BBN we’re rolling on with our 2023 Kentucky Football opponent previews and today we’re on to the South Carolina Gamecocks. If you’ve missed our other previews, you can check them out here:
Series Outlook
Kentucky and South Carolina first played in 1937 (a 27-7 Kentucky win) but were not regular opponents until South Carolina joined the SEC in 1991, only playing three times before South Carolina officially joined the conference. South Carolina leads the series 19-14-1 thanks to another embarrassingly long streak. This one, thankfully, was only 10 wins in a row for the Gamecocks from 2000-2009 that was snapped by Randall Cobb and Mike Hartline in 2010. Recently, however, Kentucky has had the edge, winning 7 of the last 9 meetings. Unfortunately, last year Kentucky handed a rival program the momentum they desperately needed by goofing at home and giving the cringiest coach in CFB a win. Even more embarrassing is the loss came after Stoops took a shot at Beamer in the preseason and opened the door for the Andy Bernard of CFB to mock our program.
2022 Season
The South Carolina program has always had an inflated sense of self worth when it comes to football (they had one good 3 year run under Spurrier, the rest of their history is a bunch of 6/7 win teams) so expectations were for Shane Beamer to make them suddenly relevant again. Beamer probably can’t coach his way out of a paper sack but he absolutely knows how to market himself in the social media world and he did just that with goofy videos that the media fell in love with.
Coming off a 6-6 season with a Duke’s Mayo Bowl win there were expectations for Beamer to make a big leap. He added the deeply unlikeable and underwhelming Spencer Rattler from Oklahoma and big things were predicted. Despite those expectations they were again mostly mediocre but showed up at the perfect time for the rest of the country to be hoodwinked. Spencer Rattler was inefficient most of the season as he was held by sacks and INT (which is what got him benched at Oklahoma and why the NFL wanted no part of him this off-season) but he saved his two best games for the end of the season against Tennessee and Clemson. The offense survived on big plays for RB Marshawn Lloyd and WR Jalen Brooks. WR Antwane Wells Jr. was also a steady option and wracked up more yards but not nearly the number of explosive plays you’d expect from an SEC WR1.
Defensively, South Carolina took a massive step back from 2021 and struggled against the run but were respectable in the secondary,led by true freshmen safety Nick Emmanwori, nickel CB DQ Smith, and CB Marcellas Dial. They had some decent moments but were mostly a “bend don’t break” defense hoping othere teams mistakes and their own solid special teams would give them some gifts.
2023 Outlook
Beamer enters his 3rd season but is having to replace OC Marcus Satterfield who is now at Nebraska (which should be a dash of reality for South Carolina fans about where their program fits in the landscape of CFB). He’s brought in Dowell Loggains who was a position coach at Arkansas and does have some NFL experience (though not good).
Rattler returned and so did WR Antwane Wells Jr. but leading rusher Marshawn Lloyd is gone and so is explosive playmaker Jalen Brooks. Beamer also had to dip into the portal to replace several starters along the OL and they already lost presumed starter Jaylen Nichols during Spring ball. The running game is the big question mark (if you assume that Rattler’s two good games last year is the norm rather than an outlier) for the Gamecocks. If new OC Dowell Loggains is able to create a respectable running game the South Carolina offense could be good enough to make them dangerous.
On defense they are replacing most of the front 7 which is probably a good thing considering how bad they were. They almost can’t be worse than they were last year against the run and their best playmakers in the secondary are back in Columbia. On paper there is potential for this to be a huge bounce-back year for the South Carolina defense who was surprisingly stout in 2021 in Beamers first season.
The Gamecocks have a tough opening weekend game with UNC in Charlotte and then head to Georgia in Week 3 so there isn’t really going to be an opportunity for easing in. I mock South Carolina (their coach deserve it) but I’ll give them credit for not being cowards and scheduling 2 MAC schools and an FCS program like some programs do (looking at you Stoops). The Gamecocks and their fans erroneously believe they are an elite program but unlike some programs who only talk about raising expectations they walked the walk by maintaining their rivalry with Clemson while also scheduling UNC to give them two P5 opponents in the non-conference. CFB needs more of that and less of scheduling three straight weeks of Ball State, EKU, and Akron so you can trigger those 7-win bonuses in your contracts a little easier.
That schedule might cost South Carolina a win or two, and I will absolutely be there to make fun of them when they finish 7-5 again but I respect the move.
Who Wins
This is a tough game. It’s clear South Carolina has targeted Kentucky as the program they need to pass in the conference pecking order (which is exactly what Stoops did to the Gamecocks when he took over at Kentucky a decade ago). South Carolina has already announced they are bringing the artist responsible for the tragedy “Sandstorm” to perform a live show and it’s always a racuous atmosphere. South Carolina fans have also come to hate Kentucky and are deeply embarrassed that Stoops has owned them the last couple of seasons so things will be especially venemous.
Kentucky better win this game and they will 31-23. Beamer is going to be exposed at some point and Spencer Rattler is…not a good QB. This is a must-win game for Kentucky, and it comes at a crucial point in the season. Stoops has experience winning in Columbia and I think the Wildcats will be desperate. Kentucky stops the bleeding after three straight losses and go into the Governors Cup at 7-4.
