South Carolina Football: Report card vs. Missouri Tigers

QUARTERBACK PLAY. B-. Quarterback Spencer Rattler did just about everything he could on Saturday. He was running for his life for most of the game and still had a decent stat line. The biggest knock on Rattler’s day was that he could have avoided one or two of the five sacks he took as his internal clock was, understandably, not operating at peak efficiency due to the constant pressure. He had a good day scrambling, as well. His interception was in desperation mode (as most of his picks this season have been), but it wasn’t his greatest throw, even if his receiver didn’t make a very good effort on the ball.. . South Carolina Gamecocks

. South Carolina Gamecocks. RUNNING BACKS. B. The running backs were in a similar position to Rattler on Saturday: they didn’t stand out, but it was primarily due to their offensive line’s failure. Mario Anderson still managed to average over 5 yards per carry, and the backs combined for 8 catches, including several first downs. The running backs could have been better in pass protection, but when multiple rushers come free on a lot of the offensive snaps, it’s unfair to blame much of that on the backs.

South Carolina Gamecocks. PASS CATCHERS. C-. Xavier Legette left the game with an injury, and the rest of the Carolina pass catchers struggled without him. The best performer of the group was Nyck Harbor who had two catches for 50 yards, but he wasn’t able to get open much. Ahmarean Brown was good with the ball in his hands, but between an inability to get open and not coming up with catches, he only touched the ball three times. O’Mega Blake had one nice play but had a tough day otherwise. Tyshawn Russell dropped a would-be touchdown. The tight ends weren’t bad, but the overall day for the Gamecocks pass catchers wasn’t a good one..

South Carolina Gamecocks. OFFENSIVE LINE. D-. Unfortunately, the South Carolina offensive line has been bad most of the year. Saturday’s game against Missouri was no exception. The unit allowed way too much pressure on quarterback Spencer Rattler, and a lot of the pressure came due to blown assignments. Sidney Fugar was bad filling in for the injured Vershon Lee at right tackle. Tyshawn Wannamaker took over for Fugar late but wasn’t great, either. The interior allowed way too much A-gap pressure, and no one got much of a push in the run game. Tight end Trey Knox struggled again as a blocker, but his running mate at the position Josh Simon was pretty good in limited snaps. While not only about this game, the offensive line has matched the 2022 South Carolina football team’s entire season total (13 games) for sacks allowed with 31 (through just 7 games)..