3 takeaways from South Carolina's narrow home win over Mizzou
South Carolina has been getting a lot of buzz lately, and it is well earned. But the Gamecocks faced a tough task on Saturday evening against a Mizzou team that was eager to make a point.
This game didn’t disappoint, as both teams fought hard and there were several lead changes. South Carolina jumped out to a lead. Mizzou fought back. Then Mizzou took a lead late on a TD pass to Luther Burden III.
But the Gamecocks didn’t go away, driving down the field to score a touchdown with 15 seconds left on a dump-off pass to RB Rocket Sanders.
The Gamecocks held on for a 34-30 win. Here are our 3 takeaways from the big victory:
1. LaNorris Sellers has become a top-tier SEC QB
Earlier this season, it seemed like Sellers would put the ball on the ground for no reason at all and make some questionable (at best) throws. Now, he’s taking better care of the football, and it’s no surprise that’s coincided with South Carolina’s improvement.
He threw for 351 yards and 5 touchdowns (with only 1 interception and no lost fumbles) in this big-time win for the Gamecocks.
While other top QBs like Carson Beck and Garrett Nussmeier struggle, LaNorris Sellers is steadily improving as the year goes on and that’s a scary sight for SEC teams who have to face the Gamecocks next season.
2. Mizzou simply has to get Luther Burden III the ball more
Yes, teams are scheming to stop the star receiver. But teams at all levels of football try to slow down the other team’s top player. OC Kirby Moore simply has to get the ball to him on better plays.
Heck, just look at what happened on the Tigers’ last scoring drive of the game:
Luther Burden TD in the clutch on 4th down! Slot fade. Special player pic.twitter.com/Q18j3Dfl8g
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) November 17, 2024
That’s an insane catch. It would be nice to see that more often. Burden had a team-high 8 catches, but outside of that TD, he didn’t have many yards.
That’s on Moore and Eli Drinkwitz to scheme up more ways to put LB3 in position to make big plays.
3. Is South Carolina still alive for the Playoff?
There was a lot of buzz about the Gamecocks still having a chance at making the Playoff even with 3 losses entering this week. While it was far from a convincing win, it was a victory over a ranked Missouri squad.
Look, they’re going to need some help. A win over Wofford next weekend won’t move the needle at all.
But in the final week of the regular season, they get to face a ranked Clemson team on the road. That would be a huge win.
Some other top teams will need to lose, but South Carolina has to be considered a dark-horse CFP threat at this point. We’ve seen chaos in the college football ranks before.
Crazy game. Congrats to the Cocks on the win.
This game probably took 2 decades off my life.
The so called ‘greatest defense in the SEC’ seemed to be pretty pedestrian against a patchwork mizzou O-line.
Still a win is a win and Sellers is looking more like Cam Newton every game.
^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^
Lol. A relative of mine was at the game and texted me the same thing you said…
Well we tried to give this game away, tried a little too good evidently.
Bless your heart and thanks for the GIFT. I don’t know you guys were giving games away. I guess we won the Missouri lottery! Lucky us.
Way to go COCKS! Hard fought game!
Yup, you’re welcome.
(EYE ROLL)
“Give it away” lol you trailed for 90% of the game. Flip the narrative, chief.
He’s not exactly wrong. Our offense gave away the first half. Second half was great, but defense gave up that last drive. Game was lost in the first half though.
That’s rich. I guess the definition of “gifting” is an offense running down the Mizzou defense’s throat on that last drive? I call that finally succumbing to your opponent. Don’t believe me? Watch the last play. Watch the misery on the Mizzou sideline with all the heads hanging down. They knew they got beat. That’s a hard pill to swallow and it hurst. Especially when Sanders drug more than 1/3 of your defense with him. But again, whatever helps you sleep at night.
Cocks are an easy Top 10 team
Definitely Top 20 I’d say, but a Top 10 team at home doesn’t need to score on the last play of the game to beat Mizzou.
I disagree with top ten, but high teens is plausible given that a Louisville team was ranked above three SEC teams for beating Clemson, yours included.
You should post a lot less. Mizzou played really well against a hot team at home. Go back under your bed chicken little.
LOL.
Mizzou played just well enough to give the game away, obviously.
Not yet, but congrats on their progress
They are playing as well as anyone right now, but I don’t see them making the playoffs. You can’t ignore the 3 losses.
Robbed with the LSU loss. Two or three weeks into the season and Vegas didn’t want USC to win. They beat Bama in Tuscaloosa with a long range field goal. Cocks lost to Ole Miss fair and square, even though that game had a weird vibe to it.
You can analyze anything away, but they still have 3 losses. I think they would be a very difficult out in the playoffs, but you just shouldn’t have 3 losses. They still have to beat Clemson, though I think they have a good chance of getting the win.
3 Losses plus lucky to win this one. That’s not a playoff team. SC is just like a slew of other non-playoff teams, they’ve had a decent year.
