Clowney sits out with “strained muscle” around rib area
In South Carolina’s last three contests, the Gamecocks have not left fans wanting for drama. In Saturday’s 35-28 win over Kentucky, coach Steve Spurrier’s team allowed its third straight fourth-quarter battle after building a lead of at least 18 points.
“That’s who we are. You might as well write it down. That’s who we are,” Spurrier said. “It is what it is. We can’t slow down anybody much when the second half [and] fourth quarter gets rolling.”
South Carolina (4-1, 2-1 SEC) stormed out of the gates to take an early 21-0 lead in the second quarter. The much-maligned Gamecock defense appeared to be clicking, allowing the Wildcats to amass just 100 yards in the first half to South Carolina’s 297.
The Gamecocks coasted through the first three quarters, building a 27-7 lead that they would take into the final 15 minutes of play. But miscues on the part of the young South Carolina defense and struggling special teams allowed Kentucky to outscore the Gamecocks 21-8 in the last half.
“We come out first quarter, second quarter and come out a little bit in the third quarter and just come out humming,” junior defensive tackle Kelcy Quarles said. “You look at the scoreboard in the fourth quarter and be like ‘Wow, where did this come from?’”
Quarles did his part to secure the South Carolina win, turning in his best game of the year Saturday according to defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward. The junior racked up six tackles, two for a loss and one sack in the contest, all with his defensive line running mate, junior Jadeveon Clowney, sidelined with a strained muscle around the ribs area.
Clowney missed practice Thursday before the game, but was thought to be healthy enough to play until expressing to Spurrier right before the contest that his ribs were bothering him too much to suit up. The star defensive end is questionable going forward, but Spurrier said the team is prepared to play with or without him.
Defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward added that he was “totally surprised” when he was told that Clowney wouldn’t play.
While Quarles said no one specific position group is to blame for the fourth-quarter lapse, South Carolina’s defensive secondary continued to look uncomfortable playing with the lead, an issue highlighted by a fourth-quarter Kentucky touchdown pass to a wide open Ryan Timmons without a Gamecock defender in sight.
“Coming out of halftime, I thought we played well. Then, I think, the following series they took the ball down the field and scored,” Ward said. “We played a lot of ‘zone’ coverage during that particular drive, and so we changed the mindset and we were going to play ‘man.’ We blew a couple of ‘man’ coverages and that’s disappointing.”
As if the secondary wasn’t having enough trouble between the whistles, junior safety Kadetrix Marcus was slapped with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a play was over in the fourth quarter that gave Kentucky a first down and led to a Wildcat touchdown.
Two Gamecocks received the first starts of their careers Saturday, as sophomores Darius English and T.J. Holloman stepped in at defensive end and linebacker, respectively. The young South Carolina defenders both impressed, as English made three tackles and assisted on a tackle for loss and Holloman had a share of the game-high for tackles with six.
While the South Carolina players and coaches alike have been left frustrated and scratching their heads after near-disasters in the last three contests, there is no sense of panic in the football program. Though Spurrier insists he will not simply accept the fact that this year’s Gamecock team is prone to blowing leads, he has recently made a point of staying positive. And while it hasn’t been pretty, South Carolina is 4-1.
“We’re still winning, so that makes it not as tough as it would be if we were losing,” Spurrier said. “We don’t like it, but if that’s who we are, that’s the kind of team we’re going to be all year it looks like. We’ll try to change it though.”