USC-Coastal report card: How Gamecocks offense aced the first test
After South Carolina football’s 49-15 victory against Coastal Carolina, it’s time to grade the Gamecocks.
Quarterbacks
In his first day at the helm of a new offense, Jake Bentley delivered most of what you want. He went 22-for-29, had 250 yards passing, four touchdowns and a scoring drive just before the half. That’s all that can be asked. Throw in Michael Scarnecchia getting his first career TD pass on a very nice throw, and it was a good day all around. Grade: A
Running backs
The top three rotation backs had more than 200 yards at 7.5 per carry. Ty’Son Williams was only so-so early. Rico Dowdle had his fourth 100-yard game, and local walk-on Slade Carroll got into the action with 46 yards on four late carries. Grade: A
Wide receivers
A few drops and a lack of true deep balls were the only blemishes on a nice day. Deebo Samuel made plays. Shi Smith and Bryan Edwards contributed, and even Josh Vann picked up his first two career catches. Grade: A-
Tight ends
Their role has been a little reduced, which makes sense without Hayden Hurst and with a large set of good receivers. They produced three catches and didn’t appear to have many blocking issues. Grade: B+
Offensive line
The group has been maligned for a long time, but it did work blowing a worse defense off the ball. The pass protection had some glitches against a set of exotic blitzes, but the performance on the ground carried the day. Grade: A
Defensive line
They had a little trouble fully disrupting an option-based offense and at times gave up some push. Still, they helped keep the Chanticleers to less than 3.5 yards per carry. Grade: B+
Linebackers
Again, there were some very nice plays mixed with the usual issues that come against option teams. Some missed tackles didn’t help there, and Sherrod Greene committed a personal foul. Grade: B-
Secondary
The lack of disruption is an issue, as they gave up a 11-for-13 day to an option quarterback. What’s more, some busted tackles led to run after catch. There were no bombs given up, always a risk against that scheme. Grade: C+
Special teams
No explosive plays, but a generally solid day. Every kickoff was a touchback, and there was only one punt. Grade: B+
Overall
You can’t really ask for much more than USC gave. It faced an overmatched team. It generally ran away from the Chants. The offense was effective, had some quick drives. It could have been a hint more explosive, but that’s the only wart. Grade: A-
This story was originally published September 2, 2018 at 1:39 PM.