South Carolina finds itself defending its defense after loss to Florida and 2-4 start
Debo Williams was on the offensive in taking up for South Carolina’s defensive struggles against Florida.
The Gamecocks’ linebacker and one of the team’s inspirational leaders talked about the team’s lack of execution in key spots in the 41-39 loss to the Gators on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The loss dropped the Gamecocks to 2-4 for the first time in three seasons under coach Shane Beamer, with back-to-back road games against Missouri and Texas A&M coming up.
“We’ve got to make a play. One play away in these games. I feel we should be undefeated right now.” Williams said. “Woulda, shoulda coulda. We’ve got to make a play. We will come together and learn from this.”
The Gamecocks’ defense has come under fire this season, especially in its losses, with fans putting the brunt of the blame on defensive coordinator Clayton White.
South Carolina came into the game ranked 118th out of 130 FBS schools in total defense, giving up 440 yards a game. It’s almost 40 more yards per game than last year and almost 100 yards more than in Beamer’s first year in 2021.
The Gamecocks gave up 494 yards of offense to Florida, a team that ranked 59th in the country in total offense among FBS schools.
USC’s passing defense has been particularly bad, with opponents throwing for an average of 321.7 yards through six games. Florida on Saturday had 11 passing plays Saturday that went for 15 yards or more yards.
The Gators converted on a pair of fourth downs in their final two drives and scored twice in a four-minute span to erase a 10-point deficit. They completed passes of 11, 21, 22 and 26 yards on the game-winning drive that started with 2:43 on the clock.
“Disappointing that in situational football like that, we weren’t able to get it done,” Beamer said. “We did a great job overall of stopping the run. But when they have 81 plays for 494 yards and 423 of those are in the air, it is going to be a tough night.”
There were times when USC had perfect defensive calls, Beamer said, but the execution didn’t work. During his halftime radio interview, he said, “We need someone to do their job and make a freaking play.”
Beamer was a little more calm about the defense in his postgame press conference, and he didn’t hint that any personnel changes were imminent. The Gamecocks made some big changes for Saturday with the revamping of their offensive line coming off of the bye headed into the Florida game.
Williams said it all comes down to players doing their assignments, no matter who is out there.
“Executing the call. Knowing what you are doing and executing the call. It is that simple,” Williams said. “Coach White is going to put us in the right spot. Execute the call to your best ability. That’s all.
“... I have great confidence. I know we can win every single game. We could still finish the season going undefeated the rest of the way and still have a great season.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2023 at 8:15 AM.
