South Carolina football: five takeaways from win over Auburn
By Jacob Elsey
2. Running game is for real
Kevin Harris and Deshaun Fenwick combined for 151 yards on 37 carries. Harris scored twice on the ground, pushing his season total to six for the year. After a slow first quarter, the Carolina running game took over and wore down the Auburn defense.
Cracks in the defensive unit began to show in the second half as Gamecock tailbacks broke off long run after long run. It allowed Mike Bobo’s group to control the pace of the game, continuously move the chains, and get out of Columbia with the win.
Prior to the year, the running back position was a question mark. MarShawn Lloyd went down with an injury. No one knew what to expect from Harris, Fenwick, and ZaQuandre White. But four weeks later, the running game is the strength of the offensive unit.
The performance was Fenwick’s best of the season, and Harris would’ve gone for his third straight 100-yard game had a 75-yard touchdown run not been called back for a bogus holding call. The group should be able to continue its production next week versus LSU.
3. Still no help for Shi Smith
The running game may be a strength, but the same can’t be said about the receiving corps to this point. Shi Smith reeled off another impressive performance, hauling in eight catches for 76 yards and a score, but there’s not been much production behind him.
Smith caught eight of the Gamecocks’ 15 total completions, more than half of the production on the day. For the year, he’s tallied 34 receptions, which account for more than 40% of Collin Hill’s completions.
Tight end Nick Muse has had his moments, as have Xavier Legette and Josh Vann, but nobody’s been able to emerge as a reliable number two option. It was obvious that quarterback Collin Hill was looking Smith’s way on every play, and eventually, it paid off, but South Carolina desperately needs to find a second outlet to take away the focus on Smith.
He’ll have his hands full going up against Derek Stingley next week in Baton Rouge, so someone is going to need to step up.