Marcellas Dial explains what changed for South Carolina in loss to Georgia
When South Carolina came into the locker room at halftime last Saturday, the vibes were good. Excitement was in the air. The Gamecocks were up 14-3 against the best team in the country.
To many, it was a shock to see top-ranked Georgia get outplayed in the first half. But not for South Carolina.
However, the Gamecocks knew it didn’t matter what they did before. They had to keep their foot on the gas and not let up. They knew the Dawgs would start to play better one way or another.
“We knew whenever we came out of halftime, we were going to get their best shot. They’re a championship team, back-to-back,” Marcellas Dial said during the Garnet Trust Hour on 107.5 The Game. “We were really just trying to stay focused and trying to do everything that we could do to make our mindset known that the game wasn’t over. We knew they were going to come out there swinging.”
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Right out of the gate, Georgia was rolling. Quarterback Carson Beck completed three straight passes before the Dawgs ran the ball three times to get into the end zone on the sixth play of the drive. Very quickly, the momentum shifted. The lead was cut down to four.
After South Carolina went three-and-out on the next drive, the Dawgs went right back down the field. They’d finish the drive with a three-yard touchdown run from Dillon Bell to take the lead, which they would never relinquish again.
Georgia went on to score one more touchdown, capping off a series of three scores in four drives to open the second half. It would be too much for the Gamecocks to overcome as they fell 24-14.
So where did it all go wrong?
“I would say the biggest difference was just attention to detail from the coaches and the players,” Dial said. “Coming out of the half, we had so many self-inflicted wounds. Against the number one team, they’re going to make you pay. So they just found those and they made us pay for them.”
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Everything that worked in the first half changed after the break. Besides the defense struggling to make more stops, South Carolina had six penalties for 38 yards in the second half. The offense only had possession for just under 10 minutes and turned the ball over twice.
The Gamecocks also played pretty far off the ball on the outside defensively. Defensive backs were playing more than a few yards back from the receivers in order to prevent the deep ball. While it was a good strategy, it only worked for so long. Eventually, the talent in Georgia’s receiver room took charge.
“It was really just the scheme going into that week…Playing ball instead of working ball. Like don’t do it if you know it’s coming. You shouldn’t go over there and play tight coverage if you know something keeps coming,” Dial said.
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The Dawgs only threw for 98 yards in the first half but had 171 in the second half. They averaged 6.9 yards per play compared to 4.5 in the first half. Beck had a fine day, finishing 27-for-35 for 269 yards. He went 8-for-10 on medium passes and 2-for-4 on passes more than 15 yards.
One of those passes came Dial’s way in the third quarter, a 36-yard play that put the wheels in motion for an eventual Georgia touchdown.
“It was like a bang. (Beck) zipped it in there. It wasn’t as much air on there. The receiver was able to catch it with his body, you feel me? It wasn’t where he had to put out his hands,” he said.
“Just something I had to recognize. Whenever I recognize a route, I try to do what I was taught and stay on the uphill shoulder.”
Despite not being able to finish the game strongly, South Carolina feels confident about where it’s at heading into Mississippi State this weekend. And Dial feels that same sentiment.
“We know we got a lot to work on, but we just took the number one team toe-to-toe,” Dial said. “So it’s not really a pat on the back but just something to build off of because we know what this team can be.”
