South Carolina Football: Report card vs. Florida
By Kevin Miller
If the game film for South Carolina football’s game against the Florida Gators was truly a graded school assignment, there would be a lot of red pen marking things up.
The Gamecocks scored enough to win the game, but they did not keep Florida from scoring enough to win the game. In the end, something had to give, and the Gamecocks lost a game they really needed to win to have a realistic shot at making a bowl game at the end of the season.
Without any further ado, here are the grades for South Carolina football’s loss to the Florida Gators:
B. South Carolina football fans weren’t at their best in the early goings on Saturday. The environment around Williams-Brice Stadium was somewhat dead (something that happens when the State Fair is in town), and the stands weren’t full despite the sell-out. However, the environment got much better as the game got exciting in the first half. Too many fans (especially students) left early in what was an extremely close game. For the most part, after a rough start, the fans were impactful on Saturday.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. FANS
. South Carolina Gamecocks. COACHING . C-. This grade is complicated. Defensive coordinator Clayton White didn’t have a good game plan despite having a Bye Week to prepare. He also didn’t make nearly enough adjustments during the game. However, according to Shane Beamer, some of the coaching calls weren’t executed well or run at all by the players on the field. On offense, Dowell Loggains called a very good game, and his offense performed very well as they put up 37 points. Special teams wasn’t great again, but Pete Lembo did dial up a field goal block that paid off with a Tyreek Johnson paw getting on the football.
C-. The Gamecock special teams unit wasn’t very good on Saturday. A blocked field goal salvages the grade a bit, but there were still some pretty big warts in the third phase. Kai Kroeger had another poor performance (other than one really nice punt), the decision to kick the ball short on kickoffs didn’t work out, and the 2-point conversion defense was horrible on Florida’s conversion try in the 1st half. At the end of the game, the Gamecocks attempted a Music City Miracle-esque kickoff return, and the play was either designed poorly or executed poorly (or both).. . South Carolina Gamecocks. SPECIAL TEAMS