South Carolina won a game with defensive dominance, traveling to Oklahoma for the first time ever and coming out with a 35-9 win over the Sooners . With the victory, the Gamecocks are now 4-3 (2-3 SEC) heading into the second and final bye week.
Here are five things we learned:
1. There’s more than just Kyle Kennard on defense
It is rare in October that someone on South Carolina could make a play and I wouldn’t be able to see their jersey number and know who it is. But, sure enough, on Saturday a No. 12 for South Carolina bolted around the edge for a sack.
I had to look at the roster. It was Jatius Geer. Before suiting up in Norman, he had played in just three games and made one tackle. One . Against the Sooners, he tripled his tackle production and notched a sack.
This Gamecocks defense proved Saturday that it is more than Kyle Kennard (8.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for losss this season) or five-star true freshman Dylan Stewart (4.5 sacks, 6.5 TFLs) — the pair of game-wrecking edge players who are already on NFL Draft boards.
A few weeks ago, defensive coordinator Clayton White was asked if it pains him when he sees Kennard and Stewart come off the field. He chuckled, not quite giving a solid yes or no.
But playing Kennard and Stewart every play — while it might work for a minute — doesn’t provide you with depth, doesn’t get you to a day where nine different players record a sack.
2. The Gamecocks stopped fumbling
You’ve got to feel good for LaNorris Sellers. He can go into the bye week, drive back to Florence, hang out with family and no one will be inclined to ask him about how he’s going to stop fumbling.
Sellers beat them to it.
The redshirt freshman quarterback had a solid day, completing almost 70% of his passes for 175 yards and a touchdown. But no one cares about that. What they care about is that he didn’t turn the ball over. No interceptions. No fumbles. No obvious plays to criticize.
“It’s a balance of making a play and just taking a sack and living for the next play,” Sellers said. “They’ve been preaching that to me, too, like hey, you need to protect the ball a little better but you have to make us right. You’re the last guy with the ball.”
Sellers did a really good job evading pressure — crazy to say when he still sacked six times — and just throwing the ball away or taking a sack when he needed to.
The Gamecocks won the turnover battle, 4-0. That was the difference.
3. Nick Emmanwori is a game-changer
Emmanwori, in front of a number of NFL personnel and New York Giants GM Joe Schoen, made a case as the best football player on the field Saturday.
The Gamecocks’ junior defensive back went flying on the first play of the game, diving in front of his receiver to intercept a pass from Sooners quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. A few minutes later, he snagged another interception — this one off a duck from Hawkins — before taking it 65 yards to the house.
Oh, and he led the Gamecocks in tackles (11).
“Nick Emmanwori is an elite football player. Wow,” Shane Beamer said. “It goes back to effort.”
It has long been known that the three-star DB from Irmo had freakish size and ability, but he was exceptional on Saturday. He hasn’t been amazing this season, at least, according to Pro Football Focus, but he’s really good in coverage and when you combine good coverage skills with a 6-foot-4, 227-pound frame, NFL teams will call.
4. Running game needs improvement
In what was billed as a defensive showdown — and it was for the most part — I didn’t expect for South Carolina to run the ball for 200 yards against the Sooners. But certainly, I expected a Gamecocks running back to have a rush of more than 13 yards.
Against Oklahoma — a top-40 rush defense in the country — South Carolina never seemed to have a hole. The Gamecocks carried the ball 41 times for just 74 yards.
Even when you take out the sack yardage (48 yards) and the yards lost in victory formation (2), the Gamecocks still only rushed the ball for 3.75 yards per carry.
It’s a bit concerning, especially when spotlighting Rocket Sanders. Since he was injured in the Akron game, the Arkansas transfer has rushed the ball 39 times for 140 yards (3.6 ypc).
Now is that on Sanders or an offensive line that keeps giving up sack after sack?
5. There’s a new path to eight wins
I’ll be honest, after that Ole Miss blowout , I was questioning if the Gamecocks were going to make a bowl game. The schedule looked too daunting. The offense looked dead. And the defense looked human, which wasn’t enough.
Two weeks later, there’s no doubt in my mind the Gamecocks will make a bowl. Heck, look at the schedule — that’s a shot at an eight-win year.
All it would take is South Carolina losing just one game among its final five contests: vs. Texas A&M, at Vanderbilt, vs. Missouri, vs. Wofford and at Clemson.
The way I see it: The Gamecocks are capable of beating Wofford (duh), Vanderbilt and Missouri. Which means they need to beat either Texas A&M or Clemson. They’ll be underdogs in both, but it’s more realistic than it was a few weeks ago.
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