SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL
Will Muschamp sat, shell shocked in an equipment closet turned media room, about 100 feet from the field where he and the Gamecocks were handed their worst loss to Tennessee since 1999.
He sat and answered questions about the team’s play, focusing on a porous secondary for the majority of the game and an offense coming off another anemic performance, and gave this answer.
“We have to go back and dial down on what guys can continue to successfully execute in game situations,” he said.
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After the Gamecocks’ 41-21 loss to the hands of the Vols, it looks like the Gamecocks are going back to the drawing board eight games into the season and seven starts into Ryan Hilinski’s career, which isn’t the best sign of a well-oiled offense.
The Gamecocks (3-5, 2-4 SEC) turned in another hot and cold offensive game in Neyland Saturday, starting with a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the game but not mustering much out of that.
They’d get two touchdowns on back-to-back drives to take a four-point lead into halftime; they were shutout the final 30 minutes of the game, putting up 168 yards and averaging 4.1 yards per play the final two quarters.
The loss comes a week after they took a three-point lead into the fourth quarter against No. 9 Florida.
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“We had the lead going into the fourth quarter (last week) and had the lead going into halftime,” Muschamp said. “You feel good about where you are. We just have to do better jobs as coaches to put guys in better situations to be successful. That’s what I have to go back and look at.”
And, like it was last week against the Gators, the same problems reared their heads again.
With South Carolina not able to consistently run the ball Saturday (30 carries for 78 yards), the passing game didn’t do anything to lift the team up with Hilinski finishing 28-for-51 with 319 yards and a touchdown, which equates to 6.3 yards per attempt.
The offense, when it needed a first down, couldn’t muster one and when it needed a score, it couldn’t get one.
“It’s very frustrating. We practice hard; work hard every week. It’s frustrating the same things keep happening,” Tavien Feaster said. “When everybody’s number’s called, we have to make plays. We have to do our jobs.”
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After the game, Feaster talked about players not being “desperate” enough to make plays and said if the Gamecocks want to get back on track offensively players need to be ready when their name is called and know what’s expected of him.
They had a few guys like that Saturday, but not enough.
“You should know what it looks like, a guy desperate to make plays,” Feaster said. “The catch Bryan (Edwards) had, he was desperate to make that play. You saw it. We have to make plays like that.”
Needing three wins over their final four games—home contests against Vanderbilt, App State and Clemson with a road trip to Texas A&M—the margin for error gets smaller and smaller as the weeks go by.
Donell Stanley mentioned players needing to mature, and they’ll need to do it quickly if the Gamecocks want to take more positives from a season complete with a handful of bad losses already on the schedule.
“You just have to be ready when your number’s called,” he said. “If we have guys go down, you have to step up. That’s something I’m trying to preach to these younger guys. It’s their future. I want everything for this program. I’m going to finish this season out as strong as I can and hopefully we can get this bowl game.”
