Texas A&M Football: Rest of the way game-by-game predictions
By Robert Ford
Predicting how a team will fare week to week is tough. Look at the Gamecocks for example. They were less than impressive in a win against North Carolina State in Charlotte. The offense only had 246 yards, they did lose a possession to start the game with a kickoff return for a touchdown. But after looking back at the box score, how did NC State not win this game? South Carolina could only muster 84 yards on seven possessions in the second half. NC State outgained them by 250 yards, ran 49 more plays, but turned it over twice that led to 14 points for the Gamecocks.
South Carolina’s next game was against Missouri and after falling behind 10-0 they would score 31 of the final 34 points scored in the game. Again I’m confused at how inept Missouri was offensively in this game. The Gamecocks again won the turnover battle but was out gained for the second week in a row. The offense hasn’t shown any real consistency and without mistakes by NC State and Missouri where would this team be.
In their conference opener at home and regardless how you slice it, the Gamecocks are 2-0 and 1-0 in conference. They had to be feeling really good about themselves and when you score on the first play of the game (Aggies does that sound familiar) you really have to be feeling good. Unfortunately that would be the lone highlight until a nice drive in the fourth quarter. The woes on offense would continue and without any gifts late from Kentucky, the Gamecocks could not muster much of anything.
After their first two games I actually said that I was more worried about this game than Arkansas or Florida, but after this past weekend, is this just the same old South Carolina that we’ve faced since being in the conference? I think so. And now, with their best player potentially down for the season, how will they muster any offense?