The season flashed in front of the South Carolina Gamecocks this past Saturday against the Tennessee Volunteers. A loss to the Vols – with losses to Kentucky and Georgia already on the slate, and with Florida still coming up – would have buried the Gamecocks in the middle of the SEC East.
By Matt Zemek
Any hopes of making a late push closer to the top of the division would have been squelched. With Tennessee and Florida breaking in first-year coaches, the Gamecocks would have entered 2019 with less momentum than any other non-Vanderbilt SEC East program. A loss to Tennessee at home simply was not acceptable, so when South Carolina fell behind 21-9 early in the third quarter, the Gamecocks confronted the possibility that their season was about to hit rock bottom and enter November with no profound SEC goal, only the chance to spoil Clemson’s season in a non-conference rivalry game.
At that precise moment, a team which could have folded the tent instead rallied – against Tennessee, and for Will Muschamp, and for the sake of sustaining this season. The Gamecocks might have struggled against Kentucky, and the Florida game will be challenging, but falling below Tennessee would have left this team with nothing in 2018.
The second-half charge from South Carolina – with Jake Bentley picking himself off the ground and playing one of his best halves of the year – injected a feeling of pride into a team which had been scuffling and struggling to find its best level of play. This season won’t be a complete success – not with Kentucky clearly becoming the second-best team in the SEC East, and with a bowl bid unlikely to carry South Carolina to a January bowl destination – but this could have been a lost year with an “L” against Tennessee. Now, this season can still end in a way which generates a pervasive sense of encouragement for 2019. That, at the very least, would be something significant to hold onto.
Now comes Ole Miss.
1 – CARRY THE BATON
The Gamecocks can’t let that Tennessee finish – a near-perfect fourth quarter – go to waste. When I say that, I don’t merely mean that South Carolina has to back up that performance with a win over Ole Miss. I more precisely mean that with so much confidence coursing through the Gamecocks’ locker room, it would be a waste if that positive energy doesn’t translate to a fantastic first quarter against the Rebels. South Carolina – a team in search of itself for so much of this season – ought to be able to carry the end of the Tennessee game into the start of the Ole Miss game. Doing so would create a low-stress experience in marked contrast to white-knuckle wins over the Vols and (earlier in the season) Missouri. Carrying momentum forward in a seamless way is a big deal for South Carolina here.
2 – BENTLEY DOWN THE FAIRWAY
The quarterback who has struggled needs to put together a complete game on the heels of last week. What is true for South Carolina is especially true for its QB.
3 – RED ZONE DEFENSE
The Rebels will not win if they kick a bunch of field goals. South Carolina’s defense must make its foremost show of resilience here.
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