South Carolina football fans almost universally agree that the Gamecocks have been unacceptably bad on the defensive side of the football for most of the 2023 season. However, upon further inspection, there is reason to believe that the situation on defense is even worse than many fans think.
The Gamecocks have not had a good game on the defensive side of the football all season. Sure, for stretches against Furman and Georgia, defensive coordinator Clayton White’s unit looked fine. However, USC has played six games in 2023, and the defense has been below-average at its best and downright abysmal at its worst when one looks at the totality of each game.
Many South Carolina football fans are calling for head coach Shane Beamer to fire White, and if things don’t improve drastically down the stretch, there doesn’t seem to be a realistic scenario that doesn’t result in White looking for a new job. However, it is extremely doubtful that Beamer will let White go before the offseason.
When the Marcus Satterfield era was (very obviously) over, Beamer still held onto the former Gamecock offensive coordinator until the offseason. Satterfield “left” for a new job at Nebraska, but there was a 0% chance that he was going to be the offensive coordinator in Columbia in 2023.
It would stand to reason that it would be Shane Beamer’s preference to have the same thing happen for White. If he “takes another job” within a week or so of the regular season’s end, fans can read between the lines just as they did with Satterfield.
However, all of the talk about White’s status as a potential lame-duck defensive coordinator doesn’t matter yet.
The Gamecocks still have six games in the 2023 regular season to try to fight for an unlikely bowl game invitation. For that to happen, the defense must be better.
Before trying to figure out how the defense can improve (if it can), let’s take a look at the facts surrounding the Gamecock D.