South Carolina vs. Kentucky – Hale McGranahan
(Photo: Ryan Bethea, 247Sports)
Is this a must win or a can’t lose?
South Carolina must win this game, because there’s an awfully a long road ahead after next week’s open date, with LSU (away), Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss (away) and Texas A&M) (away) still left on the league schedule.
It’s also a can’t lose, if this team wants to salvage any bit of lingering hope for a College Football Playoff spot. But at this point, that feels so far out of the realm of possibility most people were probably laughing as they finished that last sentence.
OK, must win it is. One game at a time, right?
That being said, I couldn’t think of a worse scenario to play out for South Carolina before a Kentucky game. That rushing performance by Missouri was downright scary. And, well, we all know how the Wildcats like to do things when they’ve got the ball.
Seth McGowan and Dante Dowdell have combined for 489 yards and seven touchdowns this season. Both average more than 5.0 yards per carry. If the Gamecocks tackle as poorly as they did last week in the other Columbia, it’s going to be another long night at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Maybe that’ll get cleaned up this week during practice. You can only hope, because it sure seemed like many of those issues could have been avoided with a little bit better technique and a lot better effort.
One thing that could also carry from last week into this one (and would be a positive) is the success LaNorris Sellers had throwing the ball downfield. Kentucky does look beatable through the air. And it seems like the Gamecocks have something to build on after last weekend in that Columbia.
Here’s something everyone can agree on: South Carolina can’t afford to go into a bye week with a third-straight loss, especially since there’s a crowd heading this way that really hates sunglasses and dancing. South Carolina 27 – Kentucky 17