Who’s To Blame

by Chris Paschal

After writing the title to this post I sat for ten minutes and just stared at the screen. There really isn’t anything that can justify what happened in Bank of America Stadium. What an ugly, embarrassing, shocking, bad loss. It was an unacceptable loss. It was the kind of loss that stays with you. South Carolina could go out there and whip Alabama, Georgia, and Clemson and this loss would still sting.

The loss itself wasn’t even what stunk the most. In a vacuum, yes, getting upset by North Carolina ticks me off, but it’s more of the fact that after waiting over eight months for the start of the season it ended just like that. Losing to North Carolina ended this South Carolina season before it even got started.

Not surprisingly, when you lose a game like that, there will be a lot of questions and lot of opinions. I will offer mine in this post. Take what I am saying to heart. You don’t have to agree. In fact, you can think I am completely wrong, but know that this isn’t some pissed off rant. This isn’t a drunken tweet. This is coming from a guy that always sees things (when it comes to football) as the glass being half-full. With that said, this was a really bad loss for South Carolina.

Who Isn’t to Blame

The Offensive Line

There were some new, young faces along that offensive line. They run blocked pretty well. Where most people are upset with was the pass protection. That should not be put entirely on the offensive line’s shoulders. Going into this game, multiple South Carolina friends of mine (and multiple Gamecock media pundits) scoffed at North Carolina’s new defensive coordinator, Jay Bateman. “Sure, he put up good numbers as Army’s defensive coordinator, but Army’s defense really didn’t play anybody tough and their offense held the ball so much that the defense really was hardly on the field.” I heard that type of logic (or some similar type of conversation) throughout this past week.

Hopefully now my friends understand what I meant when I said that Bateman is the real deal. I watched a ton of Jay Bateman’s defenses at Army (my father, a West Point graduate, proselytized me and my brother at a young age into being Army Football fans). Bateman is a fan of confusing offenses. He is very creative in his blitz packages and his pass coverages.

With a freshman at center, and young pieces scattered throughout the offensive line, this was already going to be a tough matchup for South Carolina. The offensive line giving up three sacks (and having trouble communicating) is not the reason South Carolina lost this football game. Overall, this was a solid opening effort that should only improve.

Who Is to Blame

The Leaders on the Defense

All summer long the leaders of the defense have talked the most. All game long the leaders of the defense talked the most. South Carolina’s defense gave up 483 yards to a team that won two games last season and has a true freshman at quarterback. Give North Carolina credit where it’s due – that’s a good offense that will perform well throughout this season. But, if you’re going to be the “best cornerback tandem in the country” or if you’re going to have a defense full of guys with some “dog” in them, then you better back it up. Quite simply, South Carolina’s defense looked average at best. Yes, they flashed at times, but that’s not going to win you games with this schedule, and it definitely didn’t win South Carolina the game this past Saturday.

Ernest Jones played well at times. The defensive line played well at times. Jaycee Horn had some good moments, but also some uncharacteristically bad moments, as well. As a whole, however, this defense looked underwhelming and slow, which is disappointing when it was supposed to be the strength of this team. This defense quickly learned that you can’t just talk about how good you are, and how intimidating you are, and expect opposing offenses to roll over. Let’s see how (if) the leaders of this defense respond to this embarrassing defensive showing.

Jake Bentley

Try and follow me here. Jake Bentley lost South Carolina the game, but he isn’t the reason South Carolina lost. The Gamecocks lost for a multitude of reasons, but when it came down to the final, game-deciding plays, Jake Bentley lost the game. He lacked composure in the pocket (something he has struggled with all four years); he made boneheaded decisions; he was unable to effectively lead his offense against a defense that was a hodgepodge of former offensive players and three-star recruits; and when it mattered most he missed Shi Smith for the game-winning touchdown, which was followed up with a game-ending interception. Because of that, he is to blame. Not only is he to blame, but it is time for him to no longer be the starting quarterback.

