Breaking down where it all went wrong for South Carolina’s 2019 football season
At some point in the middle of South Carolina football’s season finale against Clemson, the numbers just lined up.
Seven next to eight next to six next to nine. That was one of South Carolina’s more promising play-makers (Dakereon Joyner), an opening-week two-deep wide receiver (Randrecous Davis), an opening day starter (Josh Vann) and a promising tight end (Nick Muse), all out of uniform.
Next to them stood 19 (Jake Bentley, the senior starting QB), 89 (Bryan Edwards, the program’s all-time leading receiver) and 87 (Kiel Pollard, a projected top tight end). None of them was in uniform either.
The best plans fall away like castles made of sand. South Carolina’s season projected as something better than the 4-8 it finished up. Now that it’s over, it’s worth looking at what got the Gamecocks here.
Coming into 2019, there wasn’t a ton of hope for USC’s ceiling. A 7-5 campaign looked like a best realistic outcome, with five top 15-quality opponents on the slate. Perhaps USC might get an upset, but doing that and sweeping a slew of toss-ups seemed a mighty challenge.
The Gamecocks couldn’t get near that ceiling, and they ended up closer to the floor of what was expected. South Carolina had few gimme games, and at least 10 teams proved to be at least feisty.
Before the season, those games could break down into categories, and we can now review them.
The almost-unwinnables: Clemson, Alabama, Georgia
Hey, South Carolina actually won one of these. Had you given USC any of these wins before the season, the coaching staff would’ve taken it.
It took all the grit imaginable, but South Carolina got that needed upset at Georgia, even if it was blown out by Alabama’s offense and smothered by Clemson’s defense.
Final record: 1-2
The big challenges: Florida and Texas A&M
Each appeared vulnerable in its own way. Florida had a problematic offseason. Texas A&M was almost assuredly going to get beat down by a schedule with a top five tougher than USC’s (and did).
The Gamecocks battled Florida into the fourth quarter but were not able to build a cushion with open deep shots and ultimately let it slip away. That happens.
The USC offense never got going against A&M in College Station. Any dream of an upset slowly dripped away.
Record: 0-2
The tossups: Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri
Even without any of the above five games, seven wins was possible. Usually, the solid teams in the SEC East get there by stepping over the other solid ones.
South Carolina got Kentucky in a desperate spot. USC caught Missouri when it seemed to be playing well and the Gamecocks certainly were not. The Tennessee game was in all likelihood the killer, a game USC seemed to stabilize before halftime, only to fall apart after.
Record: 1-2
The should-win/maybe tossups: Vanderbilt, Appalachian State
Appalachian State deserves the respect for being an 11-2 team last season, but when push comes to shove, SEC teams expect to beat the mid-majors on their schedules, even the very good ones. USC couldn’t muster more than 15 points.
The Commodores hadn’t beaten USC in forever, but they were good enough to bowl two of the past three years. They ended up cratering to give USC a comfortable win.
Record: 1-1
The must-wins: North Carolina, Charleston Southern
CSU was an obvious one, FCS team and such. UNC was the opener, against a team that was very bad last year.
For a bit, it looked like the Tar Heels might just be a pretty solid team. But in the end, they were a mid-tier ACC team that came into the last weekend chasing bowl eligibility. That’s the kind of win USC needed if it wanted that bowl-eligible season.
Record: 1-1
In summary
In the end, it might have just come down to App State and UNC. Those games were close. They were against teams USC was favored against. A few more plays, a little more offense, and USC is bowling and basically as good as expected.
Granted, a win vs. UNC probably means Jake Bentley isn’t injured, and the counterfactuals are unknowable. But that was likely the difference, two winnable games for a team that had lived on winning the close ones, which USC could’ve won with mildly better play.
Bonus: The turning point
South Carolina had a moment when it could’ve pulled itself out of the fire. It had lost to Florida, fallen short of back-to-back top-10 wins, and was looking at three games in a row as a favorite.
Sweeping those was a big ask, but it would’ve got the team to 6-6 and pulled out a decent outcome. Instead, USC was outscored 24-0 after the break, to start a 1-4 finish.
