First half observations and ramblings from South Carolina’s game against UCF
- Former SEC Commissioner Mike Slive was the Honorable Captain. It’s the first time I’ve seen a non-South Carolina alumnus as the honorary starter.
- Kickoff specialist Landon Ard made another tackle deep in his opponents territory. Not your typical “last line of defense."
- Elliott Fry hit a career-long 52-yard field goal on the Gamecocks’ first possession. Broke the mark he set last week at Georgia.
- The Gamecock defense was very active pre-snap. Spurrier had talked about disguising coverages this week.
- The Gamecock offense with freshman Lorenzo Nunez at the helm was much faster-paced. The usually methodical offense snapped the ball with double-digits left on the play clock for most of the first half.
- Freshman Boosie Whitlow got his first meaningful action of the season on the defensive line and was credited with a sack, two tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry. Whitlow blew up a run play in the endzone to get South Carolina’s first safety since 2009.
- The Knights shut down South Carolina’s traditional running game. While Nunez had 40 first quarter rushing yards, the rest of the Gamecocks had four yards on seven carries.
- Punter Sean Kelly continued his Heisman-esque season with a perfect punt that was downed at the two. The Gamecock defense recorded a safety on the next play.
- Junior Perry Orth spelled Nunez on the Gamecocks’ first drive of the second quarter. Orth went 0-3 on the drive and the Gamecocks went three-and-out.
- All-American receiver Pharoh Cooper made the dumb decision to try to field a punt inside the 5-yardline. He muffed it and the Knights recovered at the 1. They scored a touchdown on the next play.
- South Carolina opted to throw the ball twice inside the 10-yard line and came away with only a field goal on their last drive of the half.
- A week after allowing Georgia quarterback Greyson Lambert to go 24-25, the Gamecock cornerbacks continued to give the receivers five to seven yard cushions. UCF quarterback Bo Schneider went 8-13 with 111 yards and a touchdown in the first half, with most of the passes being underneath slat or drag routes.
- The Gamecock run defense was much better, giving up just 7 yards on 12 carries.