Final thoughts, prediction for Duke’s Mayo Bowl between South Carolina and UNC
Bring on the mayonnaise.
Some adore the goopy condiment for its fluffy texture and added taste to any set of cold cuts or other delectable desires. Others revile at the thought such a substance should come anywhere close to touching their plates, let alone be added to the food itself.
Regardless of how you feel, Shane Beamer would love nothing more than to be doused in tub of celebratory mayo Thursday should South Carolina (6-6, 3-5 SEC) find a way to outlast Mack Brown’s North Carolina squad (6-6, 3-5 ACC) in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte.
The Gamecocks have been a welcome surprise in Beamer’s first fall as the head coach in Columbia. Most preseason prognosticators pegged USC for a three- or four-win team that figured to fall to the bottom of the SEC East pack.
Instead, South Carolina eked out wins over East Carolina and Vanderbilt. It throttled Florida and escaped Auburn. A blowout of Eastern Illinois and a win over Troy were the final pieces to USC’s bowl equation.
Granted, it hasn’t all been pretty. South Carolina was run off the field by Tennessee, Texas A&M and Georgia. It had every opportunity to upset Kentucky in Week 4 and also struggled to find any semblance of an offense at Missouri.
Thursday, the Gamecocks will be without two key offensive cogs in quarterback Jason Brown and running back ZaQuandre White. Brown entered the transfer portal earlier this month shortly after Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler announced his decision to transfer to South Carolina. White, meanwhile, is off preparing for the NFL Draft.
Brown — who came to USC from FCS St. Francis this year — quarterbacked South Carolina to wins over Auburn and Florida, but was benched during a wayward effort against Clemson in the final regular-season game of the year. He was expected to compete for the starting job in the bowl game with Zeb Noland.
White had been the Gamecocks’ most explosive running back for an offense that was anything but in 2021. He finished the year as South Carolina’s leading rusher and averaged 6.3 yards per carry over the final six games of the season.
With Brown exploring new options and White chasing an NFL future, that leaves Noland and running back Kevin Harris to lead the South Carolina offense against a UNC defense that’s allowing more than 400 yards per game.
Noland’s story is well-documented by now. The former North Dakota State and Iowa State signal-caller was initially hired over the offseason at USC to be a graduate assistant. He was added to the roster in the wake of Luke Doty’s fall camp foot injury and helped South Carolina to wins over Eastern Illinois and East Carolina.
Harris has been an enigma for the bulk of the 2021 campaign. The SEC’s leading rusher a season ago battled injury and illness through the preseason and never quite looked fully himself this fall. Harris finished the season with 478 yards and three touchdowns on 121 touches, and there’s a chance he could turn pro after the bowl game.
Defensively, South Carolina has its hands full with a North Carolina offense that’s as explosive as any in America. Quarterback Sam Howell is the trigger man for the the group and a likely early selection in this spring’s NFL Draft. Howell ranks 22nd nationally in average passing yards per game and has recorded over 10,000 yards in his career.
Beyond Howell, running back Ty Chandler has been one of the ACC’s best tailbacks this season. Chandler is third in the conference in rushing with 1,063 yards. His 6.2 yards per carry also rank second among all ACC runners with at least 100 carries this year.
South Carolina’s defense has allowed at least 190 rushing yards in four of its last five games. It also surrendered more than 250 yards on the ground in three of those contests. If Chandler gets going, the Gamecocks are in trouble.
USC and North Carolina have plenty of recent history. The Tar Heels and Gamecocks have played three times since 2013. South Carolina has a 2-1 edge in those games, but UNC won the most recent meeting in 2019.
Beamer and Brown, too, go back decades through a friendship between Brown and Beamer’s father, Frank — the longtime head coach at Virginia Tech. Shane’s mother Cheryl joked earlier this month the Beamers always root for the Browns and UNC. Not this week.
Both Beamer and Brown have agreed to have a tub of mayonnaise poured on them in place of Gatorade should their respective teams win on Thursday. Beamer — who conceded he’s “not really a big mayonnaise guy” — won’t have to worry about the gross-out factor.
Expect the North Carolina offense to blow this thing open against a South Carolina squad that has only scored more than 24 points twice against FBS competition this year.
I hope Brown likes mayo. It’s coming his way.
— Prediction: North Carolina 31, South Carolina 10 —
