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Post Game thoughts vs. North Carolina

FeatheredCock

FeatheredCock

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Post Game thoughts vs. North Carolina
Sept. 03, 2023

I know Gamecock fans do not want to hear this and I was surely hoping to have egg on my face but, well let me say that the game last night went how I thought and felt would happen (FULL ARTICLE)
 
Final thoughts:


Both lines were whipped up front. OL plays was atrocious. DL looked weak and slow. The portal gives and it takes away. We need to hit on more DL transfers, better OL or hope our recruiting classes hold up. Need interior D linemen and faster edge players. Both OTs should be benched, but in favor of who? I think we have more depth issues than willing to admit.

Even with all that, if a catch is made after we recover the onside kick to start the 3rd, things could have been different. Sacks kept us out of the endzone in the 2nd half. I think we had 13 D players on the field once and still gave up a rushing TD. Seems like SC is a team that can never master the screen pass or do anything to adjust to D pressures in a game. D had two picks but it felt like they never made a big play to establish themselves or build some momentum.
Aside from making no noticeable adjustments in the 2nd half, I'm ok with the offensive plays for the most part. Some were head scratchers but that will always be. With a healthy Juice, maybe we put more pressure on them to back off defensively but doubt it. Thankfully, they were also without a couple good WRs. What happened to the TEs? They weren't blocking and Knox accounted for the only 2 catches by a TE on the night.

SC O gave up 9 Sacks, tons of pressures.
SC D generated 0 Sacks or even a pressure/hurry that I recall.
Negative 2 total yds rushing on 31 attempts.
SC D made 1 tackle for loss
Legette was awesome and can be a #1 WR. 9 recepts for 178 yds. 19.8 avg.
Rattler played great. 30-39 for 353 yds, 77% completion, 9.1 avg, 153 QB Rating. Think what he could do with a pocket and time.

Joyner was the leading rusher, 12 carries for 23 yds. 1.9 average (Marshawn Lloyd had a great day for USC, 118 yds on 16 carries 7.4 ypc avg. Did he see this coming?)
I think Doty caught everything thrown his way. Deebo Williams with 14 tackles. Blanton with 10. Overall they played pretty well at LB. They will continue to get better.
 
The game felt like the Arkansas game last year. Having a mid-major opponent before last night would not have made a difference in the outcome.

We suck until we prove otherwise. It will probably take the team half the season to get things figured out, just like it has been since 2014.

There are any number of high school teams in this state that play the game better than we have over the past several years. We could probably bring one of those staffs in for the same HS money they're making and do better.

Deion set the new standard at Colorado the first day: be committed to winning a championship or go play somewhere else. Only he himself could do something like that and make it work, but it worked.

Dawn and Dabo set championship goals and hold people accountable if their teams can't get there; our men's revenue sport coaches just drive the minivan around. The CEO BS doesn't really get it done here. There's no perfect job. You have to confront players and assistant coaches face-to-face early in the game if they are doing things wrong.

We are a football program that's accidentally successful most of the time. It's just sad and depressing. No way in heck am I going to subscribe to a streaming service until we consistently play better.
 
Nice to see thought-out opinions. Good to see guys...Keep it up................
 
UNC is a basketball school and I don't think most UNC fans gave a crap about football until we beat them in the Mayo Bowl in 2021.

The one positive takeaway from the game was from the Gamecock fans in attendance that really made this a home game for us. The energy from Gamecock Nation was always under the surface and showed itself on the good plays we made. There's an excitement created by higher expectations this year for sure.

Hopefully the team uses this passion from the fan base plus the desire to play better to kill Furman in the home opener.

Who from this year's stellar Freshman class will step up?
 
the run defense wasnt as bad as some felt in the aftermath of the loss when almost everything is a negative. there are certainly some things to clean up but after the 1st drive, the next 17 carries by a unc rb went for 46 yards. at that point we're down 14 and theyve been on the field a lot so giving up a play or two is understandable which ended up happening. we then gave up a 29 yard run on the next drive which id need to look back at but i think a dlineman was in position to make the play in the backfield. regardless we didnt become pushovers afterwards, 2 yard run drive ended on an int. afterwards on two more drives we gave up a 10 yard run on each, but once again the defense buckled down and got a stop.

there were certainly some plays to be made in the open field that werent made, we need to tackle better, and we need to create more negative plays. i think the basis is there for a much improved run defense. i really would like to go back and watch every pass play because generating pressure and getting sacks is where we need to improve the most. whether thats finding the right personnel to get pressure with 4, refining the technique, or working on our blitz packages. specifically to see was there someone on the edge who popped more than the others, someone who got no pressure at all, whatever.
 
I cannot understand how we could be that bad on the OL. I truly think old ladies in wheelchairs could have slowed the rush down more than our OL.
 
Cockyandproud said:
I cannot understand how we could be that bad on the OL. I truly think old ladies in wheelchairs could have slowed the rush down more than our OL.
Click to expand...
There's definite skill gaps there but they shouldn't be that far off. Lack of a true P5 talent at RB doesn't help. Seems like we're always at a point of trying to simplify something so our players can get it. Ours was the worse OL performance that I saw from the entire weekend. I think we have a bigger issue with depth than the coaches and fans want to admit. As for our DL, they did ok vs the run but they generated zero push. We had 1 negative play on D for the entire game. Running or passing, that's terrible. Amazing that our coaches were this overwhelmed or surprised from practice/scrimmages to the game and are now trying to get from terrible to at least serviceable. If they don't figure something out on the OL, Rattler may need to consider the portal mid season or they'll ruin his chances at going pro. Curious to see what changes, scheme, positions, will be made in the next few weeks. Struggling to protect and run vs Furman will only make things worse.
 
Rattler will end likely up hurt if they don't fix the OL issues. Portal would be a moot point then.
 
kingofnerf said:
Rattler will end likely up hurt if they don't fix the OL issues. Portal would be a moot point then.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I hope he doesn't do either. He also should be commended for his play and his attitude during the game. Saw nothing but a leader and competitor out there. He was the best QB on the field Sat night, all things considered. Drake Maye is very good, as expected, but had a better group protecting and much better run support.
 
The Duke/Clemson highlights for comparison.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00oVrRN9cs0

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTDA4grEOtE

Duke QB Riley Leonard played Clemson the way Joyner did for us against the UNC in the Mayo Bowl two years ago and Duke won. Leonard's rushing TD was a game-changer for sure. Leonard had enough athleticism to make a difference.

The grain of slat being our OL was much better in the Mayo Bowl than it was this past Saturday and UNC could score on us at will to put the game out of reach. Then our offense had the opportunities but couldn't score.
 
The Duke/Clemson game was the best one I have watched in a while. It had everything, just like our game with Clemson last season.

Duke's offense beat Clemson with tempo and Clemson's offense beat itself.

The Dukies and Taters both have Notre Dame, FSU and Wake on their schedules. It should be some great football to watch. Hopefully we pull head out of our azz and play better, too.
 
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