Gamecocks succumbed to Kentucky's physicality in second half
LEXINGTON, KY. - South Carolina’s offensive woes aside, the 17-10 loss to Kentucky Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium boiled down to this disturbing reality – the Wildcats challenged the Gamecocks with their second half physicality and USC failed to respond.
Kentucky’s 11-play, 65-yard drive towards the eventual game-winning touchdown within a span of 4:58 bridging the third and fourth quarters was Exhibit A in smash-mouth football. The Wildcats didn’t do anything fancy. Basically, they gave the football to Benny Snell over and over, and the 5-foot-11, 220-pound true freshman propelled the UK offense down the field as the Wildcat offensive line continually shoved the Gamecocks defensive front backwards off line the scrimmage.
Snell carried nine times, including the first eight plays of the drive, totaling 50 yards. The tone was set early in the drive as Snell powered ahead for 14- and 12-yard runs on the first two snaps. He wrapped up the drive with one-yard TD out of the Wildcat formation.
Kentucky had 77 rushing yards on 21 carries in the fourth quarter. How many times did the Wildcats throw the football in the fourth quarter? Zero.
Kentucky simply pinned their ears back and dared the Gamecocks to stop them. They couldn’t.
“We were loading up as many as we could get down there,” USC head coach Will Muschamp said after the game. “Go watch the film. There are a lot of folks sitting there. You have to get off a block and make a tackle.”
Kentucky finished with 216 rushing yards compared to 91 for the Gamecocks. The Wildcats ran the ball 50 times and attempted just 19 passes. Meanwhile, USC averaged only 2.6 yards per rushing attempt.
Translation: Kentucky won the battle in the trenches convincingly on both sides of the ball.
“Defensively, we really struggled to play blocks up front and hold the point against people,” Muschamp said. “That's something that's been a recurring theme. We try to load the box with as many guys as we can. We have to get off blocks and make some tackles.”
In addition to the trenches, Kentucky won the battle on the perimeter against USC’s secondary.
“We’re not the most physical bunch in the secondary and they wanted to make our second defensive backs tackle,” Muschamp said. “That’s what they did. We have some guys that need to tackle better. We’re doing everything we can as far as teaching is concerned. We just have to learn to wrap, stick your face in the fan and like it a little bit.”
One of the few bright spots on the night was the performance of defensive end Darius English, who collected a career-high three sacks, most by a single Gamecock player in four years. English finished with a career-high eight tackles. But like the rest of the Gamecocks, he was disappointed by USC's inability to stop the run and Kentucky's superiority in the trenches.
"We anticipated the run coming, but we have to stop it though," English said. "We have to stop the run and play harder. We have to play better on defense. It was very frustrating because we knew coming into this game that they would try to run the ball. We didn't do a very good job stopping it."
NOTES:
-- Sophomore WR Deebo Samuel sat out his second straight game with an ailing hamstring, the same injury that sidelined him for seven games a year ago.
-- Freshman WR Randrecous Davis was injured in practice this week and did not travel with the team to Lexington. RB Rico Dowdle and DL Abu Lamin traveled for the first time this season. Dowdle was not expected to play, but Muschamp expects him to contribute later in the season and he wanted to expose the freshman to the rigors of the road even though the Gamecocks play six of the final eight games at home.
-- Hayden Hurst’s 84 receiving yards was a career high.
-- Redshirt freshman RB A.J. Turner recorded his first career rushing TD on a 12-yard run in the second quarter.
-- The Gamecocks defense should remain in the upper half of the SEC in scoring defense after limiting the opposition to 17 points or less for the third time in four games.
-- USC had four sacks on the night, giving them eight sacks in the last two games, and six tackles for loss. Dante Sawyer had his first sack of the year.
-- Chris Moody led USC with a career-high nine tackles.
-- The Gamecocks won the turnover battle, 2-0, but couldn’t take advantage of either miscue by scoring zero points off turnovers. Jamarcus King tallied his first forced fumble in the first quarter. Sawyer recovered the fumble. The second turnover was D.J. Smith’s interception in the third quarter when Kentucky QB Stephen Johnson overthrew a receiver in the middle of the field.
-- With a field goal and extra point on Saturday, Elliott Fry now has 310 career points, 20 less than USC all-time leader Collin Mackie (330 points).
-- Muschamp on playing the next five games at home: “Playing at home is an advantage for us. We need to play well and get our fans excited.”
SEC WEEK 4 RESULTS (Sept., 24)
Alabama 48, Kent State 0
Ole Miss 45, Georgia 14
Mississippi State 47, Massachusetts 35
Tennessee 38, Florida 28
Missouri 79, Delaware State 0
Vanderbilt 31, Western Kentucky 30 (OT)
Auburn 18, LSU 13
Kentucky 17, South Carolina 10
Texas A&M 45, Arkansas 24
