A closer look at every big breakdown in South Carolina’s passing defense vs UT
Will Muschamp said his team’s failures on defense were primarily about not containing Tennessee receivers Marquez Calloway and Jauan Jennings.
His team allowed nine explosive passes, plays often caused by coverage issues, bad tackling and a few other factors. A few were just good passes, but the breakdowns were plentiful.
A closer look at what went wrong on each of those explosive plays.
2nd and 18 on UT38 (first quarter): The Gamecocks appear to be in something like Cover-3 with four underneath defenders, a theoretically safe defense in second and long. The slot corner widens out with the running back’s route. Linebacker slides over to pick someone up and Isreal Mukuamu can’t close fast on the receiver Cedric Tillman. Result: Gain of 19
3rd and 11 on SC44 (first quarter): Jennings is bracketed by two defenders, but he just shakes free. Then come several missed tackles. Result: Gain of 26
1st and 10 on UT27 (second quarter): Jennings lines up in the slot. Throws a post corner on RJ Roderick as streak clears outside corner and shorter route clears underneath. Bad tackling adds some yards at the end. Result: Gain of 27
1st and 10 on SC48 (second quarter): Jennings’ route is a dig and the pass comes as he clears an underneath defender in the middle. There’s a lot of space in front of middle field safety. And two bad missed tackles allow a touchdown. Result: Gain of 48
1st and 10 on UT25 (third quarter): Double play-action means there’s a one-on-one on the outside. Mukuamu is in bad position, but the ball is late. He can’t win the 50-50 ball against Calloway. Result: Gain of 48
2nd and 10 on SC48(third quarter):Just a corner route and a tremendous catch by Jordan Palmer. Not a thing you can do there. Result: Gain of 22
3rd and 14 on SC19 (third quarter):USC sends pressure, free runner comes through. QB gets off a very good toss and Jennings beats JT Ibe badly. Result: Gain of 19
2nd and 9 on UT45(third quarter):This is as bad a play as you’ll see. Tennessee goes max protect and only has two players running routes. One breaks out toward the sideline, while the other runs a post. The out-breaking one is open, but Calloway beats Mukuamu on the post and the pass is on target. Calloway is off to the races for a score. Result: Gain of 55
1st and 10 on UT45(third quarter):The slot receiver runs a corner route and the corner just loses a step somewhere. The throw is pretty good and the catch by Jennings is very good. Gain of 37
