The South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the Central Florida Golden Knights by the score of 28-25 last night. After sleeping on the win, the realization is the game was ugly on many levels and without a doubt should not have been that close.
Hated to see Connor Shaw and Brandon Wilds suffer injuries, the loss of those two will hurt the depth at their respected positions. Out of the two, the loss of Wilds is the biggest concern. We love Shon Carson but he is no Brandon Wilds. So this means more Mike Davis. That is not a bad thing but don't want to over use the young man as the season is long and the team needs him.
USC, just like the last few years, is a running offense so the key to winning the remaining games lies with Mike Davis. The offensive line play has been great and hopefully everyone can stay healthy. Speaking of the offense, Dylan Thompson did well in relief once he settled down. He came out a little amped up and his passes were high but after some playing time, he found his groove. I like Dylan under center with some of the games coming up but one thing it will mean is the tight ends and the wide outs must step up. Opposing teams will try to load the box to stop Davis so the passing game has to click.
Now speaking of the defense, where to start. The boys need to really get going and get angry. The line needs to get more push. The linebackers need to grow up quickly. Maybe stay late watching some film and the secondary needs to get some swagger going. No more soft coverage and really tackle, not just try to chip or use just their arms. Overall, play with some fire in their belly as the schedule only gets tougher so the team needs to get tougher.
We here at LOHD are always happy with winning but coming out of this game it is seen that the teams needs to play harder, smarter and with passion. I trust Spurrier will get the message across that this is not ACC fumble but SEC football and the entire team needs to turn it up a notch.
