Thumbs up, thumbs down: South Carolina vs. Kentucky

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That weird look

The Gamecocks offense spent much of its first scoring drive with Blake Camper and Dennis Daley split out wide in an Emory and Henry formation. With only four blockers, Jake Bentley and Mon Denson in the backfield, they powered downfield. The only way to add to that would’ve been hitting a big pass that was almost there.

Joseph Charlton

When the game was still in doubt, he had boots of 49 and 66 yards. The longer one would’ve been better served as a 65-yarder, and almost was before a Gamecock touched it as he rolled into the end zone, making it a touchback.

Jake Bentley running

His passing, it was not good by any of the measures. But he did manage to break out runs of 20 and 11 yards, the former coming when USC badly needed to convert.

Deebo finally getting loose

It was about the only highlight the Gamecocks really had. After a few busted plays yielded nothing, this one finally ended with 58 yards for Deebo Samuel, his longest play of the season, and got USC back in the game, if only for a moment.

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That start

The Gamecocks’ first possession was a three-and-out ended by a drop. The second was a quick fumble by Rico Dowdle that set up UK on the USC 7-yard line.

Jawing

The Gamecocks had promised they were going to be all business. Yet after many plays early, they were talking. Talking enough Keir Thomas got a 15-yard penalty, against a team USC had lost four in a row to. Later on, cornerback Jaycee Horn wiped out a third-down stop with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Missed passes

In the second quarter Jake Bentley had a golden opportunity,when the defense jumped on a fake screen and Bryan Edwards was open streaking downfield. A short pass was dropped. Two plays later, a USC receiver got wide open deep on a busted play, and Jake Bentley’s off-balance throw was picked off. Drops ended up a theme of the night.

The tackling

South Carolina’s players knew their run defense would be tested. It got demolished. By halftime, Benny Snell had 78 yards, Kentucky was averaging 6.5 yards a carry with seven runs of 10 or more.

This story was originally published September 30, 2018 at 12:08 AM.