South Carolina Football: Report card from blowout win over Vanderbilt
By Kevin Miller
Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football squad needed a win over Vanderbilt to preserve their hopes for a bowl game. The Gamecocks didn’t just beat the Commodores, however. They blew out Clark Lea’s team in the most lopsided game in the history of this series.
A less-than-soldout Williams-Brice Stadium was loud on Saturday as the rain-soaked turf made some of the game pretty ugly to watch. Dropped passes, low snaps, and inaccurate passes were commonplace in the game, but Carolina’s dominance kept the fans in attendance happy.
Here are the grades for South Carolina football’s win over the Vanderbilt Commodores:
The only thing that South Carolina football fans could have done better on Saturday was fill up the seats. It is hard to blame the Gamecock Faithful who elected to skip this one, however, as a low-50s temperature was mixed with all-day rain and two struggling football teams. The fans who were in attendance were loud all day.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. FANS . A-
A. The blowout win against Vanderbilt is probably the best-coached game of the Gamecock season. Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains had a nice game plan that resulted in 47 points (40 from the offense) and added a few new wrinkles that hadn’t been shown before, and defensive coordinator Clayton White threw more looks at Vandy than USC has shown all season. There were some special teams issues that were almost entirely caused by the wet football, so it is hard to put any blame on special teams coordinator Pete Lembo. All-in-all, Saturday was a good one for the Gamecock coaching staff.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. COACHING
South Carolina Gamecocks. SPECIAL TEAMS. SHRUG. Special teams is hard to grade. The Gamecocks missed an extra point, botched another with a high snap, and had a couple of miscues in the punting game. All of those issues were related to the wet field. Players have to adjust to the conditions, so they will still get dinged a bit, but it would be unfair to grade them harshly. Keenan Nelson, Jr. blocked a punt, recovered the loose ball, and returned it for a touchdown. It was a nice play, but it probably would not have happened without a poor snap from the wet ball. Instead of a real grade, this one gets a *shrug* because of the weather..