Missouri Tigers Game Preview: South Carolina Gamecocks
By Derek Franks
By Derek Franks, Ben Brown and Cody Mroczka
The Rematch.
Expect South Carolina quarterback Dylan Thompson to air it out against Missouri on Saturday. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
It has finally arrived. The moment every Missouri Tigers fan has been waiting for. Another shot at South Carolina.
It’s a tall order. It’s no easy task. This game will be as tough, if not tougher, than last season’s contest, when South Carolina marched into mid-Missouri and knocked off unbeaten Mizzou in a stunning double-overtime finish.
Missouri fans can still hear the ball “ping” off the upright. They can still feel their hearts plummet to the bottom of their now-hollow souls.
It’s been a long void in time. A black hole. Mizzou wants a piece of South Carolina. A nice, big “Jaws on Robert Shaw”-like piece of South Carolina.
To get it, the Tigers are going to have to play on the top of their game. Here’s everything you need to know to get you ready for Mizzou’s first SEC contest of 2014, and arguably the most anticipated game of the year.
The Details:
Missouri (3-1, SEC 0-0) at No. 13 South Carolina (3-1, SEC 2-1)
Venue: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, SC
Television: ESPN (College Gameday)
Time: 7:00 PM CST
The Opponent: South Carolina Gamecocks
The Gamecocks have struggled to find consistency in this young season. After getting pounded by Texas A&M at home to kick off the season, Steve Spurrier’s squad responded with close wins over ECU and Georgia.
Following last week’s 48-24 win over Vanderbilt, in which they trailed 14-0 to start, Spurrier laid into his team, citing it as one of the worst wins he’s ever been a part of. He went on to say, “We’re not a very good team but we’re 3-1 somehow, and we’ve got all the voters fooled thinking we’re pretty good, I guess because we beat Georgia.”
Perhaps the Ol’ Ball Coach is trying to light a fire under his team as they prepare for an important division foe? Whatever his reasoning may be, the Gamecocks will be a tough matchup for the Tigers.
Gary Pinkel must manage the game better than he did in last year’s meeting and find a way to outsmart Steve Spurrier if he wants to lead the Tigers to victory. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
The Game:
The emotions usually used by Tiger fans to describe last years’ thriller with South Carolina: disbelief, disappointment, almost embarrassment. All of these words were used after the 2nd overtime missed field goal by Andrew Baggett. “How could he miss a 24 yarder?!”
The Tigers had the Gamecocks on the ropes, last time they met. Then, the injured Connor Shaw got the go ahead from Steve Spurrier to join the game in the 3rd quarter, down by 17 with backup Dylan Thompson struggling. I’m not sure but there is a chance Shaw turned into Drew Brees, going 20/29 with 3 TD’s. The 27-24 loss was heartbreaking to say the least.
This year is a new year though. For both sides. The Tigers will try to use a staggering defensive line with stars Shane Ray as well as Markus Golden who will be back from his hamstring injury to combat the fluid offense of Dylan Thompson and Co. On the Offensive side of the ball the tigers will try to set up their vertical passing game by running the ball with Hansbrough which may work if they use the Todd Gurley blueprint who had a decent amount of success against the Gamecock defense that lost multiple stars this past offseason. Mauk will have his hands full though especially without starting wide out Darius White who was lost for the next few weeks with a groin injury.
The Tigers will win if:
They jump out in front and stay there. Williams-Brice Stadium is a very tough environment to play in when you aren’t playing on ESPN college game day. But with Lee Corso and crew in Columbia, SC, the fans are going to be extra pumped for the game. The Tigers need to get a quick lead and silence the crowd. Taking them out of the game is going to be a bigger task than people think. They’re loud, rambunctious and almost unbeatable at home with the crowd behind them. Mizzou needs to be hungry.
Mizzou must use the running game, however tempting it is to only pass the ball. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
The good news about playing the Gamecocks at home this year specifically, is that Texas A&M already gave the blueprint on how to win. The 52-28 beatdown of the Gamecocks was not only Steve Spurrier’s worst home loss ever, but it was also completely demoralizing to the entire stadium and fan base as a whole.
