South Carolina football: finding positives in a season of struggles
By Jacob Elsey
Looking at pros in a tumultuous South Carolina football season.
The Gamecocks struggled to a 2-8 regular season, losing each of their last six contests. The defense, thought to be the strength of the team, allowed 36 points a game, good for 12th in the conference. The offense finished the year ranked 99th nationally in production at just 355.1 yards a game.
The results ended with head coach Will Muschamp being fired, a number of team members opting out of the season’s final three games, and, ultimately, the program’s worst season in 20 years.
But there were positives that this team can use moving forward. The Gamecocks saw a huge boost in the run game from an unexpected source, found their quarterback of the future, and received individual performances from some of the team’s best players.
Let’s look at a few great moments and accomplishments by South Carolina football in 2020.
Gamecocks take down No. 15 Auburn
South Carolina, coming off of its first win of the year, took on a fifteenth-ranked Auburn team in Williams-Brice Stadium in mid October. The Gamecocks had already faced, and lost to, two ranked opponents in Tennessee and Florida. They’d get the upset in Columbia this time, though.
South Carolina used a strong defensive performance to erase an early 9-0 deficit, picking off Auburn quarterback Bo Nix three times en route to a 30-22 upset. It was the first win over a ranked opponent since the Gamecocks knocked off Georgia in Athens in 2019.
Cornerback Jaycee Horn recorded two interceptions, nearly taking one in for a score, and solidified his status as a first-round draft pick.