South Carolina scored a huge victory. How will Muschamp’s Gamecocks respond to it?
It’s a rare moment when South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp will dwell on the flows of a season or a topic so negative.
It’s not usually how he operates, especially after a win as big as the one the Gamecocks pulled off against Georgia, easily the biggest of his tenure. But in the afterglow of it all, he raised the question.
“How are we going to respond?” Muschamp said on an appearance on the “SEC this Morning” TV show. “Because we’ve never been in this position. We haven’t been in this position as a program for 10 years. So how are we going to respond to this?”
It’s notable because he’s invoking the biggest win in program history that was followed by one of the biggest letdowns USC has ever seen.
That victory 10 years ago was the titanic upending of No. 1 Alabama, the one that launched the greatest run the Gamecocks have seen. Next up was a trip to Kentucky to face a 3-3 team.
The Gamecocks were up 28-10 at halftime. UK scored the final 21 points, scoring the winning touchdown with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter.
The No. 9 Florida team set to come to Columbia this week is a good bit of a stiffer test, but Muschamp keyed in on some areas where he still needs to see improvement.
“Offensively, just efficiency of being more explosive in the passing game,” Muschamp said. “We hit the out and up to Bryan [Edwards] early in the game, but continuing to throw the football well, continuing to progress in the run game offensively.
“We were able to hit some runs here and there, but some more explosive runs in the run game certainly is going to help our football team.”
Muschamp believes strongly in big plays as indicators of good offense or bad defense. His offense had one pass of 20 yards or more, the 46-yard Edwards touchdown, and two runs for 15 or more yards.
The defense delivered about what was hoped for, especially after struggles against UNC and Alabama to start the year. After giving up 6.4 and 8.9 yards per play to those teams, they have allowed 4.9 or fewer the past two games.
The next matchup brings a Gators squad that is seventh in the country in plays of 10 or more yards. The Gators have some questions at QB, and it presents an intriguing matchup with a talented Gamecocks group that’s come around the past three games.
“Defensively, we’ve improved from that game forward,” Muschamp said. “We played well against Kentucky and played well against Georgia. So we’ve got to continue to take steps forward and improve against a very explosive and very difficult offense to match up with.”
NEXT
Who: South Carolina vs. Florida
When: noon Saturday, Oct. 19
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium
TV: ESPN
Line: Florida by 6
This story was originally published October 15, 2019 at 5:00 AM with the headline "South Carolina scored a huge victory. How will Muschamp’s Gamecocks respond to it?."
