5 things we learned from South Carolina football’s loss to Mizzou
South Carolina lost to No. 23 Missouri (4-0, 1-0 SEC) on Saturday night, falling 29-20 in a game where the Gamecocks recorded a number of stats that seem unfathomable by an SEC football team.
The Gamecocks (2-2, 0-2 SEC) have now lost their last four games at Mizzou and six of their last seven against the Tigers.
Here are some things we learned:
1. No quick fix for the running game
You want to know the real ugly part about the fact that South Carolina — a team that plays in the SEC and has the resources to pay players and touts its great recruiting — rushed for minus-9 yards?
If there was a quick fix, the Gamecocks would have already done it. Heck, they tried.
If you want to fault offensive coordinator Mike Shula, go ahead. But don’t knock him for not trying. On USC’s first drive of the game Saturday, it had wide receiver Brian Rowe Jr. run an end-around. No yards. Next play: screen pass to Vandrevius Jacobs. Negative yards. On both, the perimeter blocking crumbled instantly.
It tried different running backs. It tried a new offensive line combo. It tried plenty ... and none of it worked. Asked after the game for an answer, coach Shane Beamer couldn’t come up with one. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers was in the same boat.
“Just have to execute better,” Sellers said. “Communicate better. Just get looks right.”
The Gamecocks’ offensive line, which lost two starters — RT Cason Henry and C Nolan Hay — early in the game, looked completely outmatched against Missouri. There was no push. No holes. No gaps. And then South Carolina running backs — unlike Mizzou’s Ahmad Hardy — are not the truck-over-you types. They do not run over defenders. They do not break tackles. They are good at hitting holes, which is tough when none exist.
Making matters worse: It doesn’t seem like defenses are too scared of South Carolina’s passing attack — despite the Gamecocks hitting on a number of big pass plays. Opposing defensive coordinators seem content continuing to load the box, bring pressure and trust that South Carolina will falter on 3rd and long.
It worked plenty on Saturday.
2. The penalties are absurd
It’s not always smart to get bogged down about penalty numbers, because some — like the roughing-the-passer calls against Vanderbilt — are silly.
But that doesn’t apply to what happened against Missouri. You could argue the Gamecocks actually got a favorable whistle when compared with Mizzou.
The Gamecocks were flagged 14 times for 98 yards. The worst part: Half of those were pre-snap infractions (six false starts and one offsides).
“It’s hard to say it’s one bad night when we’ve had the number of pre-snap penalties that we’ve had,” Beamer said. “The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over again. When you have 14 penalties on the road, something has to change, starting with me.”
It should be said: The Gamecocks work on not jumping early every practice. They also didn’t have a single false start in the opener against Virginia Tech. (They did have three offsides.)
Beamer says “something has to change,” but what? What can change? Do you practice it even more? Do you start subbing guys out if they jump? Do you blare crowd noise at practice?
There’s not really a good answer. You can do all that stuff but, at the end of the day, Beamer is at the mercy of his players.
3. The Gamecocks stayed alive ... until they didn’t
At the end of two quarters, Missouri was dominating South Carolina.
The Tigers had 100 more yards. They held the ball for over six more minutes. They hadn’t allowed a single sack. They held the Gamecocks to one rushing yard.
And it didn’t matter. Carolina led 14-12 at the half.
They led despite the offensive line injuries. Despite poor tackling. Despite not showing a semblance of a rushing attack.
They led because Gerald Kilgore snagged a must-needed interception. Because the defense held twice on goal-to-go situations. Because the play-calling finally let Sellers sling the ball around.
Heck, South Carolina even led heading into the fourth quarter. It kicked a go-ahead field goal, which sounds good until you realize the Gamecocks turned 1st and goal from the 2-yard line into a 3rd and 37. They kept doing everything wrong and simultaneously doing just enough to lead.
That, of course, was not sustainable.
On two separate drives late in the game, South Carolina had the ball, needing a touchdown to take the lead. For a moment, it was hard not to think about Sellers and the Clemson game from last year. Then you’d wake up and realize this team bares little resemblance. The Gamecocks punted both times.
“That’s what is sickening,” Beamer said.
4. Any silver lining with the defense?
What makes the Gamecocks’ minus-9 rushing yards even worse is the fact that Mizzou totaled 285 yards on the ground. Ahmad Hardy led the charge for the Tigers, carrying the ball 22 times for 138 yards. It might be fair to say that he ran through two dozen tackles on Saturday.
The Gamecocks could not bring Hardy down. Ditto with RB Jamal Roberts (13 carries, 76 yards).
Here are two facts: South Carolina displayed atrocious tackling on Saturday. And none of Mizzou’s first three opponents showed any ability to tackle Hardy and Roberts.
So perhaps they are truly that good. Maybe Hardy is the best running back South Carolina will face all year. Maybe he’s gonna be in the Heisman conversation and running all over guys in the NFL next year. That is possible.
And even if that’s true, South Carolina still has to be disappointed in how it tackled. There were a handful of times where it seemed like the entire Gamecocks defense thought Hardy or Roberts were down, stopped playing, and then they somehow found their footing and kept running.
The Gamecocks tackled poorly against Vanderbilt. Saturday was worse.
5. Where does South Carolina go from here?
The range of possibilities for this Gamecocks season is suddenly quite vast.
The optimists could find a world where the Gamecocks win seven of their final eight games and put themselves back in the playoff conversation come December.
Most everyone else will leave Saturday’s game wondering what a realistic ceiling is for this team. Eight wins? Seven? Making a bowl game?
South Carolina will probably be favored against Kentucky. Same with Coastal Carolina. And, based on Saturday’s results, it might have an edge on Clemson.
But the Gamecocks will be heavy underdogs to LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. If they play like they did against Mizzou, how are they going to beat any of those teams?
