South Carolina Football: First Half Recap

South Carolina football takes a 20-14 lead into halftime against Vanderbilt.

The South Carolina Gamecocks take a lead into halftime against the Vanderbilt Commodores. The Gamecocks are showing what South Carolina football is about getting both the running and passing game involved early on.

Jake Bentley has connected on two deep passes to Shi Smith, and Rico Dowdle has been absolutely outstanding in the run game.

If you had checked out our what to watch for column, establishing the run game was on the top of the list. Dowdle has been great in the early going of the game. It is great to see South Carolina actually trying to establish the run game, and especially early on.

The dominating run game has really opened up the deep passing ability for Jake Bentley. Bentley has connected on two deep passes to Shi Smith, one for a Gamecocks touchdown.

The Gamecocks defense started off the game pressuring the Vanderbilt offense into early mistakes. However, later in the half the Commodore’s offense started to get it going. Kyle Shurmur connected to Kalija Lipscomb for a touchdown later in the second quarter to cut into South Carolina’s lead.

Second half outlook

It will behoove the South Carolina Gamecocks to continue with the run game in the second half. This is an SEC East game that the Gamecocks can not afford to lose. The early loss to Georgia two weeks ago has already put the Gamecocks in a hole already this season.

Aside from the run game, look for Jake Bentley to try to get the ball to Deebo Samuel. Samuel needs to get more involved in the offense in second half. He wasn’t used early on in the first half, but started to get more involved just before half.

Let’s hope the Gamecocks keep it up in the second half and pull out a victory.