Thumbs up, thumbs down: South Carolina vs. Virginia

Thumbs up

Joseph Charlton

On a day when seemingly nothing went right, the Gamecocks’ punter was at least mostly on his game. He had one 59-yarder, one 53-yarder and pinned the Cavaliers inside their own 20 once.

Shi Smith

Without Deebo Samuel, USC was short on playmakers. Smith led the way with 76 yards receiving and a 62-yard kick return, at least setting the Gamecocks up at points.

That forced fumble

The game was probably already out of reach, but R.J. Roderick gave his team a small chance in the fourth. He forced a fumble after a trick play and USC’s Damani Staley recovered.

Jonathan Gipson, Spencer Eason-Riddle A.J. Turner and the rest

It’s not their fault they had to play in big moments. USC’s injuries forced them in, and they didn’t get completely burned for the most part.

Thumbs down

The offensive line

South Carolina came in knowing it needed something good from the offense. It had Jake Bentley corralling high snaps and running for his life, all while not getting much push on key early runs.

Jake Bentley’s day

Even while being pressured, Bentley needed to be sharp, and at key points he wasn’t. There were a few overthrows, missed balls and a high pass under pressure on fourth down during South Carolina’s first drive. Although it came with the game out of reach, there was also a near pick-six.

The drops

Complicating the offensive struggles was a return of the drops that caused a slew of issues early in the season. That included three or four in the first half, several on third downs.

Getting off the field

The Cavaliers converted seven of their first 13 third downs. They managed an 8-minute drive with hardly any third downs. USC wasn’t in position to give up long marches and gave up a few.

This story was originally published December 29, 2018 at 3:55 PM.