‘You can’t start slow’: Early struggles doom USC secondary against Gators
Kadarius Toney was surrounded.
South Carolina had its defense lined up exactly how head coach Will Muschamp wanted it, in man coverage, poised to make a crucial stop at midfield on 3rd and 9 in the third quarter on the road against No. 3 Florida.
Then came the explosion.
Toney, Florida’s lightning-quick gadget receiver, burst out of the slot, faked out defensive back R.J. Roderick with a deceptive cut toward then middle of the field, then caught the ball — wide open — and raced 57 yards to the end zone. At one point, near the 20-yard line, five Gamecocks defensive backs converged around Toney, yet not a single defender could land a tackle.
The image was emblematic of South Carolina’s defensive effort against the high-powered Gators on Saturday: Close, but not close enough.
No one could have reasonably expected the Gamecocks to shut down the likes of quarterback Kyle Trask or tight end Kyle Pitts, two of the top offensive players in the country. But USC’s secondary is generally considered one of the strengths of the team. Even Florida coach Dan Mullen noted on ESPN’s College GameDay that USC’s size and skill at cornerback could cause issues for Trask and the passing game.
Those defensive backs put themselves in position to succeed on multiple occasions, but they failed to consistently execute. The result was a 38-24 defeat in a game that could’ve been much closer.
“We didn’t do a good enough job covering,” junior corner Jacyee Horn said after the game. “That’s all it came down to. We didn’t win enough one-on-one matchups.”
Horn, understandably, had his hands full covering the behemoth 6-foot-6, 246-pound Pitts, who came away with some hard-fought 50-50 balls and scored two touchdowns after scoring a whopping four touchdowns in Week 1. But Trask also had no problems spreading the ball around, completing passes to nine different receivers and routinely picking on Roderick and Jammie Robinson in coverage en route to 268 passing yards and four touchdowns. He completed 21-of-29 passes.
Muschamp pointed to three situations on third and long where the secondary was unable to execute, including the 57-yard touchdown by Toney, which Muschamp said the Gamecocks didn’t “cover well.” And both Horn and junior corner Israel Mukuamu blamed coverage breakdowns and missed tackles more than USC’s defensive scheme or Florida’s offensive game plan.
There were signs of improvement throughout the contest. Pitts scored both of his touchdowns before halftime, and Muschamp said he was pleased with how the team neutralized him in the second half. After making a costly defensive pass interference penalty to help set up a Florida score, sophomore corner John Dixon broke up a couple of deep shots by Trask later in the game.
“John made a really nice play on our sideline, but we’ve got to get better,” Muschamp said. “That needs to be an interception. We’re not making the the big play that we need. ... We’ve got to make more momentum-changing plays for our football team, gaining possession, gaining field position to get our offense back on the field. We’re not making those plays right now.”
If there was one moment of redemption for the USC secondary — one image worth remembering — it was Mukuamu’s acrobatic one-handed interception in the fourth quarter. The play set up a scoring drive for Collin Hill and the Gamecock offense, pulling the team to within 14 points of the Gators.
But the play provided little solace for a despondent Mukuamu after the game, who said USC’s defensive improvement simply came too late to matter.
“Playing in the SEC, you can’t start slow,” Mukuamu said. “You just got to come out and be ready to play.”
