2 hours Ago By By Davis Wilson
No. 23 Missouri football travels to the 'other' Columbia at 3:15 p.m.
Saturday to take on No. 21 South Carolina in the 14th-ever meeting between the two schools. The Tigers (7-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) lead the series with a 9-4 record, and they have won each of their past five matchups against the Gamecocks (6-3, 3-2).
Jordan Kaye, who covers South Carolina for The State Newspaper, helped preview the Mayor's Cup matchup. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Q: What should fans know about this South Carolina team? A: This is a South Carolina team that has (showcased) one of the best defenses in the country.
You look at its sack numbers, its tackles for loss numbers, this is a team that is going to get after the quarterback whether that's Brady Cook or Drew Pyne. They have two incredible edge rushers in true freshman Dylan Stewart and Kyle Kennard. On offense, this was a unit that is just insanely young.
It's finally finding its groove these last couple of weeks. Redshirt freshman quarterback LaNoris Sellers struggled with turnovers earlier in the year, but he's only turned it over once in the past three weeks. Raheim 'Rocket' Sanders, who is an Arkansas transfer, has gone for over 100 yards rushing over the past two weeks.
South Carolina is a run-first team. Q: What needs to happen for the Gamecocks to break their five-year losing streak against Missouri? A: I think they need to do what they've been doing: get after the quarterback, don't turn the ball over and run the ball. If the they don't take sacks, don't have negative plays and take care of the ball, I think South Carolina likes its chances in any game, especially against Mizzou.
Q: What is South Carolina's strongest position group? A: It's got to be the defensive line. There's the two edge guys — Kennard and Stewart — whose sack numbers are just ridiculous. Kennard (9.
5 sacks) might set the South Carolina record for sacks in a season. Stewart (5.5 sacks) might set the freshman record for sacks.
And then in the middle, you've got a bunch of guys who are all upperclassmen — Tonka Hemingway, TJ Sanders and Alex Huntley. These guys are all veteran guys who are fantastic. It's just such a deep group that it's really hard to double team anyone.
The guys in the middle are really good at stopping the run and the guys on the outside are really good against the pass and the option. Q: What is South Carolina's weakest position group? A: It's kind of the opposite of Missouri. I would say the weakest is the wide receivers.
It's a lot of young guys and a lot transfers, and it just hasn't been a remarkable turnaround. These receivers haven't proved to be game-changers. If you shut that down, you just have to worry about the run game.
Q: By many metrics, South Carolina was not a great defense last year. Where did this defensive turnaround come from? A: It's weird because you would think it's all the transfer portal, and the defense really isn't. Every starter in the secondary was on the team last year.
On the defensive line, their priority after last year was retaining the defensive tackles, and they did that. At linebacker, they have Debo Williams who is experienced. So, they just have all this experience and hit on a few newcomers.
Kennard was thought of as a good prospect out of Georgia Tech, but nobody saw this coming. So, that was a little bit of a surprise. He went from a nice pickup from Georgia Tech to a guy that might turn in the best season in school history.
They got lucky there. They got Dylan Stewart, a five-star freshman out of Washington D.C.
. That's just a heck of a pull in recruiting. Everyone knew he would be good, but I don't know if they thought he would be this good this quickly.
The real surprise is Demetrius Knight, who is a linebacker out of Charlotte. South Carolina wasn't exactly fighting a lot of schools to get him and on Pro Football Focus right now, he's their highest-rated defensive player. He's a ridiculously fast linebacker who has been excellent in coverage, excellent in pursuit and excellent in tackling.
Q: What kind of scheme does South Carolina run on defense? A: They can go out of a 4-2-5 or a 3-3-5. They've done the 3-3-5 less because the ends are so good and there's no point in taking one of those guys off the field. They do so many intricate things.
Lining their guys up in different spots to open lanes for linebackers has been really effective. Sometimes, it is as simple as the guys on the edge are just winning. Q: South Carolina has scored at least 25 points in each of its last four games.
What is working for the offense? A: It's so bizarre. After the bye week things just seemed to click. They stopped committing pre-snap penalties; Sellers stopped fumbling; they stopped giving up sacks; and Rocket Sanders got healthier.
All of a sudden, he is running like an NFL back. All of these things just converged in one week. It's very odd because for a little bit there, it was just tough to watch.
Now, they seem to be clicking on all cylinders. Q: What is your score prediction and who do you think will be South Carolina's MVP for the game? A: 31-14 South Carolina, with Kennard as the MVP. I just think if Brady Cook doesn't play, the defense could really get after Drew Pyne.
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