South Carolina Football: Ranking each game on the Entertainment Scale

South Carolina Football’s No. 7 Most Entertaining Game of 2023:
Florida Gators

Mostly forgotten due to the heroics of the following week, last year’s blowout in Gainesville was perhaps the worst game of the season for South Carolina. The offense didn’t produce a touchdown, as a fake-punt Kai Kroeger throw to Dakereon Joyner (followed by a failed 2PT conversion) marked the only points scored for the Gamecocks against the Gators.

Florida, however, scored 38, ran for 374 yards, and forced 3 Gamecock fumbles on defense. But this is 2023, not last year. And since last November 12, these two programs have gone in completely opposite directions. South Carolina, of course, went on to defeat top ten opponents Tennessee and Clemson in consecutive weeks, then played a nailbiter against Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl. The Gators lost their next three games (Vanderbilt, Florida State, and Oregon State) to finish 6-7 on the year.

This year, the Gamecocks return their offensive core, while Billy Napier brought in former Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz to replace the outgoing mercurial talent Anthony Richardson. That’s a huge difference. As maddeningly inconsistent as Richardson was this past season, he was the reason this team won games. Florida doesn’t beat Utah without Richardson. They don’t sniff 35 points against LSU without Anthony Richardson. They don’t even beat South Florida without Anthony Richardson. Once Richardson opted out of the bowl game, they lost to Oregon State 30-3. Yes, I know they had multiple other opt-outs, but Richardson was the pulse of this team.

I understand the portal is a dice roll. It’s a gamble, as a coach, as a player, and as a booster. There is money being tossed around at the 11th hour, silent commitments, and social media cryptids driving every corner of college football Twitter into a frenzy. But latching onto Graham Mertz as the option for this program isn’t going to work, and it isn’t sustainable. Sure, Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne return. They are probably the best 1-2 punch backfield in the nation. That in itself could pose problems for the Gamecocks’ run defense. But that is where the sunshine ends in Florida.

The defense is historically bad. 28.8 PPG bad, and the top 5 tacklers from last season are all gone. Only 5 interceptions from last season were from players returning this year. Yes, Princely Umanmielen, Jason Marshall Jr., and Shemar James may be the real deal. But in the SEC, you’ve got to have more than a handful of real deals. I like Billy Napier a lot, honestly, as a person and as a coach. I’m not going to call for his head like some of Florida’s fan base are already doing before Year 2 even starts. In fact, I think he will eventually turn this program around. But it’s very important to temper expectations in 2023, and to acknowledge that South Carolina has the superior program and roster at this point in time.

This is a home game, too, in a series in which the home team has won in blowout fashion the past 2 years. Realistically, that streak has every reason to continue this season, and Spencer Rattler should have one of his best games as a Gamecock against a defense that is more Swiss cheese than Swiss army knife. This should be an entertaining game, but not in the aspect of being a nail biter or a super close game.