South Carolina looks to rebound from season-opening loss to Texas A&M when East Carolina comes to town
Just 60 minutes into what was supposed to be a best-ever season for No. 21 South Carolina, the Gamecocks’ plans were derailed.
After a season-opening stomping at the hands of underdog Texas A&M, South Carolina is now in the business of finding its way back on tracks. And that starts this weekend against East Carolina.
“We’re still, and we’ll always be, embarrassed by our performance in the last game,” head coach Steve Spurrier said. “But we realize it’s history, and we realize the only thing we can do is try to learn from it.”
We learned several things from last Thursday’s defeat — most obvious was South Carolina’s defense, which was significantly further behind than expected.
With a new 3-4 scheme, which defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said isn’t going anywhere, and the majority of the starters still getting their feet wet in big time college football, the Gamecocks’ defense will face what many see as a chance to work out the kinks.
But that’s not how East Carolina sees it.
‘A GOOD TEAM’
The Pirates have scheduled themselves a gauntlet in the early goings of this season, in an effort to prove they can play with the big boys. In the teams’ first year in the American Athletic Conference, ECU will face three non-conference opponents from the five power leagues in succession, starting with the Gamecocks.
“East Carolina’s a good team,” Spurrier said. “They play with confidence. They’ve got a schedule this year that they’re sort of dreaming about beating everybody.”
One season ago, East Carolina amassed 10 wins for the second time in school history, tacking on victories over ACC opponents North Carolina and North Carolina State. The Pirates became known for a high-powered offense led by senior gunslinger Shane Carden, who threw for 4,139 yards and 33 touchdowns in 2013.
Carden and company could be an issue for the Gamecocks’ inexperienced secondary, with a style similar to the Aggies on offense, but senior cornerback Brison Williams said a repeat performance is out of the question Saturday.
“I think they’ll do a lot of the same things because they’re both spread teams,” he said. “I think they’ll steal a lot of things out of Texas A&M’s offense and try and do it against us. And I think we’ll be prepared for it.”
The Pirates outscored their opponents by an aggregate score of 522-322 last season. And that prolific offense that put up 200 more points than the other team last year opened this campaign with a 52-7 win over North Carolina Central.
STAYING AFLOAT
At face value, it’s easy to say South Carolina’s matchup with ECU Saturday is insignificant.
You can justify that response by labeling East Carolina as a 17-point dog from outside of the five power conferences, but if we learned anything from Texas A&M, it’s that no point spread is safe.
You could write off Saturday’s game as a nonconference tilt with no impact on the Gamecocks’ chances at the SEC East title, but South Carolina’s aspirations don’t end at the conference title game. If the Gamecocks hope to keep their playoff chances alive, a loss to East Carolina would be insurmountable.
“We’ve got to play well to beat these guys,” Spurrier said. “I said that the last game, so don’t think we were overconfident. We were not overconfident. We got our butts beat.”
And after that beating, South Carolina justifiably lost its spot in the top-10 but managed to hang on to a top-25 ranking after the dropping from No. 9 to No. 21.
It’s safe to say another such loss will see South Carolina take a much bigger hit, but Spurrier said not to expect a repeat performance come Saturday night.
“We’re hoping and believing that we can perform a lot better than the last game,” he said, “and give our fans the team that they’ve been watching the last several years.”