5 things we learned from South Carolina’s 34-12 loss to No. 20 Missouri
The Mayor’s Cup stays in Columbia, Missouri another year, and South Carolina (2-5, 1-4 SEC) drops its third straight game.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday’s 34-12 loss to No. 20 Missouri.
Only field goals, no touchdowns
USC wasn’t able to get within five yards of the end zone all game.
The Gamecocks scored on four field goals against Missouri, but they couldn’t find the endzone at any point. It was the first time all season USC didn’t score in the first quarter. Mitch Jeter was 4-for-5 kicking Saturday afternoon, missing a 51-yarder at the beginning of the game with the wind against him.
Head coach Shane Beamer said he contemplated going for a touchdown or, in two of four cases, a first down. They chose the more conservative route because the Gamecocks struggled to get third-down conversions the entire game.
“On all of them, I considered going for it,” he said. “Because you need touchdowns, but we didn’t do a good job of making plays on third down to stay out of fourth down.”
Injuries thin the depth chart (sound familiar?)
Just when South Carolina thought its depth might be returning, more injuries piled up. The Gamecocks lost two more starting receivers and another offensive lineman (the 10th offensive line injury this season).
Wide receiver Xavier Legette left Saturday’s game in the first quarter with an upper body injury, while receiver Ahmarean Brown and O-lineman Tree Babalade both left in the fourth quarter with their own injuries.
Beamer said Brown’s injury was a hamstring issue, something that sidelined him earlier this season, and Babalade’s was a knee injury. All three don’t have any confirmed timelines yet, Beamer said.
Sacks, sacks and more sacks
Last season, South Carolina opponents finished with 31 sacks for 188 yards. This year, USC’s opponents have 31 sacks for 191 yards.
There are still five games left.
The combination of an inexperienced offensive line, difficultly establishing a run game or creating receiver separation and Rattler admitting his own mistakes have often pinned the quarterback to the ground. Even worse, most of the five sacks Saturday came during either a first or third down and effectively forced a field goal or punt, or put the Gamecocks in second-and-long scenarios.
Defensive woes
The South Carolina defense allowed 416 yards of offense against Missouri, 220 rushing and 198 receiving. And despite opening strong with a three-and-out, the Gamecocks couldn’t follow it up for the remainder of the first half.
USC never got to Tigers quarterback Brady Cook for a sack and had two tackles for loss in the game. Even with the near-cruise-control offense Missouri had in the second half, the Tigers were 7-for-13 on third-down conversions and 4-of-4 in the red zone. Beamer said he was happy with how the Gamecocks played in the second half, despite the inability to shut out Missouri down the stretch.
“A lot of what we were doing today was based on stopping the run,” Beamer explained, “trying to take advantage of some tendencies that we felt like they had going into the game, formation-wise. But clearly we didn’t do a good enough job of knocking them back.”
What now?
South Carolina is sitting on a 2-5 record and on a three-game skid. There’s one road game left this season, next week in College Station against Texas A&M, before finishing the season with four-straight home games. Where can this team go from here?
Yes, USC played a better second half Saturday and showed some life. Yes, five weeks is still time to improve. Does Saturday’s loss continue to frustrate everybody involved? Also yes.
Beamer opened his postgame press conference talking about how the Gamecocks responded to the team’s leadership, and how he believed the team was ready for this game. With five games left, Beamer said that leadership is what he believes will drive the Gamecocks beyond the losing streak.
“We’re facing a lot of adversity right now, to say the least,” Beamer said. “Our record’s not where it should be, and with our injury situation it’s not ideal. And I told them Tuesday in our team meeting, when this season’s over they’re going to look back, and where we are, what we do from this point forward will be primarily because of our leadership.”
2023 football schedule
- Sept. 2: North Carolina 31, South Carolina 17
- Sept. 9: South Carolina 47, Furman 21
- Sept. 16: Georgia 24, South Carolina 14
- Sept. 23: South Carolina 37, Mississippi State 30
- Sept. 30: Tennessee 41, South Carolina 20
- Oct. 7: Open week
- Oct. 14: Florida 41, South Carolina 39
- Oct. 21: Missouri 34, South Carolina 12
- Oct. 28 – at Texas A&M, noon (ESPN)
- Nov. 4 – Jacksonville State – TBA
- Nov. 11 – vs Vanderbilt – TBA
- Nov. 18 – vs Kentucky – TBA
- Nov. 25 – vs Clemson – TBA
This story was originally published October 22, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
