South Carolina at LSU: Game Balls

I have a few takeaways from that disaster we all had to witness on Saturday night.

First, I never understood the Jalen Brooks hype. He dominated at a lower level of football, and I don’t view him as that much of an upgrade over what this team already has.

Yes, this was his first Division I action, but he was more of a detriment to this team than a savior, as many acted like he was going to be.

Blame Collin Hill all you want, but on the pick six, Hill threw a good ball and Brooks stopped in the middle of his route, resulting in the touchdown for the Tigers.

My golden rule of football is you can’t expect to win a game when you give the other team free points, and that’s what the Gamecocks did... twice.

The second instance was on LSU’s kickoff return. The kick was bad, Trey Palmer bailed the Cocks out by bobbling the kick and then the special teams returned the favor by looking lost and disorganized, letting Palmer take it to the house.

Last week, the special teams looked like this team’s bright spot with Kai Kroeger having the game of his life and Parker White hitting kicks, but things turned sour quick.

This game was more about South Carolina shooting themselves in the foot as opposed to anything else.

Anyway, I have ONE person to talk about positively in this week’s column.

Offensive Game Ball: Kevin Harris

Thanks to this guy, things look good to start the game at least!

After Harris scored on his 45-yard touchdown run, I thought this contest was going to turn into a shoot out.

Well, at least one team’s offense was hitting on all cylinders.

Although things mainly looked bad, Harris was this team’s bright spot.

He rushed for 126 yards on 12 carries, good for a hefty 10.5 yard average.

Harris was also responsible for two of the team’s three touchdowns.

LSU had trouble shutting down Harris, but didn’t really have trouble with any other part of this Gamecock team.

Much like Bryan Edwards last season, Harris is looking like this team’s bright spot on a below average team.

Defensive Game Ball: N/A

The defense allowed 38 points.

LSU never punted.

USC let a quarterback in his first start complete 81% of his passes.

No sacks were recorded.

Tackling continues to be an issue.

A team that doesn’t run picked up 135 yards from their leading rusher.

That is all.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Although the offense wasn’t nearly as bad as many made it seem (USC punted once, not too shabby), no one else deserves recognition.

We saw the Ryan Hilinski story last season, and unless anyone thinks he improved *that* much, I believe the best option at quarterback in this moment is in fact Collin Hill.

Yes, he needs to learn how to throw the ball away and make better decisions at times, but like it or not, the offense is rolling more than it has in recent years.

If South Carolina played this LSU team last season, they would have been lucky to get a touchdown.

This game, in my opinion, was more on the defense and special teams.

I’ll be interested to see how they respond in two Saturdays against Texas A&M.