Tag: USC

Is South Carolina Football in Trouble?

By: Cooper Hill

After a rough game against Vanderbilt, South Carolina needs a serious bounceback game against Missouri. The Gamecocks fell 31-7. It definitely felt worse than that score. Injuries definitely affected the outcome, but I do not believe it was by much. The Carolina offense looked very weak and did not show many signs of life. After Lanorris Sellers went down with a head injury after a targeting call is where it began to go downhill. Although he went down, a bright side was Luke Doty stepping up and taking command. He completed some tough passes and led a few drives. The Gamecocks do have pretty good quarterback depth this year with Cutter Woods, Air Noland, and Brandon Cunningham. All were very highly rated recruits in their respective classes. So if the Doty experiment does not work out, we have some help. Just like me, most Gamecock fans will be praying that Lanorris will be back so we do not have to worry about the quarterback situation. Also, Carolina does not have an easy schedule from here on out so they need to get the ship on the right path. The running game really needs to step up this week, especially with Lanorris being questionable as of the Wednesday injury report. Rashul Faison has rushed for 135 yards on 27 attempts and one touchdown. Oscar Adaway III has 86 yards for one touchdown on 22 attempts. These two need to have big rushing games if Sellers is out this week. As of right now, I think the Gamecocks are fine. They just need to win a big game this weekend. If not, I do believe that Carolina football will be in a bad spot, especially if they have playoff hopes like they did last year.

Why Lanorris Sellers may not be the Gamecocks Best Fit

By: Ford Wilder

To begin, the South Carolina Gamecocks are off to an okay start to the 2024 season.

They are 3-2 and their two losses have come to top fifteen-ranked SEC opponents LSU and Ole Miss. The Gamecocks are looking to at least become bowl-eligible and finish the season off strong. This will be tough though because they have a very tough October slate of games. They will face ranked SEC opponents Alabama, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma. To go along with that the Gamecocks defense looks quite strong, and is playing well. The problem is the offense.

The South Carolina offense has been led by Lanorris Sellers thus far who has shown great glimpses of what he can be, but also poor moments setting the offense back. Sellers has been productive on the ground game with 55 carries for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns. Where he has struggled though is in the pass game. Through four games he has completed 49 passes of 85 attempts with 555 yards,2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. This combines for a QBR of 43.4 which is 96th in the country. This struggle in the pass game has set the Gamecocks offense back tremendously causing them to only put up 3 points versus Ole Miss. To give Lanorris the benefit of the doubt the receiving core and offensive line have been sort of lackluster but this does not excuse the poor decisions and throws he has made consistently throughout the year. His lack of experience is showing against fast and physical SEC defenses. If this continues it may be time for the Gamecocks to look for a change.

Adjacently, this is where Robby Ashford comes into play. Ashford transferred to USC this year after playing at Auburn the previous years. Ashford has SEC starting experience under the Tigers and showed his great dual threat capabilities there where he rushed for 710 yards and 7 touchdowns at Auburn in 2022 and also threw for 9 touchdowns. Ashford has started one game this season for the Gamecocks this year against Akromn after Sellers suffered an ankle sprain against LSU. Akron may not be the greatest opponent but Ashford used this opportunity and showed out. He completed 15 of 21 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for an additional 133 rushing yards and a touchdown. This performance showed many that Ashford may be an option looking ahead for the Gamecocks.

Furthermore, Sellers is considered to be the future of USC as he is just a sophomore compared to Ashford being a senior. This may be true and all but if the Gamecocks want to win right now in the SEC; I believe they should consider starting Ashford due to his experience, and the capabilities he has shown thus far.

Should Caleb Williams finish playing this year at the University of Southern California?

By: Clark Kinney

Caleb Williams is a “generational talent” and will likely be one of the first picks of the 2024 NFL draft. Caleb Williams won the Heisman last year and was hoping to add himself to the short list of Heisman repeats this season. However, the last two weeks for Caleb have not been great. His team, the Trojans of the University of Southern California, lost their last two games, one to Notre Dame and the other to Utah. This takes the Trojans out of playoff contention. On top of that, Caleb has not played great. In his last two games, Caleb has only thrown for a combined one touchdown and only rushed for one touchdown while getting sacked 9 times. In the loss to Notre Dame, Caleb threw 3 interceptions. All these factors likely take him out of the Heisman race.

With that being said, why continue to play? Your team is not going to make the playoffs, you are not going to win the Heisman, and you could get hurt and never be able to play again for all you know. It is a valid question and probably one that has crossed his mind these past few days. I strongly believe that there are times to be selfish. There are times when you need to take care of yourself if you are in a bad state or you really need to get something done, but this is not one of those times. Caleb needs to finish his season with his teammates and coaches and not be selfish. He will make plenty of money at the end of the year no matter his decision now. Who knows? He could just go off like we’ve seen him do for the rest of the season and someone else get hurt and he win the Heisman again. I do not see that happening but it is possible. 

Overall, the thought of quitting only 8 games into the season just angers me. Like why would anyone ever think that? That would never cross my mind to just quit on my teammates and coaches who I’ve worked and fought with. If one of my teammates quit on me this far into the season, I would not be happy either. Caleb may be getting a little too big for his britches here. Don’t even get me started on the NFL ownership thing. Shake my head.