Among the reasons why it’s too soon for USC to panic: They’ve got Spencer Rattler
Four years ago, North Carolina rallied to beat South Carolina in the 2019 season opener in Charlotte and Tar Heels coach Mack Brown danced for his players inside the Bank of America Stadium locker room. He might as well have been dancing on Will Muschamp’s grave.
Muschamp won just six more games in his remaining time at USC, and he was out before the end of the 2020 season.
Saturday night in Charlotte, after coming from behind again to beat the Gamecocks, Brown danced for his players in their jubilant locker room, celebrating not only that win, but No. 100 as the Tar Heels’ coach and No. 275 for his Hall of Fame career.
At least Shane Beamer has his quarterback intact coming out of Saturday night’s loss, something Muschamp did not have in 2019 and a major reason the rest of his time at USC went south. As long as Beamer has Spencer Rattler on the field, the Gamecocks will have a chance to be competitive.
Lost in the aftermath of Saturday’s loss was Rattler’s performance. He completed 30-of-39 passes for 353 yards despite running for his life practically every time he dropped back. And with no running game to count on, Rattler knew the offense rested on his right arm. He and Xavier Legette (nine catches, 178 yards) became the show for USC.
Despite all the bad Saturday night for the Gamecocks — the injuries, the nine sacks of Rattler, the tackles for loss by the Tar Heels, the lack of sacks and tackles for loss by the Gamecock defense, the porous coverage in the secondary — they still had a chance to win the game.
Three straight second-half possessions into the Tar Heel red zone amounted to only three points. Had they played better football and scored touchdowns, Beamer and the Gamecocks would not find themselves in the position they are in one week into the season, and that is a fan base with a lot of doubt about the future for this season.
But it’s silly to condemn any team after a season-opening loss. There was plenty not to like about Saturday night if you’re a USC fan, but the fact the Gamecocks had a reasonable chance at winning despite the string of injuries and the absence of Juice Wells is something Beamer can build on this week in preparing for Furman.
Imagine Rattler, Legette, Wells and Ahmarean Brown complemented with any semblance of a running game. The offense would be dynamic and, even saddled with a less-than-stellar defense, could outscore a lot of opponents.
To get to that, Beamer has to address the offensive line issues of Saturday night. The problems were evident for all to see. Piecemealing a line together via the transfer portal is a roll of the dice. Each transfer came from a lower-level program, and to expect them to play at an SEC level might be a reach.
Beamer has raved about the offensive linemen recruited out of high school the last two classes, so it would make sense to give some of those guys a shot, but they’ve apparently not been good enough to beat out the older guys just yet.
This is not a time for panic in Gamecock land despite the seemingly never-ending negative commentary on social media. There are plenty of winnable games left to get to seven or eight victories and give Beamer another brick in the wall of building his program.
Only three Gamecock coaches since 1960 have had winning records in their third season: Brad Scott, Lou Holtz and Muschamp. Brown was not tap-dancing on Beamer’s grave Saturday night. The Gamecocks are far from buried after one bad night in the Queen City.
