Signal caller shoot-out

Saturday could be a changing of the guard in the SEC. One of the conference’s up-and-coming quarterbacks, Jake Bentley, heads to Missouri to battle one of the best SEC quarterbacks over the last few years in Drew Lock.

Both are similar drop-back passers who can hurt defenses with their feet in a pinch, but the resemblances don’t stop there.

“They throw the ball extremely well. Both guys can make all the throws: the touch throw, the long throw. Obviously, directing their offense at a high level,” head coach Will Muschamp said. “Certainly both guys are capable and have done it. (There are) A lot of similarities as far as those things are concerned in throwing the football and taking the ball to the right spot, no question.”

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Lock started his first game in as a freshman in 2015 against South Carolina, beating the Gamecocks 24-10. Bentley’s third-career start was a 31-21 victory against the Tigers at home.

But, when the two quarterbacks’ stats over their first eight starts, it seems like Bentley’s had a better start to his career than Lock.

Over the first eight career starts, Lock went 2-6 while Bentley is 5-3 and led the Gamecocks from a 2-4 start to a berth in the Birmingham Bowl.

Their stats over their first eight starts are pretty telling as well.

Drew Lock: 114-248 (46 percent completion), 1,107 yards, three touchdowns, seven interceptions, 86.58 average passer rating.

Jake Bentley: 142-218 (65.1 percent completion), 1,635 yards, 12 touchdowns, five interceptions, 136.75 average passer rating.

Lock is one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC and could likely hear his name called in the draft this April. Last week he threw for 521 and tied a SEC record with seven touchdown passes.

Bentley knows how good Lock is, but said his mentality doesn’t change regardless of which quarterback is on the other sideline.

“He’s a great quarterback. They have a great offense, but the name of the game is to score more points than them,” Bentley said. “We’re going to come in there with the same mindset as we do every other game. That’s to score on every drive. If we do that then we’ll be fine.”

Also see: Josh Low's weekly thoughts on the Gamecocks' Saturday showdown

Helping Hurst

Tight end Hayden Hurst didn’t have a flashy game, he called it, Saturday against N.C. State. He finished with one catch for minus-two yards, but received the team’s co-offensive player of the week award for his blocking ability.

He was kept in to protect quarterback Jake Bentley from a really good N.C. State pass rush, and he did his job along with the rest of the offensive line, but should be the recipient of more targets this week.

“Really juts an unselfish guy that works his tail off in every aspect of his game. That’s what we needed him to do is stay in and block and have big blocks in the run game for us,” Bentley said. “That’s one of the areas that we’re going to try and get better at this week in getting him more involved in the game.”

Hurst was a major factor in last week’s game plan but almost nothing came his way. The coaching staff made some play calls that were designed to get him the ball, but the pass rush didn’t let that happen.

On Deebo Samuel’s highlight-reel catch in the second half, the play was originally designed to go to Hurst but the pocket broke down and Bentley was forced to scramble. Hurst will likely get more targets this week along with maintaining his blocking duties.

"He needs to continue to block well, and that’s going to be every week in the run game. That’s part of his job as a tight end and what we do offensively,” Muschamp said. “We a couple of screens set up. One wasn’t very well time and the other wasn’t very well thrown. We’ll have targets for Hayden every game.”

Also see: Which Missouri players should you watch for this Saturday?

Road Warriors

The Gamecocks struggled at times on the road last season, going 1-4 in true away games in Muschamp’s first season.

This year, the Gamecocks feel like they’ve improved and are better equipped to play and communicate in hostile SEC atmospheres.

The coaches have pumped in crowd noise during practice to try and disrupt communications on the field. It didn’t simulate fully a true road game, but it’s helped players learn how to communicate with thousands of fans screaming from the stands.

“We’re a year experienced. We know we have some stuff to work on; we didn’t play that great on the road last year,” Hurst said. “But coach has done some stuff in practice with crowd noise and stuff like that and we’ve definitely done better communicating and getting on the same page. I’m not too worried about that.”

Bentley is a big part of that, Muschamp thinks. He's is entering just his third non-bowl game away from Williams-Brice but the sophomore is more mature and able to calm younger, more inexperienced players down.

“I always felt that was an important factor on going on the road is having that position be a calming factor for your team. I certainly feel more comfortable there. I do feel like defensively that we have some experienced guys who have been on the road, understand the importance that this is an SEC East game and the first step to Atlanta.”