South Carolina Football: Full game notes from win over Mississippi State

South Carolina Football vs. Mississippi State:
Other Notes

• South Carolina football fans created another good home environment for the Gamecocks.
• The Gamecocks had two tackles for loss on the first drive (Jordan Strachan and Bryan Thomas, Jr.).
• Tyshawn Wannamaker started at right tackle, and Jakai Moore stayed at right guard. The rest of the line (Babalade at LT, Gargiulo at LG, and Lee at C) began the game as expected. When Trovon Baugh got in the game at right guard, Moore came out of the game.
  • Baugh was an energetic blocker who had some good moments in the run game and kept Spencer Rattler upright.
• Spencer Rattler was dominant again in the first half. He finished the second quarter with 162 yards on perfect 13-13 passing.
• Mario Anderson is the best running back on the team right now. He also had a big-time blitz pick-up on the long Legette touchdown.
• Tyshawn Russell and Nyckoles Harbor both got some 1st half snaps at receiver.
• Special teams continues to struggle a bit. Mitch Jeter kicked a kickoff out of bounds. The 2-point conversion fake failed. Kai Kroeger still isn’t punting like Kai Kroeger.
• DQ Smith had a really tough night, especially in coverage. The Bulldogs’ went with a basketball-style matchup hunting philosophy and sicced Tulu Smith on the Gamecock defensive back over and over again. Smith broke the State single-game receiving record early in the 3rd quarter.
  • The rest of the Gamecock secondary didn’t play that well, either, but they were all much better in the 4th quarter.
• Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains was too committed to the run.
• The Gamecocks had two controversial replays go their way on turnover plays. Both calls seemed correctly called, but they were really close.
• Tyshawn Wannamaker had the best right tackle game of the 2023 season. He wasn’t great, but he was good enough.
• Tree Babalade had another good performance, including some good moments in the run game, an area in which he struggled against Georgia. Nick Gargiulo had a pretty good day next to him at left guard, as well.