Five burning questions for South Carolina’s season opener against North Carolina
South Carolina finally opens its football season Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte (ESPN), going head-to-head with North Carolina. Here are five top questions headed into the game:
How much will Tavien Feaster play?
Ever since the former Clemson running back announced he would transfer to South Carolina and play immediately as a graduate transfer, fans have been eagerly waiting to see him featured in the backfield for the Gamecocks.
But USC still has two other senior tailbacks in Rico Dowdle and Mon Denson, and Feaster has had less than a month of practice at Carolina in which he had to learn a new playbook and system. So will coach Will Muschamp try to ease him into the flow of things or throw Feaster right in and hope his talent carries him?
Will Jake Bentley take care of the football?
No one in the SEC threw more interceptions last season that USC’s Jake Bentley and, consequently, taking care of the ball has been the biggest theme of the senior QB’s offseason.
Both Muschamp and Bentley have expressed optimism on that front throughout most of preaseason practice, but it’s a whole different thing once the games actually start. Especially in the red zone, Bentley needs to not turn over the football. Fortunately for him, North Carolina only intercepted seven passes last season, tied for fourth fewest in the ACC and in the bottom 30 of the FBS.
Just how good is UNC?
Granted, looking at any of last year’s statistics won’t tell you too much about North Carolina. The Tar Heels have a new staff, led by legendary coach Mack Brown in the first year of his second stint at UNC, not to mention a true freshman quarterback in Sam Howell under center.
And as Muschamp noted earlier this week, North Carolina went 2-9 last season but five of those losses came by a touchdown or less, with two others by 10 points. So how much of that was bad luck, bad coaching under a previous regime or just a bad team? It’s an inexact science, but 247Sports ranks teams’ talent levels based on recruiting, and North Carolina enters 2019 with a top-30 squad by that measurement.
How will Dakereon Joyner be used, if at all?
This one will almost certainly not impact the final outcome of the game, but it’s a topic USC fans and observers can’t get enough of — what role will redshirt freshman Dakereon Joyner play for the Gamecocks?
After losing out in the team’s backup quarterback battle to Ryan Hilinski, Joyner was viewed as someone who might transfer from the program, but his upbeat social media presence slowed that theory. Despite Joyner’s previous insistence that he was a quarterback and would not change positions, Muschamp hinted he would help in whatever role asked of him.
To cap it all off, Muschamp said Tuesday that Joyner “absolutely” will play against UNC. Where? “You’ll find out Saturday,” he smiled. Is it all an elaborate ruse to fake everyone out? Will Joyner switch to wide receiver or running back? Or will he get a special package fans have long clamored for?
Can USC erase fans’ Belk Bowl memories?
The last time South Carolina played at Bank of America Stadium, things ... did not go well. A humbling 28-0 blowout to Virginia led to Muschamp getting questions about the Belk Bowl months later, and he admitted that he was “disgusted” by that game.
Fast forward to this game week and, to a man, every Gamecock said they’ve moved on from 2018’s roughest loss and are focused on the task at hand. That being said, for a fan base that had high expectations go unmet last year, coming out and convincingly beating another ACC school in the same venue where last season ended would go a long way toward settling nerves and restoring confidence.
This story was originally published August 31, 2019 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Five burning questions for South Carolina’s season opener against North Carolina."