Quarterback Kenny Hill started the game with his foot on the gas pedal and never let up. Maty Mauk needs to put on his Kenny Hill mask and give a similar performance if we’re going to win the newly created, “mayor’s cup” (A somewhat stupid trophy for an imaginary rivalry being forced into the mix). Mizzou needs to take the air out of the stadium and jump on them early to have a real shot at winning this game.
On the defensive side of the ball, the two major things Mizzou needs to do is stop the run and pressure Dylan Thompson into some mistakes. The 13th ranked South Carolina, a team who had a big win over 6th ranked and fellow SEC east rival Georgia two weeks ago, has a lot of weapons on both sides of the ball, but if Missouri can get good pressure, some turnovers and get it going early, there’s a chance it can slip out with a big win.
The Gamecocks will win if:
If the Tigers can’t find a way to stop Spurrier’s plan of attack. Interestingly enough, both of these team’s greatest weakness happens to be the defensive secondary. Spurrier knows that Mizzou has trouble defending the field vertically. That’s a problem, because if you don’t hide your weaknesses well, South Carolina will hit you right where it hurts. Mizzou probably worked a lot this week on quarterback Dylan Thompson and his receivers. But there’s only so much preparation can do. Missouri absolutely must find a way to limit big pass plays as much as possible. Knowing the youth and inexperience in the Mizzou secondary– and the injury to corner back John Gibson, it makes me extremely suspicious on whether or not Missouri can stop them.
If the Tigers follow my tip for controlling the clock and slowing the game down, it may go a long way in helping that weak defensive secondary out. But South Carolina will win if they expose it too much, regardless of what Missouri does on offense.
PANEL PREDICTIONS
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South Bound & Down
Ben Brown: South Carolina is coming off an upset bid by Vanderbilt. To put that in perspective, The Commodores, before falling short in the South Carolina game were 1-2 with their only win being a 34-31 thriller over the Minutemen of UMass. The two losses were a 37-7 loss to Temple and a 41-3 loss to Ole Miss. Somehow a team of that caliber was able to be 3 points down to South Carolina at the start of the 4th quarter. Yes the game was in Nashville but if a team like that is able to hang with South Carolina, shouldn’t Missouri be able to? If Mizzou is hungry for a win and leaves the bad stuff that everyone saw last week behind them, I could see a shocker. 44-25 Mizzou. Keep the faith; let’s see how much they want it. -BB
Cody Mroczka: I think this will be a close game, but I don’t have the confidence in the Tigers after last week to call for the upset. This game will likely be a good measuring stick for how well the Tigers will fare in SEC play and South Carolina remains the lone SEC divisional opponent Pinkel has yet to beat since they joined the conference. I don’t think that changes this season.
The Gamecocks’ defense has allowed an astounding 36 points per game thus far, so it’s reasonable to expect Mauk will continue to put up big numbers for the Tigers. However, South Carolina can put up points in bunches too and I believe they have a slight edge in that department giving them the one possession victory. South Carolina 38 – Missouri 31 –CM
Derek Franks: This is a doozy. If I were a non-partisan betting man, I still really, really like Mizzou’s ability to bounce back from tough losses and the motivation from them to drive them to victory. If I were a South Carolina fan, that would sincerely scare me. From a Mizzou perspective, I’d be worried about that passing game from the Ol’ Ball Coach’s offense.
In my eyes, this is still a very closely matched game. You have two quarterbacks who started in the game last season and both of whom are gunslingers. You have two very competent running games, two mostly strong defenses with weak link in the defensive secondary. On top of all of that, we get two really seasoned coaches. It’s really going to come down to two things. A) Who wants it more, who has the most emotional energy and B) Who can limit big mistakes. Mizzou gets “A” and South Carolina gets “B.” Heck I don’t know who to pick. Home field advantage, then. I’ll stay safe and say South Carolina, 41-38. -DF