Scouting Troy at South Carolina: What to Watch for When Troy Has the Ball

by Gamecock Man on Nov 17, 2025 6:24 PM EST in Football

Troy coach Larry Blakeney has been very successful in producing good offenses at Troy.

3. Jerrel Jernigan

Jernigan is one of Troy's most electric players. He leads the team in receiving yards and will also line up at QB in the Trojans' wildcat package. Think Randall Cobb. This is a guy we'll have to keep our eyes on.

2. Can the Gamecocks Pressure the QB?

It's hard to believe now that many of us, including yours truly, were lamenting our lack of a pass rush a few games into the season. The Gamecocks now rank third in the nation in sacks, which exceeds even the impressive numbers we posted a year ago when Eric Norwood was still roaming opposing backfields. It will be interesting to see how much pressure we can get on Troy. I would expect Ellis Johnson to dial up a pretty vanilla game plan in this one, but considering how well our tackles and ends have played lately, we may only need a four-man rush against Troy's line to ring up some gaudy tackles-for-loss numbers.

1. Another Test for the Gamecocks Pass Defense

Troy throws the ball approximately 39 times per game and the Trojans rank 13th in the nation in total passing yardage. They have a solid QB and a receiving corps that's AQ-worthy. If the Trojans offensive line can protect the QB, their passing game will provide a good measure of whether or not our pass defense turned a corner last week. My guess is that we're going to see Troy move the ball quite well through the air but that that might not equal a lot of points for the Trojans--think the results of our game against Southern Miss. It's worth noting that QB Corey Robinson has thrown quite a few INTs this year to go along with all the yards. It would be nice to see the Gamecocks haul in a few takeaways; we continue to leave a lot of turnovers on the field.

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Read More: Eric Norwood (LB - South Carolina), Jerrel Jernigan (WR - Troy), Randall Cobb (QB - Kentucky), Corey Robinson (QB - Troy), Troy Trojans, South Carolina Gamecocks, Troy Trojans at South Carolina Gamecocks, Nov 20, 2025 12:21 PM EST

Comments

I sure hope we dont see a vanilla gameplan

were now officially a Championship team… we need to play and win like it. We cant be having these “squeakers” against these kind of teams, we gotta crush the little teams we play.

Plus I wanna see our defense get #1 in sacks… I know they can do it, they get to the QB whenever they want.

by Gamecockrock on Nov 17, 2025 7:51 PM EST reply actions

Yeah. I wouldn't mind seeing some aggression from Johnson.

But he tends to play soft against the weaker teams, which is a common strategy, where you’re mainly playing not to do anything stupid rather than to make big plays. Of course, considering how much trouble this got us into against Kentucky, maybe he’ll be more aggressive in this one.

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by Gamecock Man on Nov 17, 2025 7:59 PM EST up reply actions

I understand why some coaches favor such an approach,

but given that we have tended to play down to our competition the last few years, I would prefer to see an attacking gameplan. Vanilla has just led to a few death of a thousand cuts drives each game. At least aggression would force a quicker resolution and get the ball back for the offense.

"They've just discovered a new use for sheep over there at Clemson... wool." - Lewis Grizzard

by GwinnettGamecock on Nov 18, 2025 1:05 AM EST up reply actions