Rapid reactions and hasty judgements from South Carolina’s 17-10 loss to the Missouri Tigers
The Dawn Of A New Day
They say the night is always darkest before the dawn. Boy was that true tonight. As the Gamecocks left the field at halftime it was about as dark as it gets. South Carolina was totally out skilled, out schemed and out played on both sides of the ball in the first 30 minutes of play in the battle for the Mayor’s Cup. To make things worse Shi Smith was injured on the first series and did not return to the game. BUT in the second half Carolina made a change benching Collin Hill in favor of true freshman quarterback turned receiver turned quarterback Luke Doty.
Doty Made an immediate impact in both production and total team energy and almost led one of the most improbable comebacks since Connor Shaw led the Cocks from 17 back to beat Missouri in 2013. And as much as people are going to do it this week (mobile quarterback blah blah blah…) that’s the only comparison I’m going to make between the two of them. They are not the same player and it’s unfair of anyone to compare an 18 year old who had attempted one pass before tonight’s contest to the greatest QB to ever wear Carolina on his jersey.
Doty flashed the athleticism that made him the #4 dual threat high school prospect in the nation and showed off some arm talent as well. The term that comes to mind for me is gun-slinger. The kid was rippin’ and runnin’, making guys miss, lowering the shoulder to finish runs and slinging the ball into tight windows. Was it polished? No. Was it ugly at times? Hell yeah it was ugly. It was downright disgusting on a couple plays. But keep in mind he’s a true freshman, he didn’t get spring ball to adjust to the college game, and he took most of his fall camp reps on the other side of throws. So all things considered it was a hell of first outing. AND it was fun. Gahdamn it was fun. For the first time in six and a half seasons it was really fun to watch South Carolina’s quarterback.
The Good:
South Carolina ultimately lost to Missouri on Saturday but there were some positive takeaways. Number one obviously was Luke Doty. He ended the night 14/23 (60.9%) with one interception. He also ran for 59 yards. The Gamecocks outscored the tigers 10-0 in the second half so I’m going to say it. Luke Doty is 1-0 as a starter.
Number two was the secondary. I want to give some special shoutouts to the secondary who have been absolutely decimated by injuries and opt outs. It was up to a bunch of kids who have been legally operating motor vehicles for less time than I have been out of college (I’m only 24). But they stepped up. It was shaky in the first half but Cam Smith got a big interception to stall a Mizzou drive and the defense as a whole pitched a shutout in the second half and allowed only 203 yards through the air in the game.
Number three was that this game even happened at all. Missouri has been racked by COVID-19 and hadn’t played a game in three weeks. At kickoff they were down to the minimum 53 scholarship players required to play. Aand with injury, COVID, and opt-out issues of their own, South Carolina was really close to that 53 man cutoff as well. As both of these teams were out of contention for the SEC East title it would’ve been easy for them to just mail this in and postpone or cancel the game. So props to both athletic directors and all staff involved to make this game possible.
The Bad:
South Carolina’s run game. Woooooof. It was AWFUL. The O line struggled to create push and open gaps for Harris and Fenwick. As a whole the gamecocks ran the ball 36 times for 114 yards (3.2 yards per carry). Most of those positive yards came from Luke Doty’s second half scrambling. In a season where Carolina has leaned on its running backs to produce offense tonight’s performance was disappointing.
The other bad was penalties. As this is being written South Carolina’s offensive line was called again for holding. Penalties at inopportune times consistently stalled drives and wiped big plays. The holds were an issue and Doty had a costly illegal forward pass that negated a first down on the last drive of the game. Hopefully the new coaching regime is able to clean this up.
The Ugly:
Eliah Drinkwitz. The guy owns us. He whooped our ass last year as Appalachian State’s head coach and he whooped us again this year as Missouri’s. His team also took the field in yellow helmets, white jerseys and yellow pants. The same combo Appalachian wore in their win in Williams-Brice last season. Undoubtedly a troll job from Drink. Plus Drink’s a nerd. I’ve met him. He’s a total dork and I’d like to beat him. He’s also seen a lot of us in the last few years. He was NC State’s OC when we beat them in 2017. He was only a coordinator though so I will credit him with half of a loss. Overall The Nerd is 2-.5 against us. Clean it up USC.
Ring Of Ire
Now it’s time for a segment I will call Ring Of Ire. Named for perhaps the most miserable man ever to walk the earth, Johnny Cash. He was a sad man who wrote sad songs for sad people and we love him for that. Each week I will award Ire points where I see fit to people who should be upset. They will be awarded on a scale of 1 to 10 Johnnys. Let’s get started.
Appalachian State +4.5: Appalachian State was a 4.5 point underdog visiting #15 Coastal Carolina. Down 4 with a chance to mount a final drive to win the game QB Zach Thomas threw an interception over the middle that was returned for a touchdown providing an ugly beat for anyone who bet the points. As horrific as watching your money run the other way is, I must remind you that people who complain about bad beats are worse than guys who bitch about their fantasy football players getting injured. Do not pity the degenerate. 6.5 Johnnys
Oklahoma State: The 14th ranked ‘Pokes faced off against archival #18 Oklahoma in the annual Bedlam game. OSU was looking to snap a 5 game losing streak to the Sooners and instead got boat raced out of Norman 41-13. They’ve now lost 6 straight and 16 out of the last 18. T. Boone Pickens is rolling in his grave. Also pray for Rickie Fowler. 8 Johnnys
Arkansas: My god the Hogs got screwed AGAIN… Normally I won’t award sympathy for complaints re officiating but holy shit Arkansas got a win straight up vacated against Auburn earlier in the season and the refs crowned LSU with an awful targeting call awarding the Bayou Bengals 15 free yards on what ended up being the game wining drive. My heart goes out to Hog Nation tonight. Hopefully we get our mashed potatoes next week against Missouri. If you don’t get that reference follow Bunkie Perkins on Twitter. 9 Johnnys
Down On Devine Street 