When No. 23 South Carolina faces off against No. 24 Missouri at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday, the Gamecocks will be looking to extend the team’s current winning streak to four games.
Head coach Shane Beamer and select players said they hope to shut down Missouri's offense, while also improving their own run game against the Tigers, who have beaten the Gamecocks five years in a row.
Missouri's weapons at quarterback, wide receiver
Heading into Saturday, Missouri has won 18 out of the team’s last 22 games dating back to the 2023 seaosn. The Tigers boast a 7-2 overall record and 3-2 mark against SEC opponents so far in 2024.
Key playmakers on offense have helped Missouri experience success, especially in close games.
Senior quarterback Brady Cook, who began the season as the Tigers' starting quarterback, missed last week's game against Oklahoma due to an ankle injury.
Should Cook be unable to suit up, graduate student quarterback Drew Pyne, who transferred from Arizona State during the offseason, will take his place as the team's starter.
South Carolina's defense will be ready no matter who lines up in the pocket, senior defensive back O'Donnell Fortune said.
“Both of the QBs have different play styles,” Fortune said. “We’ve just got to prepare for both of them in practice.”
Junior wide receiver Luther Burden III has also been an important contributor for the Tigers on offense. Last year, Burden finished with his First-Team All-SEC season with 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns on 86 reception.
This year has been a different story, as he has only 505 yards and four receiving touchdowns through nine games.
But Beamer said the Gamecocks will have to stop more players than just Burden III if the team wants to limit Missouri's offense.
“They have arguably the best receiving core in the conference,” Beamer said. “It’s a really dangerous and explosive offense.”
Snapping the streak
Missouri holds a five-game winning streak over South Carolina that has lasted since 2019. In Beamer's four-year head coaching tenure, the Gamecocks have yet to defeat the Tigers.
“I would say they have kicked our butts physically,” Beamer said. “We haven’t been good enough on both sides of the ball to do the that things we need to do in order to win the football games.”
Fortune said the team's recent losing skid to Missouri has given the team an additional incentive to snap the streak on Saturday.
“We’re really motivated, man,” Fortune said. “This team, I think we can really do it. For sure. Not think — I know we can.”
Emphasis on the run game
In South Carolina's three most recent losses against Missouri, its run game has been mostly absent. South Carolina has been held under 69 rushing yards, while the Tigers have recorded at least 100 rushing yards in each of the games.
“They’ve been better, and a lot of that has been our inability offensively to run the football against these guys," Beamer said.
But with the help of senior running back Rocket Sanders, South Carolina has flipped the script in this regard compared to last season. The Gamecocks have totaled 526 rushing yards over the last two games. In that span, Sanders himself has scored five touchdowns.
“(Sanders is) breaking tackles, and he is a hard guy to bring down,” Beamer said. "Certainly, you have to look at who's carrying the football.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers has also served a catalyst for the improvements in the Gamecocks' run game. Through nine games, Sellers is averaging nearly 50 rushing yards a game and has totaled four rushing touchdowns.
“Any time you have a quarterback with the ability to run the football, it's going to make your rushing offense have a chance to be a lot more productive because of the element that (it) brings,” Beamer said.
Redshirt senior Torricelli Simpkins III said South Carolina's run game has also benefitted from the team's offensive linemen getting used to playing with each other.
"We know we are a good unit up front, and now we've got everything clicking together," Simpkins III said. "We keep building that chemistry."
What's next?
South Carolina will take on Missouri at Williams-Brice Stadium at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.