South Carolina vs. Kentucky report card: A bunch of red ink

This is going to be a shorter report card than usual, since pretty much everything about this game that could have been said has been said already. Really, it’s been a recurring theme for this team over the past few years: not being good enough when they needed to be. This was a chance to go to 2-0 in the SEC and get a nice leg up on the division, but in the end, it was a complete waste.

Not sure what else to say. Go listen to our podcast for some all-out venting. Anyway, here are the grades.

Passing game: Numbers wise, Jake Bentley crested the 300+ yard mark for the second time in his career. I say that because when you take away the 68-yarder to Deebo Samuel and a 30-yarder in the 4th, and a decent spell where he strung together a series of passes in a row in the 3rd, it was kind of...blah. GRADE: C

Passing defense: Stephen Johnson didn’t need to do a ton of work today in the passing game. He was sacked once and didn’t convert any big plays with his arm, so I guess that’s not a bad showing for the passing D. Also, guys, Jamarcus King isn’t very good. GRADE: Inconclusive, I guess

Rushing offense: Ha. “Rushing offense”. GRADE: F

Rushing defense: Not mindblowingly awful, but not good enough when they needed it the most. Frustrating. GRADE: D

Special teams: Um... GRADE: Unfortunately F is the lowest we can go, so...

Coaching: Memo to Kurt Roper: When it’s 4th and goal at the 1, usually a good play call would be to stack the line with your big guys and let them clear the way for your back to run into the end zone behind them. Other than that, I’ll let #GamecockTwitter take it from here.

GRADE: You can probably figure it out.