South Carolina Football: Report card from blowout win over Vanderbilt

A. As it has been most of this season, South Carolina football had some elite quarterback play on Saturday. Spencer Rattler was about as good as a quarterback in the rain could be. He had an interception that seemed to be a product of a poor grip on the ball, but he also went 28-36 with 3 touchdowns through the air and another on the ground. Most quarterbacks can’t do that with perfect weather, and Rattler managed that type of effort while playing with a wet football. LaNorris Sellers came in for one drive and had a 36-yard rushing touchdown in which he broke a tackle.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. QUARTERBACK PLAY

South Carolina Gamecocks. RUNNING BACKS. B+. The Carolina run game still isn’t good. Other than long scores from Mario Anderson and LaNorris Sellers, the Gamecocks couldn’t run the ball on a bad Vanderbilt defense. However, most of that blame lies with the offensive line. Anderson fought hard for his yards and played really well, all things considered. Djay Braswell didn’t look comfortable running the ball after replacing Juju McDowell (who left the game with a shoulder injury), but he made a nice play in the passing game, almost scoring his first career touchdown..

. South Carolina Gamecocks. PASS CATCHERS. B+. The South Carolina pass catchers struggled with drops in this game, but most of that can be attributed to the rain. Players have to adjust to the weather, but the ding on the report card won’t be too large. Xavier Legette, other than a couple of wet ball drops, had a really nice day as he went for over 100 yards on the day and over 1000 yards on the season. Josh Simon was really good again while filling in for the injured Trey Knox, and Ahmarean Brown and O’Mega Blake each had an impressive touchdown. Even big Boogie Huntley lined up at tight end at the goal line and caught a wide-open score. Without the drops, this grade is probably an A or A+.

OFFENSIVE LINE. B-. The Gamecocks offensive line still isn’t very good, but they had a pretty good day protecting Spencer Rattler. In just the first repeat offensive line starting lineup of the season, Carolina surrendered 0 sacks, but they probably would have given up a few had it not been for Spencer Rattler’s escapability. The push in the run game wasn’t there like it should have been, but it was a better effort up front in the run game than several other games this season.. . South Carolina Gamecocks