South Carolina Football’s GOAT Series: Top-10 greatest defenses of all-time
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Football’s No. 9 Greatest Defense of All-Time:
2017
The old expression “It’s better to be lucky than good” must have had the 2017 Gamecock defense in mind. A unit that was largely undermanned played extremely well when they had to but relied on turnovers to save the day more times than not.
Will Muschamp’s second season in Columbia gave Carolina fans some false hope about how good the team actually was as the defense racked up the most turnovers in the country, including recovering a ridiculous 14 fumbles.
9-4 was the final record for the ’17 team, and with Kurt Roper still in charge of the offense as the team’s offensive coordinator, one can confidently say the defense was the reason for the majority of the wins.
Dante Sawyer led the country in forced fumbles, and nine different Gamecocks came up with multiple turnovers on the season.