South Carolina Football: What went wrong for the Gamecocks against UNC?
By Kevin Miller
Many fans had high expectations for the season and left Saturday with a supreme sense of disappointment. But what went wrong for the Gamecocks against UNC?
Everything.
Well, that’s not entirely true, but it sure felt like it. When South Carolina football took the field against border rival North Carolina on Saturday, most were expecting a tightly contested game. That is not what transpired in the Battle of the Carolinas.
The biggest issues that plagued the Gamecocks in Charlotte came in the trenches.
On the offensive line, nothing positive can be said. The big uglies up front surrendered 9 sacks to a UNC defense that only logged 17 total quarterback takedowns in 2022. They also could get no push in the run game. The Gamecocks had -2 yards on the ground for the game. That utter domination by the Tar Heels was surprising despite the questions that surrounded the South Carolina offensive line.
Things weren’t much better on the other side of the line of scrimmage. The pass rush was non-existent as the Gamecocks rarely pressured North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye. The ‘Heels also ran the ball almost at will, tallying over 160 yards rushing, including several drives that were marked by gashing run after gashing run.
The passing game was very good for the Gamecocks, all things considered, but the rushing attack was arguably the worst it has ever been in the history of the program. South Carolina football had -2 yards running the football, and even if one were to dismiss the sack yardage, the Gamecocks still rushed for just 20 yards on 18 carries.
Even with how good Spencer Rattler and Xavier Legette were for most of the night, without a running game, the offensive ceiling was limited. A couple of drops (one on 3rd down and one on 4th down) didn’t help matters.
Back to the defense, the linebacker play was the strong point, but the secondary had some big busts throughout the night. While the unit tackled well for most of the game, a North Carolina receiver or two seemed to get loose on every down.
Even when the coverage was good, UNC’s receivers won more contested balls than USC’s defensive backs, but it is worth noting that they picked off Drake Maye twice.
The Gamecock coaching staff didn’t have their best day, either. Simple things such as getting lined up correctly and quickly were issues at times, and USC had 13 men on the field coming out of a timeout in the first half (they still gave up a touchdown on the play).
Injuries were, unfortunately, also a big part of the South Carolina-North Carolina rivalry game. Juice Wells never appeared healthy and left the game after re-aggravating his foot injury. Mo Kaba, Cason Henry, Ahmarean Brown, Nick Emmanwori, and David Spaulding all left the game with injuries, as well. Xavier Legette also got banged up but returned to action.
All-in-all, the fact that the Gamecocks lost by just two scores means that the sky is not falling. As terrible as the team played at the line of scrimmage, keeping the game relatively close speaks to the fact that some positives were present on Saturday.
Those positives will need to become a much larger percentage of the on-field product sooner rather than later, however, if the South Carolina football program wants to continue making positive moves in the SEC.
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