will need to have a strong plan in place to stop the Gamecocks’ biggest bright spot on offense.
History has shown that regardless of where the state of each of these programs stand, this is never an “easy win.”
Mizzou could win and USC could win. Neither will be a shocker.
I absolutely agree with ranger. No telling what’s going to happen on Saturday.
true and the series is 5-5, a couple years ago Missouri had it won and let it slip away in one of the great downpour rain game finishes of all time. All of the wins in this series came in pairs until two years ago when SC got the first 3-in-a-row win.
This is always a good game, and no matter the record, SC always plays Mizzou tough, with the all-time series tied up. Drink better not overlook the Gamecocks in the battle of Columbias
Yes, #1 concerns me. It’s always unsettling playing a team who just fired their coach. The 2008 Cotton Bowl worked out pretty good but I’m not sure that’s comparable. I would feel much better if Muschamp was coaching, not to be a dig on Muschamp but just the whole new focus, attitude and now Drink is going back to old CSU film to prepare for Bobo.
However, I still feel confident Mizzou is more talented and Drinkwitz has used this time to the fullest and will have the team ready. Now, lets just keep Covid away from cancelling it between now and then.
4. Mizzou is 0-2 on the road. Until further notice, I have yet to see Drink get this team over the hump on as a visitor. It takes total focus and execution to win on the road, and with or without Muschamp, this will not be easy.
Dropping Florida on the road is hard to hold against Drink, especially in year 1, and I wish we had another shot at TN even in Knoxville with Bazelak now starting. I would like our chances much better against the Vols now than back when we actually played them with Robinson.
I get what you’re saying about Florida, but Tennessee dominated us on both sides of the ball. Our run defense lost us that game. Don’t get me wrong, I love Coach Drinkwitz, but I want to see sharper execution on offense. More points on the road. Less dropped passes, more rhythm. When we play like that, our defense thrives. It charges our sidelines. This has been our recipe for wins at home, I want to see it travel. We have the scheme, we have the atheletes, but we need strong mental fortitude as well, to win on the road.
Any one who would look past USCe has no clue of the history this match up has provided. Always a tough out. Whoever wins will win by <7 points.
USCe has learned the same lesson we learned last year, hiring a defensive minded HC is a crap shoot. Well, except for Saban & Dabo…
Dumbo was a wr coach and recruiting coordinator he is not an xs and os guy.
Let’s just say he was very “Driven” to get the HC job there. Not many WR coaches could pull that one off. Dumb is not what I would use to describe him though, I’d say more of a political job assassin. CANT tell me different and I don’t care what comes out of his mouth…I think he wants the Bama job wham Saban leaves.
*when
well the chances of a SC victory got quite a bit slimmer the last few days losing both top CB’s now.
I hope you’re right but if the Mizzou wideouts drop key passes it won’t matter who is playing cb.
Isn’t Mizzou coming to town with only 56 scholarship players available? That might outweigh two CBs.
I like Kevin Harris. He is tough runner with some giddyup
Also why are Missouri articles in yellow?
Guessing yellow is as close as they can get to gold.
I really don’t know what will happen. We’ve had injuries and opt outs that also pull on the team. I hope it’s a good game either way.