Where South Carolina stands with a third of the season remaining
Tenth-ranked South Carolina is now two-thirds of the way through its regular season after a 14-3 victory at Tennessee on Saturday. Sports Editor James Kratch offers his grades for the Gamecocks to date. USC's one-third grades are in parentheses.
OFFENSE: B (B)
This seems like a rather inflated mark at first, considering USC has failed to score more than 14 points in three of its last four games. But considering all the Gamecocks have dealt with, it's a fair grade. USC has had to weather the losses of Stephen Garcia (although some would say that was addition by subtraction) and Marcus Lattimore, break in a new quarterback, start a true freshman at tailback and work around injuries on the offensive line. And it still has won three straight games, two of which were on the road.
It's ugly, but it's effective. The Gamecocks almost certainly will need to score more than two touchdowns to beat Arkansas on Saturday. But if the offense can continue to run the way it did against Tennessee — and it should be able to, as Arkansas is toward the bottom of the league in almost every defensive category — and get something in the passing game, it should be able to give itself a chance.
DEFENSE: A (C+)
Five weeks ago, the defense was on an upward trend after struggling mightily to start the season. Now? It's one of the best in the nation. The Gamecocks are sixth in the nation in total defense and third in pass defense, which was USC's major weakness last season. After allowing 79 points in the first two games of the season, USC has allowed 55 in the last six games and has held three SEC opponents without a touchdown.
The defensive secondary has come into its own thanks to strong play by cornerbacks Victor Hampton, Marty Markett, Stephon Gilmore and C.C. Whitlock, while DeVonte Holloman has been a stabilizing presence at safety. The linebackers have played better of late, and USC's defensive line is one of the best in the country. What looked like a lost cause in Charlotte and Athens has rounded into a dominant group capable of carrying the Gamecocks back to the SEC Championship Game.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B- (A-)
After a fast start under first-year special teams coordinator John Butler, things have slowed down considerably. The coverage and return teams now all rank in the bottom third of the SEC, and the big plays that came early in the fall haven't occurred in a while. But at the end of the day, the fact of the matter is that special teams are no longer a glaring weakness for USC. They don't bring much to the table, but unlike previous seasons they aren't taking anything off of it either.
Punter Joey Scribner-Howard and kicker Jay Wooten have been steady and the units have yet to put USC in a bind, much less cost it a game. On the strength of Melvin Ingram's fake punt against Georgia, which more or less won USC the game against the Bulldogs, they stay in the "B" range. But with tests against talented teams coming up (Arkansas, Florida and Clemson all have speed burners), that could change if the Gamecocks aren't up to the task.
COACHING: B+ (B)
As mentioned above, a great deal has happened in and around the program, but it hasn't led to negative on-field results. Few would have expected the Gamecocks to win without Lattimore and Garcia prior to the season, but they did. Coach Steve Spurrier was hesitant earlier in the season to embrace USC's ugly wins, but he seems to have come to peace with the fact it's not really going to be pretty offensively.
The defensive coaching staff deserves a tremendous amount of credit as well for turning around that unit. There have been some bone-headed in-game decisions — the end-of-game strategy against Auburn stands out — but some brilliant calls as well. The Kentucky game plan was a masterpiece, and the fourth-and-1 call that led to a touchdown against Tennessee was stellar.
OVERALL: B+ (B)
USC is 7-1 and No. 10 in the country and controls its own destiny in the divisional race. That's got to count for something. It hasn't been a dominant road to 7-1, and the argument can be made that USC should be 8-0 despite all that has happened.
But 7-1 is 7-1, and it's a tremendous achievement to date. Given the program's less-than-stellar history, any over-.500 season, as this one is now guaranteed to be, is an accomplishment. But that's not what USC should be focused on. If it can finish strong and win the East, it has a shot at a top 10 finish and an outside hope for a BCS bowl game. That's nothing to scoff at.