Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down: USC vs. Wofford

Thumbs Up

Jake Bentley: South Carolina’s sophomore passer didn’t get a ton of chances, but he made the most of them. He went 22-for-28 for 194 yards and crossed the goal line twice as a runner.

The ground game: Bentley got the touchdowns, but USC had a group effort. A.J. Turner had 69 yards on 11 carries. Ty’Son Williams bounced back with 58 on eight carries. Even reserve Caleb Kinlaw got going late, with 47, 27 on one carry.

The run defense: USC gave up a couple of big runs and was driven on a couple times, but the final numbers were nothing to be mad about. Allowing 155 yards on 3.8 yards per carry is a solid day against an option team.

Finishing things: Early in the second half, the Terriers made things interesting, cutting the Gamecocks’ lead to 14-10. The Gamecocks responded with 17 points on the next three drives to salt things away.

Thumbs Down

The pace: Wofford’s goal is to keep the game at a glacial pace, and South Carolina didn’t do much to speed things up. South Carolina had eight true possessions, while Wofford had seven.

Tackling in spots: Even as the Gamecocks generally kept the Terriers under wraps, they didn’t do the best job of getting them off the field. The Terriers’ two scoring drives went more than 75 yards, and they converted 4 of 9 third downs.

Early pass protection: Things got better as the game went on, but Bentley was sacked twice in the early going and had to escape free rushers several other times.

Drops: It seems odd to say, considering Bentley finished with only six incompletions, but a handful of those were drops, often of wide open passes.

Ben Breiner

This story was originally published November 18, 2017 at 8:01 PM.