South Carolina defense intercepts Knights three times
One of the most polarizing topics in South Carolina football this year has been coach Steve Spurrier’s use of junior quarterback Dylan Thompson. While senior Connor Shaw has started all four games under center this season with Thompson occupying the backup role, some fans have called for the younger of the two to see more playing time.
The decision to play Thompson was made for Spurrier in the first quarter of Saturday’s 28-25 win over Central Florida, when Shaw left the game with a shoulder injury that could sideline him for several weeks.
“It’s obviously easier starting a game than just coming in and rolling off of that,” Thompson said. “But it was just a good team win. Stuff like that happens and you’ve got to be ready.”
In Thompson’s three-plus quarters of action, he threw for 261 yards and one interception. The junior signal caller made the bulk of his impact in the second half, when South Carolina scored 28 unanswered points after going into the locker room down 10-0.
In the Gamecocks’ comeback, Thompson received significant help from his defense. While defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward’s unit allowed 427 yards of total offense, it racked up three key interceptions, two of which came against the nation’s seventh-most efficient passer, UCF quarterback Blake Bortles.
“Turnovers come; sometimes they come in spurts,” Ward said. “It was big in this ball game. We had an opportunity to get some more, but I’m positive for us because that’s another opportunity for our offense to score.”
Redshirt junior cornerback Victor Hampton recorded his first interception of the year just before halftime of Saturday’s contest to prevent the Knights from expanding their lead. Senior cornerback Jimmy Legree and sophomore linebacker T.J. Holloman both secured interceptions in the second half, with Holloman’s coming in the throes of UCF’s comeback attempt.
Up 18 points midway through the fourth quarter, South Carolina looked to be in a comfortable position. But for the second time in as many games, the Gamecocks relinquished a healthy second-half lead.
“We got back to being the careless Gamecocks, the stupid Gamecocks,” Spurrier said.
Spurrier added there will be changes coming for the defense, such as a switch to a three-deep secondary, in order to prevent long passes from chipping away at big South Carolina leads.
Junior defensive end Jadeveon Clowney failed to record a sack against Central Florida, but did provide significant pressure in the pass rush and amassed two tackles on the day.
Clowney said he was not 100-percent Saturday, as the bone spurs in his foot continued to plague him. Ward said Clowney caught a flu-like virus Thursday leading up to the game and was placed on IVs at points during the road trip.
South Carolina’s defensive line was touted as one of the best in the country before the season and has been fairly productive in the four games the team has played so far, but Clowney said his unit has more to offer as the season goes on.
“D-line, we’ve still got to get better,” Clowney said. “I don’t think we’ve reached our peak yet. We ain’t nowhere where we could be.”
While his defense floundered toward the end of the game, Ward was pleased with the unit’s ability to hold UCF’s offense during the Gamecocks’ comeback attempt, and added that the defense must build off that performance in order to play better throughout the season.
“I thought we played with a lot more emotion than we started the game with,” Ward said. “Football’s a game of emotion, and we didn’t come out and play with emotion in the beginning of the game. And so we’ve got to play that way all the time.”