Protecting Bentley still an issue for Gamecocks

Although it came in a loss, the South Carolina football team did exit 2016 with its best offensive day of the season, at least against FBS foes. One problem still lingered going into the offseason.

Quarterback Jake Bentley keeps getting knocked down, really hard, in the backfield.

The freshman went down five times against South Florida in the bowl loss. That only ties for second most sacks in a game since he took the reins. In six games with Bentley, USC allowed 23 sacks.

That’s 4.6 a game against FBS opponents.

Against USF, the Gamecocks managed to survive the first two sacks, digging out of holes on the way to touchdowns. But the next one put USC behind the chains to start a drive, and Bentley threw a pick six a few plays later.

A sack late in the third forced South Carolina to settle for a field goal, and a missed block produced the game-ending sack a few plays later after a flag wiped out another.

Part of that is Bentley having a penchant to hold onto the ball and look to make plays, but a part also falls on the line, and even one of its leaders was at a loss for an explanation.

“I don’t know what happened on a couple of those sacks,” guard Cory Helms said. “I know I got beat on one play, towards the end of the game.”

In support

South Carolina linebacker Bryson Allen-Williams said his appreciation for South Carolina’s fans goes back far before he played his first down at Williams Brice.

A smaller cadre made the trip to Birmingham, but the junior said they had an impact as the Gamecocks rallied to force overtime, and he still considers them the best nationally.

“I’ve been saying that since South Carolina offered me,” Allen-Williams said. “Just watching the fans at Williams-Brice and watching how we travel to bowl games, travel to away games, we love the fan support.”

There were bad memories for Gamecocks fans at the Birmingham Bowl, going back to a cold, listless loss in 2010. The total crowd of 31,229 was small, split about evenly between Gamecocks and Bulls fans. The players expressed their appreciation.

“They traveled all the way to Alabama to come and watch us play,” tight end Hayden Hurst said. “We can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for us this year.”

Mission: Contain

At times against USF, South Carolina’s middle linebacker would start dropping back and keep dropping. He’d be 10, 15 yards downfield.

Why do this? Just another way to combat Bulls dynamic dual-threat QB Quinton Flowers.

“It was just a defense to try and confuse a running quarterback,” Allen-Williams said. “Just to try to spy him, have somebody deep in the middle of the field.”

Flowers did most of his damage early, with 267 of his 361 yards before halftime, and it seemed clear the Gamecocks were keying on keeping him in the pocket.

This cost them at several points as he got a long time in the pocket, then snuck out and managed to hit players on deeper routes after pump fakes. One notable example came late in the first half, when D’Erne Johnson snuck out of the backfield on a quick-hitting route, getting farther and farther downfield until he was open for a 37-yard score.

“Scrambling around, in the pocket, you’ve got to cover twice,” Allen-Williams said, referring to having to react to the quarterback moving and then getting back to recovers. “Somebody stepped up in the secondary, he just dumped it over the top.”

No moral victories

One could argue the Gamecocks left the Birmingham Bowl with some measure of momentum. They lost to USF, but showed fight, resolve, maybe some maturity in rallying back from down 18.

Helms doesn’t exactly see it that way.

“I don’t really believe in moral victories,” Helms said. “I think it will fuel the offseason, to let people know there’s a lot of work to do. We haven’t arrived yet.”

On to the future

Will Muschamp hammered home the message his program’s next step comes on the recruiting trail. He pointed to spots where more and better talent is key to upgrading the program.

But what’s the message to the players returning?

“We’ve got to focus on the little things,” Allen-Williams said. “That’s what coach Muschamp was just talking to us about. We’ve got to focus on the little things, and that’s starting when we get back in January. These feelings of the past two games, we’ve got to remember this, that’s got to motivate us.”

This story was originally published December 30, 2016 at 9:09 PM with the headline "Protecting Bentley still an issue for Gamecocks."