Gamecocks seniors about to hit last milestone at Williams-Brice

It feels a little early to be counting “lasts,” but South Carolina’s seniors will mark something off their final checklist this Saturday.

Their senior day will come in a few weeks against Western Carolina, but against Missouri, the team’s 18 seniors will take the Williams-Brice Stadium field for the last time against an SEC opponent.

Muschamp held a senior meeting Tuesday and alerted them to that fact.

“When I said that to them, a couple of them looked up at me like they didn’t realize this was their last SEC home game,” Muschamp said. “Time flies, and we certainly appreciate all of their contributions.”

Skull session

Gamecock coach Will Muschamp got a little graphic as was breaking down the technical details of exactly how his safety, D.J. Smith, could have avoided the targeting penalty he committed last week. He went helmet-to-helmet with Tennessee’s Jauan Jennings and was ejected from that game and cost him half of this week’s game against Missouri.

The coach broke down how the arms can’t lead, so the face comes in instead of the top of the head. But he also acknowledged the reality of extra layer of in-game difficulty in as colorful a way as possible.

“Very easy for me to sit there on a Monday afternoon and explain it as opposed to in front of 80,000 people at Williams-Brice Stadium,” Muschamp said. “Jennings, who weighs 215 pounds coming down the seam. He’s ready to split your skull if you don’t split his.”

Going back

Missouri hasn’t exactly had a smooth road in its first year under a new coach, and last week, that came to a head with one of those behind-the-scenes changes teams hope shifts fortunes: head coach Barry Odom, the team’s defensive coordinator last year, took over play calling duties from Demontie Cross.

The outcome was 582 yard allowed against Kentucky.

Still, the change means some adjusting for the USC coaching staff.

“Creates a little angst for us from the standpoint of, are they continuing to stay with what they’re doing, are they changing what they’re doing?” Muschamp said.

He said the staff will look at how Odom’s old defenses attacked offenses similar to USC’s. Last year the Tigers had one of the best defenses in the country, but they haven’t attacked or made disruptive plays nearly as well this year.