Was Saturday a turning point for the Will Muschamp era at South Carolina?
In a few months, it might seem South Carolina’s loss Saturday didn’t serve as a point where the mood really changed around the Gamecocks’ football program.
If that happens, it will be because the Gamecocks fought their way out of a corner they put themselves in.
Simply put, the road to even a bowl game was going to be complicated without beating UNC, unless the schedule opens up in a big way. Appalachian State won 11 games last season. Even Vanderbilt went bowling last year with a good offense.
And the Gamecocks just lost to a team that won five combined games the previous two years.
That’s not to say North Carolina won’t be good, but as of this moment it looks like a bad loss to a team that’s simply been bad of late. Perhaps the Gamecocks’ schedule opens up, as Tennessee had an even worse opening day Saturday, losing to Georgia State.
Then one looks at how Saturday played out.
The passing game with Jake Bentley, Bryan Edwards and Shi Smith misfired again and again. The defense that projected as a strength held early and then got tagged for back-to-back 90-plus yard drives.
Based on its brutal schedule, South Carolina needed to be a better-than-its-record team to get to a bowl or above .500. It didn’t look like that in Charlotte.
Players seemed dazed afterward, giving the standard answers about just needing to get better. Head coach Will Muschamp dropped the word “frustrated” over and over, promising to get back in the film room and figure out how to fix things.
But that means 60 minutes into a season, the staff has to fix a range of issues.
If this season were to go sideways, next season doesn’t offer much in the way of a bounce-back, as a home game against Alabama is traded for a trip to LSU. The Tar Heels were already grabbing some recruits the Gamecocks wanted, and Saturday provided a big chip in terms of theoretical recruiting momentum.
College football coaching tenures exist in broad flows. Some end with a bang, but most with a slow dip or promise that never arrives.
If the next two years go badly, that might be all the dip that’s needed. And to avoid a bad 2019, the Gamecocks have to climb out of the deep hole they dug Saturday afternoon.
SOUTH CAROLINA 2019 SCHEDULE
Aug. 31 — North Carolina 24, South Carolina 20
Sept. 7 — Charleston Southern noon, SEC Network
Sept. 14 — Alabama 3:30 pm, CBS
Sept. 21 — at Missouri
Sept. 28 — Kentucky
Oct. 12 — at Georgia
Oct. 19 — Florida
Oct. 26 — at Tennessee
Nov. 2 — Vanderbilt
Nov. 9 — Appalachian State
Nov. 16 — at Texas A&M
Nov. 30 — Clemson
