Does the UK game set the tone for South Carolina?
It’s South Carolina vs Kentucky this weekend, and it’s a huge match-up for the Gamecocks to set the tone for the rest of the season. Gamecock Central’s Kendall Smith has more on the match-up and what Shane Beamer said about it on Tuesday.
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South Carolina needs better play on road to take down Kentucky
By Collyn Taylor
Through five games, South Carolina’s record is where a lot of prognosticators and outsiders thought this team would be.
Now, after back-to-back blowout wins over non-conference opponents, the pivotal stretch of the season begins.
The Gamecocks have a big game against Kentucky Saturday and, if they want to inch closer to bowl eligibility, have to do something they haven’t done well the last few years and win a game on the road.
“What we need to do is embrace going on the road. As a competitor you love going into a new stadium. I’m sure it’ll be rocking on Saturday night, as it should be. We have to just do what we talk about doing that helps us win football games,” Shane Beamer said.
“(That’s) running the ball and stopping the run, creating turnovers, playing smart football, winning the fourth quarter, winning the explosive play battle. Do that and play well. I feel like we’re a mature football team that can handle that.”
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Dating back to last season, the Gamecocks have played six true road games, five of which came against SEC opponents.
South Carolina is 1-5 in those games while the lone win is a late-second, game-winning field goal over East Carolina.
Opponents have outscored South Carolina 147-77 in the first halves of Gamecocks’ road games.
They’ll have to be much better starting fast against a top-15 Kentucky team.
“Just be confident. You have to go in there knowing everyone’s against you. You have to go out there and play at a high level and best level in all three phases. Our best players have to play great in all three phases,” Spencer Rattler said. “If we do that, we’ll be all right.”
In South Carolina’s lone road game this year, a 44-30 loss to Arkansas, the Gamecocks found themselves in a 21-3 hole quickly and didn’t have enough to claw out of it.
That, Beamer said, wasn’t because this team isn’t equipped to win on the road.
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“I know we didn’t play great against Arkansas but I told the guys this morning I believed in them. I felt very confident in our ability going on the road going to Arkansas. To me, a great road team is able to respond to adversity and not flinch and get stronger. We didn’t get off to a great start against Arkansas, no doubt about it. We were down 21-3.but a team that’s not built to handle the road gets blown out of that game but we battled back to make it 21-16 in the third quarter,” he said.
“Then we didn’t lose the game to Arkansas because we were on the road and couldn’t handle the environment. We lost the game to Arkansas because we couldn’t stop the run and turn the ball over three times in the fourth quarter.
In terms of what Beamer emphasizes to win games—running the ball, creating turnovers, playing smart, closing well and winning the explosive play battle—it’s been mixed results this season.
South Carolina has 24 plays offensively of at least 20 yards while having allowed 17 defensively.
The Gamecocks are coming off their two best rushing performances of the season but rank 11th in the SEC averaging 4.3 yards per carry. The defense is allowing 4.4 yards per carry, third-worst in the league.
The 30 penalties are also tied for the fifth lowest in the SEC. The 295 penalty yards are the fifth highest. The Gamecocks have forced more turnovers the last two weeks but are 13th in the SEC with a minus-6 turnover margin.
The Gamecocks are outscoring their opponents 56-30 in the fourth quarter this season.
The Kentucky game is a big litmus test for a South Carolina team with plenty of room for improvement, but the biggest test to pass is winning a road game in the SEC.
“We just have to go out there, keep our poise and play fast and physical. Don’t let the home crowd get us out of our game. Don’t let anything get us out of our game. We have to go out there and play our game,” Marcellas Dial said. “If we play at our best we’re good enough to beat anybody.”
