Beamer Ball, y’all: South Carolina blocks 2 punts against Eastern Illinois
South Carolina special teams coordinator Pete Lembo should be quite pleased with the Gamecocks’ first half against Eastern Illinois.
The Gamecocks came down with two blocked punts in the first two quarters of their 2021 season opener.
First up, Debo Williams swatted down Eastern Illinois punter Logen Neidhardt’s second punt of the game late in the first quarter. The blocked punt was recovered by Jaylan Foster at Eastern Illinois’ 32-yard line. South Carolina scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive, bringing its lead over the Panthers to 22-0 early in the second quarter.
Later in the second quarter, Jordan Strachan came down with the Gamecocks’ second blocked punt, setting South Carolina up around midfield. After a few ZaQuandre White rushes -- and a subsequent pass from Zeb Noland to White -- the Gamecocks were back in the end zone again, up 29-0 shortly before halftime.
Saturday night’s two blocked punts were the first for South Carolina since its 2014 overtime victory at Florida. To put that in perspective, Steve Spurrier was still with the Gamecocks, and Will Muschamp was fired from Florida soon after that very game.
Five teams tied for No. 1 in the country in blocked punts for the entire 2020-21 season -- Army, Boise State, Duke, Kansas State and TCU. All five of those teams finished 2020 with three total blocked punts. Heading into Saturday’s full slate of games, only UCLA and UAB had blocked punts in 2021. Both teams have blocked just one.
