Gamecocks Overwhelm Furman In 47-21 Blowout Victory
The South Carolina Gamecocks were a touch inconsistent on both sides of the ball in the first 22 minutes of their Saturday night matchup against the Furman Paladins, but as the game progressed, Spencer Rattler and the crew proved to be FAR too much for their in-state counterpart to handle. Shane Beamer and his staff came into this game knowing that improvement had to be made on both sides of the ball, coming off of a disappointing showing in week one, and to a certain degree, that's what they got.
Spencer Rattler was bubble-wrapped schematically to start this game, throwing a lot of perimeter passes and quick hitches to get the offense in a rhythm. Combine that with an emphasis on finding some consistency in the ground game, and Carolina found themselves with only 14 points 26 minutes into the game.
However, something began to click on the Gamecocks sixth offensive drive, as Dowell Loggains seemingly allowed Spencer to uncork the ball more down the field, evidenced by Rattler's six explosive passing plays of 27 yards or longer. The Arizona native finished the game with 345 passing yards and three touchdowns, and completed 93 percent of his passes, finishing just 2.2 percentage points of Connor Shaw's single-game passing completion percentage record of 95.2 percent.
Defensively, Clayton White's unit faced a Paladins offense that tried to implement what North Carolina did the week prior, a quick passing game combined with a power-run game. At the beginning, Furman put together a couple of nice drives against the Gamecocks, but as the game wore on, the defensive front began to make life difficult for Paladin quarterback Tyler Huff, recording multiple pressures and two sacks. This unit needed to be better at forcing more third and long situations, and did so in the third quarter, forcing the Paladins to have to convert an average third down distance of 9.3 yards.
Add in the fact that several true freshmen got valuable playing time in the fourth quarter, and the Gamecocks put together a productive outing against the Furman Paladins, which is exactly what they needed ahead of their big-time matchup with the Georgia Bulldogs next weekend.
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