National writer believes South Carolina could enter October with losing record
By Keith Farner
Published:
One of the popular dark horse picks of the offense has been South Carolina, as the Gamecocks have exceeded expectations the last two seasons, and return several key pieces from a 9-4 team.
Recently, some have pumped the brakes on that talk, especially when it comes to the early showdown against Georgia. Yahoo’s Pat Forde recently ranked six teams that need to temper their expectations, and the Gamecocks made the list.
“The Dash believes it’s more likely that South Carolina is 3-2 or 2-3 leaving September — it won’t beat Georgia, it may be tripped up by dangerous Marshall in a hangover game the next week, and any belief that the Gamecocks can beat Kentucky on Sept. 29 is presumptuous after four straight losses in that series,” Forde wrote. “Florida is the more likely second-place team in the East.”
The other teams on Forde’s list to be careful of expectations are UCLA, Tennessee, Michigan State, Memphis and Boise State.
Some have pointed out that coach Will Muschamp had a similar start as Florida’s coach before stumbling to a 4-8 record in his third season.
Perhaps as a proactive step, Muschamp made changes to his offensive staff leading into and after the bowl game win over Michigan.
He promoted wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon to offensive coordinator, a move that’s largely received high marks. McClendon is expected to use a faster-paced attack that Kurt Roper.
Muschamp also hired noted quarterbacks coach Dan Werner, who helped run the Ole Miss offense from 2012-16 and spent last season as an analyst for Alabama coach Nick Saban.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
