Coming off an upset over then-No. 18 Tennessee, the team's biggest win of the year, Will Muschamp didn't want the Gamecocks to get too full of themselves.
After the team had some "focus issues" during Tuesday's practice, Muschamp wanted to make sure the Gamecocks were alert, and not getting too comfortable with the praise they received after the win over the Volunteers.
"I put mouse traps all over the building to let them know don't take the cheese," Muschamp said.
The mouse traps may seem like an odd strategy, but senior linebacker T.J. Holloman says the players got the message, which was particularly enforced by strength coach Jeff Dillman. Holloman referred to Dillman as the "mouse trap man," saying he was throwing them at the players all week, telling them "don't bite the cheese."
Placekicker Elliott Fry says Dillman wasn't the only one throwing the mouse traps, though.
"Most of them weren't really set," Fry said when asked if anyone stepped on one.
"But then some of the guys started setting them and started throwing them at each other," he added.
But why mouse traps? Was this a trap game for South Carolina in between SEC East heavyweights Tennessee and Florida? Linebacker Bryson Allen-Williams wouldn't say so, as he said the team looks at each game as a "one-week season."
In each of those short seasons, Allen-Williams says the Gamecocks have just one focus.
"We want to be a dominant team," Allen-Williams said. "We go out every week and want to prove to everyone in the nation that we're a team that's not going to be messed with."
The Gamecocks weren't necessarily dominant, but they pulled away in the second half. Muschamp credits Dillman for the shape the players are in, and South Carolina proved it, using the run offense to put the game on ice in the second half.
Rico Dowdle set a career high with 149 rushing yards, as the Gamecocks, who rank last in the SEC in rushing offense, finished with 174, 11 more than the visiting Tigers.
Defensively, South Carolina wasn't necessarily dominant either, but the "bend, don't break" ability emerged yet again, as Missouri missed two field goals and threw an interception at the Gamecocks' 2-yard line to help Muschamp's team hold the Tigers to 21 points. Along with the interception, South Carolina forced an early fumble to set up the game's first touchdown and came up with a game-sealing interception, moving the team's turnover margin to an SEC-best plus-nine.
"We've got to be an opportunistic defense, we have to," Muschamp said. "We're not dominant enough where we need to be right now."
The Gamecock defense may not quite be where it needs to be in Muschamp's eyes, but the unit still held Missouri to 21 points, well below the Tigers' average of 33.1 coming into the game.
It may not have been pretty, but the message seems to have been effective. The Gamecocks didn't take the cheese. Instead, they took care of Missouri, and are now just one win away from returning to bowl season.