The Gamecocks are set to face a road challenge against the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday.
This is South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp's first game against Ole Miss and the Gamecocks' first meeting with the Rebels since 2009.
Ole Miss has the second best ranked offense in the SEC, while South Carolina is ranked 14th. The Rebels also have 164 more total yards than the Gamecocks.
South Carolina will also be missing J.T. Ibe and Nick Harvey due to injury, while Dennis Daley is unlikely to play.
With the two senior defensive backs out this week, the Gamecocks will need to rely more on the younger members of their secondary to step up. This could be cause for concern, but Head coach Will Muschamp seemed optimistic about how his young players are improving.
“When they have opportunities to play under the lights in front of 80,000 people, you’re always going to make improvements,” Muschamp said. “All those guys that maybe haven’t played as much college football, the more snaps they’re gonna get the game continues to slow down for them.”
Muschamp expects Ole Miss to use some run-pass options to utilize the team's dual threat quarterback. Ole Miss quarterback Jordan Ta'amu rushed 141 yards in a win against Arkansas this season and has thrown for 16 touchdowns in 2018.
“Jordan Ta’amu is a quarterback who’s got tremendous arm talent but can hurt you with his legs,” Muschamp said. “Very effective, completing over 60 percent of his balls and a lot of the balls he's completing are vertical balls down the field.”
The return of D.J. Wonnum last week was a big help to the Gamecocks not only from an intangible ability standpoint, but also in leadership. Wonnum and his brother Dylan both received SEC Player of the Week honors for their play last week against Tennessee. It was the first time that two brothers received that same honor in the same week.
If the Gamecocks' defensive line can cause some drive-stopping plays or turnovers, that could ease the load on the South Carolina secondary.
Muschamp said that Ole Miss has"multiple ways to create one-on-one matchups down the field with very good players and an accurate quarterback."
The Gamecocks know what to expect from this fast paced offense, and looks to use previous matchups to gain experience in playing quicker.
“I think we have done a really good job of playing fast at opportune times in the game," Muschamp said. "I look at last Saturday night and we had some opportunities, we had some plays to get on the ball and play fast and we were very effective when we did that.”
No matter how the pace of the game winds up, South Carolina could use help from the offense by keeping the rebels offense on the bench. Time of possession should be a key factor in this likely high scoring SEC matchup.
The Gamecocks and Ole Miss might both play in the SEC, but rarely see each other on the gridiron. The Gamecocks and the Rebels will play a rare game on Saturday, Nov. 3 in Oxford, Mississippi. Kickoff is set for noon/11 a.m. central time, and can be seen on the SEC Network.