When every small play was vital, Gamecocks made more against NC State
N.C. State football coach Dave Doeren lamented those little things that turn a close ball game.
“There were several plays during the game, I know I can go back and watch it and the guys can go back and watch it, that, you know, make it, like their one-handed catch was a great play that the receiver made, right?” Doeren said. “There were some plays we could have made and didn’t. There were some calls that we could’ve done better and didn’t. Those are the things you’re going to critique yourselves on.”
Those were things his squad might have to stew on. Those same moments were something to celebrate for South Carolina.
Saturday’s 35-28 win was miles from perfect. The offense had moments it sputtered. The defense gave up a few drives that would send a coach into a fit.
But there were the little things that turned the tide.
Thinks like Deebo Samuel’s one-handed touchdown grab, which only came after Jake Bentley slipped a dead-to-rights sack and saw his receiver streaking across the field.
Things like D.J. Smith just getting Jaylen Samuels down on a key fourth-down stop, like T.J. Brunson shooting in to smother a third-down screen, like Bentley hitting a laser of a pass on an option play to get USC out of the shadow of its own goal line and flip the field. On a couple occasions, the Wolfpack had a veteran pass catcher isolated on freshman corner Jamyest Williams, but they didn’t take advantage of it.
The Gamecocks got a bevy of these little things, the plays that pop a bit more or seem all that crucial in the mosaic of a win.
These aren’t things a coaching staff or team can rely on week-to-week. Close games in a sport where the ball bounces funny are hard to win at a high rate, so consistency and talent have to take over to become dominance.
But South Carolina got all those players to step up and do what they needed to in a game where just about all of it was needed. That means getting a win in the bag against a good team, something that can’t be taken away and something that provides another week to get things in place to not need those small things quite so much.
“We have a lot of corrections,” USC coach Will Muschamp said. “But I do think when you play a team like this in this setting, you find out a lot about your football team.
“We’ve got to improve in a lot of areas, but it’s one game and that’s all that counts.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2017 at 9:01 PM with the headline "When every small play was vital, Gamecocks made more against NC State."