Went from witnessing one of the greatest plays in Mizzou history to watching the defense let the cocks walk into the end zone. Yes, our defense let SC walk into the endzone that last drive. But our offense was garbage the entire first half. We lost that game in the first half. Not on the last drive. Congrats to the cocks on a great win. I’ve become a fan of Beamer and glad he’s found a way to turn this program around.
Rocket Sanders did the “walking”. I don’t think many running backs can do what he does when he is healthy. Drink outcoached Beamer again but the Cocks had enough playmakers to get the win. Brady Cook, Burden, Wease Jr., Noel, and Lacy gave me gray hair in the second half. Good luck the rest of the season.
Likewise, that was an incredible football game. Hope you guys find a way into the playoff. Rocket is a monster, not many can do what he does.
I wouldn’t say Drink outcoached Beamer at all. South Carolina is a good team. Mizzou has been overrated. After this game, both should be ranked about where they have deserved.
I think Drink is a play schemer and is excellent. He can confuse a defense easily. Beamer managed the first half excellently racking up 21 points. Without that going into the half, I’d say we would have stood a good chance of losing. First game I was really impressed with Game management that was very much on display.
BeamerBawl 2.0! Go Cocks!
If Drink did not have a few super athletes he wouldn’t win with his thin resume’, all good coaches have to survive their fast learning early years. Drink would be well advised to attend every coaching seminar he can find
Thank you for the comment. Cook has some grit and Burden is a playmaker! You are fortunate to have them.
We should’ve pulled this one out but y’all found a way, rooting for you the rest of the way.
Cook is not well, Missouri has a lot of momentum with their #2, should have started him and ran his best playbook, then brought Cook in to finish if needed.
Maybe, but we will not know. My concern was that Cook would be injured further if played.
The fundamentals are missing from both O and D.
Coaching
First half, yes. Second half, both sides did as good as they could have. I won’t hold the defense responsible for that loss. I’ll hold the first-half offense responsible. People blame Cook when they should be blaming Kirby Moore. He’s a shell of his 2023 self.
In consistent play comes from inconsistent coaching
Yes, we need to get the ball to Burden and Wease more. It’s embarrassing how we’re so scared to give the ball to our best players. Our offensive play calling has been horrible this year. We have the most talented slot receiver in the country and hardly give him the ball.
Congrats Cocky. South Carolina is the most fun team to watch in the SEC.
This was closer than I thought it’d be. Mizzou scored more than I thought they would. South Carolina scored about as many as I thought they would. South Carolina is a good team.
Congrats, Cocks. I missed the game, but it looks like Mizzou put up a better fight than I expected.
Brady Cook played as the QB1 all game. He makes a huge difference. There were a few other Mizzou playmakers in today that I didn’t think would play. Based on the betting line, I don’t think Vegas thought those guys would play either.
I agree. The SEC injury report definitely can be played. Doubtful is 25% probability. What we played was not a 25% probability.
Shout out to all my Carolina coaching peers from my days out there
Beamer staff is ahead of the Drinkwitz staff, Drink’s coming up fast.
Awful homer officials
Electronic home field advantages need to be limited
Great to see a contest where the last team to score wins. Prayers that all athletes heal up fast, but even more prayers that they apply the golden rule to their physical cheap shots. Terrible cheap play from some individuals.
Congratulations to all those men who played well tonight winning team or losing team.
Wolfman, who are you? Former coach? You don’t comment like it.
Trueson, After playing in a modest college program, I started coaching in the Division II, then took an asst’s job in the Divison I, then took an athletic director / head coach job after that and retired with a small business to keep me busy. Was active in the professional coaches association all my career. I promise you, almost no coaches fit into a mold everyday fans would agree on. This exchange of fan think is really entertaining to me. All kinds of people play AND WATCH college nall. It’s really entertaining to see the ideas here and I promise you I don’t write this in any kind of a negative spirit. I hope you keep writing and enjoying the comments here, it’s really a study in why folks love athletic endeavors
Thanks for giving the background. Helps me see your comments through a different lens.
What a wild game! Great victory for South Carolina.
Take Away 1. Drew Pyne is the better QB and should have started this game. He’s 1-0 as a starter vs SEC competition.
Take Away 2. NAIA Brady Cook is 2-3 as a starter vs SEC competition.
Take Away 3. NAIA Brady is toxic. He’s Missouri’s worst QB in 56 years. He’s a curse that’s finally going away after he loses the last two conference games against Mississippi and Arkansas.
Delusional. Uneducated. Brady played his ass off. Without him Mizzou gets shellacked.
Not sure who is more wasted talent, Luther Burden, or Travis Hunter
Without a doubt Luther. At least Colorado lets Travis take a game over. Mizzou hasn’t given Luther the ball since mid 2023 lol
Incredible disappointment.
Way to go Cocks. You didn’t fold and sealed the deal. Best to you all. Hope we both finish 10-3 after the bowl games
Do coaches get fined for lying on the injury report? No way Cook was doubtful this week. That definitely made the line ridiculously high. I was thinking Carolina – 3.5, when I saw -12.5 I figured he was out for sure.