South Carolina football: Gamecocks still aiming for consistency in uneven season
By Keith Farner
Published:
Consistently inconsistent is the best description of South Carolina’s football team.
The Gamecocks have yet to win two games in a row, but they haven’t lost two in a row, either. They have shown flashes where they could be mentioned among the best in the SEC — even discussed as a dark horse to win the SEC East — and there have been times when they appeared to have major problems solved, only to watch them resurface two weeks later.
As South Carolina prepares to travel to Ole Miss this week and begin a series of road games to close the season, they appear to have a running game, though the collective unit is better than any single part, such as a feature back.
When the rushing offense hits its stride, it goes for more than 200 yards and at least two touchdowns. It hit those marks against Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Coastal Carolina. But otherwise, it hasn’t even scored, and against Georgia and Texas A&M, it had less than 100 yards.
[table “” not found /]The good news is Ole Miss has the worst rushing defense in the SEC by more than 20 yards a game as the Rebels yield 217 yards per game. Florida, the next opponent, isn’t much better at 10th, though the Gators have given up only 8 TDs, compared to the Rebels’ 15. They most important stat, though, is South Carolina is 17-3 in its past 20 games when it rushes for at least 100 yards. It’s 4-1 this season with the loss to Kentucky.
Coach Will Muschamp has maintained that the offensive line has played well for much of the season, but the Tennessee game was the first time the running backs made defenders miss. He said on a Sunday evening media teleconference, posted by SportsTalkSC.com, that there is a mutual respect among the running backs, and they’re close friends off the field.
“However we run the ball, whatever we need to do,” Muschamp said. “I could care less if it’s one, or five.”
But as promising as the rushing attack looks, the secondary and pass defense is especially troubling. It is difficult to pinpoint the problem, if there is only one. The Gamecocks have had a host of injuries, but also benched a player in each of the past two games at halftime.
“We missed some things last night, just very disappointing, that we have practiced and gone over,” Muschamp said. “We are just not there. Injuries have been frustrating, but we need to be more productive at the position. We need to be more dependable in our communication. It’s been frustrating, but it is what is it is, it’s what we got, so we’ll go with it.”
What was especially glaring throughout the Tennessee game was the third-down conversions the Gamecocks gave up. They came into the game keeping opponents at a less than 30 percent conversion rate in every game but Georgia. Then Tennessee had a 68 percent clip converting on third down.
“When a (defensive lineman) makes a mistake, no one notices it,” Muschamp said. “When a safety makes a mistake, everyone should notice it, and we had a few last night that everybody should have noticed. We just didn’t get hit on it.”
With the Dec. 1 game still up in the air, at least in terms of an opponent, from Southern Miss, Marshall, Appalachian State, or even Central Florida, there is a lot to be said for getting to 7 wins, as opposed to 6. The Gamecocks are 4-3, with Ole Miss, Florida, Chattanooga and Clemson remaining, with only the Chattanooga and Dec. 1 games at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The difference is warmer weather and more appealing bowl destinations like Tampa, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Nashville, or even Memphis, as opposed to Shreveport or Birmingham. Better destinations also cause fewer problems with holiday conflicts.
In the mean time, though, the Gamecocks are looking to do something they haven’t yet all season: Win two in a row, and have two straight strong efforts in at least one area of the team.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
