South Carolina Vs. Missouri: The Halftime Report

The Missouri Tigers have come into this game and popped the Gamecocks right in the mouth, leading to a halftime deficit.

The South Carolina Gamecocks came into this game riding a massive high from their win against the Aggies, as they had pushed their winning streak to four games and garnered a national ranking for the first time since 2018. 

The Gamecocks, however, have plummeted back down to earth in the first half, as Missouri has had both created extended touchdown drives on offense and forced quick three-and-outs on defense. So what exactly led to this lopsided first half?

Gamecocks' Eye Discipline Being Tested

Missouri runs an offense incorporating some west coast offensive concepts from the NFL. Through their play calling, the Tigers have tested the Gamecock defense's collective eye discipline by running a ton of misdirection through blocking schemes counteracting where the ball is going. 

The Tigers have run multiple horizontally based concepts such as read option, outside zone, play-action rollout passes, and jet sweeps, causing South Carolina defenders' heads to spin at times throughout the first half. 

These plays were especially crucial for the Tigers extending drives, as Mizzou converted six of their eight third down attempts in the first half and wound up taking over 18 minutes off the clock in the first half.

Another Slow Start

South Carolina's offense is facing a Tigers defense that has used their porous 2021 showing as motivation, helping themselves become one of the best defenses in the conference. So far, Missouri has backed up the billing by blanketing South Carolina's receiving targets, getting pressure on Spencer Rattler, and allowing MarShawn Lloyd to break very few explosive runs out of the backfield.

South Carolina only got two first downs ahead of their two-minute drive and crumbled on most of their third down attempts. If you want to defeat a team with a good defense like Missouri, you have to be able to find ways to extend drives, and the Gamecocks haven't been able to do so consistently thus far.

This continues the long trend that the Gamecocks have seen on offense in the past season and a half and is something that will rear its ugly head when an opponent can find the end zone early and often.

South Carolina has just started to regain national prominence with their recent run, but they risk losing it quickly if this game continues to play out this way.

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