The Halftime Report: South Carolina vs Kentucky

It was a tale of two quarters for South Carolina's football team, but they own a 10-7 lead over the Kentucky Wildcats as they head into the locker room.

On the first two defensive drives of the game, South Carolina came out in their 3-3-5 defensive package and did exactly what they'll need to get back to doing throughout the second half, get Devin Leary into third and long situations and force him to have make tight window throws on plays that take a while to develop. Clayton White's unit forced a three-and-out on both of those drives and got the Gamecocks' offense the ball in relatively good field position.

Spencer Rattler and the offense were able to score on each of their first two possessions, the first one ending in a touchdown and the second one ending in a 23-yard field goal from Mitch Jeter. Collectively, Carolina had three explosive plays, but two of them came via Rattler's legs extending plays on two different 3rd and 11 situations, which helped Dowell Loggains' unit either get into or get deeper in the redzone.

Spencer Rattler scrambling downfield (18th Nov., 2023) / Jeff Blake | USA Today Network

After going up 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats began to fight back. On their third offensive drive, Kentucky would convert three different 3rd down situations, and constantly got leverage on the Gamecocks' secondary, leading to an eventual seven-yard touchdown pass from Leary to Barion Brown, cutting the lead to three points. Carolina would then have a three-and-out of their own, and it seemed like the team's newfound trend of getting off to great starts and stalling out in the second quarter was going to continue tonight.

However, Nick Emmanwori and Jalon Kilgore would make sure to prevent the mistakes from snowballing, intercepting a Devin Leary pass in the endzone on the ensuing Wildcat drive, and then forcing a fumble on what would've been a third down conversion on Kentucky's next drive.

In the second half, South Carolina has to find a way to generate more consistency on offense in spite of the lack of a ground game. Defensively, the Gamecocks have got to get back to more of their 3-3-5 front, which for some reason they went away from in the second quarter, and need to get more pressure on Devin. 

How To Watch: South Carolina vs Kentucky

• TV: SEC Network
• Radio: Gamecock Radio Network
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