For the record, this is the FIRST time I have ever advocated for Jake Bentley to be benched. In years past, while Bentley was never a great quarterback, I thought benching him was a bad idea. Yes, Michael Scarnecchia, a friend of ours, played an unbelievable game against Missouri last season. But benching Bentley for Scarnecchia would have been a bandaid. Scarnecchia was a senior. He couldn’t have played this year anyway. If Muschamp benched Bentley last season, he couldn’t have started him this season. Right now that doesn’t seem so bad, but in the moment, forgoing one more year with Bentley just to start Scarnecchia didn’t seem like the right move to me.

That being said, this season, South Carolina has a capable backup who also has a lot of football ahead of him. Freshman Ryan Hilinski was considered by many to be one of the best quarterback prospects in last year’s recruiting cycle. Not only is he talented, but one of the high school quarterbacks that was mentioned in the same breath as Hilinski last year was North Carolina’s Sam Howell who showed that starting a true freshman isn’t as crazy as it used to be. Heck, look at Bo Nix’s performance at Auburn. Senior Jake Bentley lost his team the game. Freshman Bo Nix won his team the game.

The Coaching Staff

This is tough for me to write because I have had Muschamp’s back since he was hired. I defended his hiring; I defended him in the beatdown against Clemson in 2016; I defended him as he couldn’t end the streak to Kentucky; I have defended Will Muschamp through thick and thin. I defended him because I think he is a good guy, a smart football coach, an excellent recruiter, and a role model for his players in terms of how to be a father, a husband, and a relentless worker.

I say all that to say it is put up or shut up time for Coach Muschamp. Since last season, I have been saying he shouldn’t be judged until the end of the 2020 season. That was before South Carolina lost 0-28 in the Belk Bowl and that was before the fourth quarter collapse we all saw on Saturday. Before those games, he had the benefit of the doubt. There is no more benefit of the doubt. The alarming trend with Muschamp is the paralyzing fear he has as a decision maker late in games, which seems odd for a fiery, tough football coach. But it’s true. South Carolina loses games because he is afraid of making a mistake.

The end of the second half of this past game is a perfect example of that. Up 20-9 late in the third quarter, South Carolina forced a fumble and got the football back at around midfield. The first play, offensive coordinator, Bryan McClendon, took shot for the endzone. That was the last aggressive play call until North Carolina took the lead. South Carolina called predictable, conservative zone reads and swing passes for most of the fourth quarter. Those plays stink in that situation. South Carolina handed the ball back to North Carolina’s offense multiple times in the fourth quarter. The same thing happened in Gainesville last season against Florida.

By being afraid to take shots because of the possibility of giving up a sack or throwing an interception, South Carolina ironically gives the other team hope and energy. In a weird way, the more conservative Will Muschamp and Bryan McClendon are with a double digit lead, the more their opponents play with fire. That fire has now burned South Carolina out of a win two times in the past six games.

It wasn’t just the second half play calling, but it was also the fact that the game plan as a whole seemed uninspired. Bryan Edwards had a single catch. Dakereon Joyner’s touches seemed forced instead of organic. Feaster only had two receptions. Passes were only thrown on obvious passing downs. The Gamecocks had three timeouts and the ball on their own 33 yard line with 17 seconds left in the first half and decided to kneel it instead of take a few shots and maybe get within field goal range. This play calling will continue to lose South Carolina games.

What Now?

You have to start throwing haymakers. The offensive play calling has to be a steady diet of vertical passes, jet sweeps, and everything has to be uptempo. If I were President Caslen or Ray Tanner, I would tell Muschamp that now, not next season, is the time to change things up. If I was Muschamp, I would bench Bentley. I know he won’t do that. A good compromise would be to put Bentley’s college and NFL future in Bentley’s hands. Look at him and say, “I don’t care that it’s Alabama, if you don’t play like a senior and play the best football of your career, I’m going with the young guy.” This season has already come to that. This era of South Carolina Football has already come to that. It’s put up or shut up time. I’m not lowering my expectations “just because it’s South Carolina” or just because the rest of the schedule is tough. The month of September will decide Muschamp’s fate. Or at least it should. I hope he has one good run in him.