Final thoughts and a prediction ahead of South Carolina’s football game vs. Kentucky

With its bowl eligibility hanging on by a thread, South Carolina (4-6, 2-5 SEC) hosts Kentucky at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday night.

After a disastrous 2-6 start to the season, we are in the middle of November and the Gamecocks are playing for more than pride. Not many people saw that coming. With two night games on the horizon, there’s a path toward — what people will remember as — a successful season.

Darude will start performing in Gamecock Village at 4:15 p.m. Kickoff is set for 7:30. The contest will air on SEC Network and the folks in Vegas have the Wildcats (6-4, 3-4) as 1.5-point favorites.

Those are the facts. Here are some thoughts:

1. The goal is to keep interest

For most teams in college football, November is full of optimism. Finishing strong means something. Beating your rival means something. It’s a 180 from the final few weeks of the NFL schedule, where it feels like half the teams are playing for nothing more than draft order.

But college football is different because every program is playing for a narrative.

I always think of college football programs like publicly traded companies. The CEO (head coach) needs just enough positivity so he can get in front of the shareholders (the fans) and the board (the AD and president) and provide them with enough assurance that things are trending upward.

That is what Beamer can do in these final two weeks. And this is not a job-security issue. Beamer isn’t going anywhere. He simply needs to keep the narrative going to build the program the way he wants.

At the beginning of the season, if you were to tell South Carolina fans that the Gamecocks would go 6-6 and hardly slip into a crappy, pre-Christmas bowl game, no one would be pumping their fist.

But, now? If the Gamecocks somehow make a bowl by winning their final-four games and knocking off Clemson for the second-straight year, interest and positivity and hope will feel eternal all offseason.

Recruiting becomes easier. NIL donations should flow in. Preseason hype grows. All because of the narrative.

2. Where the heck has the 3-3-5 been?

On Wednesday afternoon, South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton White was asked about his group finally having a dominant outing. A massive smile formed on White’s face.

“It was due,” he said, relieved.

What’s interesting about the Gamecocks’ recent defensive success: It’s come using less and less of White’s preferred scheme.

South Carolina’s third-year defensive coordinator is known for operating a four-down scheme. It’s basically a 4-2-5 — and, well, it hasn’t looked great for most of this season. The Gamecocks weren’t getting pressure with four linemen and were giving up deep shots when they blitzed.

After the Missouri game, Beamer thought about the definition of insanity. He couldn’t keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It seems that he encouraged White to start using some different personnel groupings to get athletic linebackers like Bam Martin-Scott and Jaron Willis on the field.

Against Vanderbilt, the Gamecocks played more snaps in a 3-3-5 defense than any game this season. And they got their best result.

“It’s helping us get quarterbacks off their mark,” White said of the 3-3-5 look. “We’re trying our best to affect the quarterback in any way and speed up their clock.”

That was against a bad Vanderbilt team. Versus Kentucky, a squad that will try and run the ball much more, it will be interesting what look the Gamecocks ride with.

3. Spencer Rattler is the great distributor

It is hard to be surprised by Spencer Rattler.

At this point in his career, the dude is pepperoni pizza — even when he’s bad, he’s still good. I did not pay much attention to him throwing for 351 yards or completing almost 80% of his passes (in the rain) against Vanderbilt.

What made me do a double-take was this: Ten different Gamecocks caught a pass from Rattler last Saturday.

“I didn’t know that,” offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said. “It keeps morale high when guys are appreciated. … It’s hard sometimes to spread it around, especially when you have Xavier Legette and you want to get him the ball.”

Indirectly, it says a whole lot about the offensive line, too. Think about it: Legette, who had nine catches for 102 yards, is often Rattler’s first or second read. When the USC quarterback doesn’t have much time, usually he’s just looking for Legette.

But to hit 10 guys requires time. O’Mega Blake isn’t often an early read. Same for Luke Doty. But Rattler, who wasn’t sacked against Vandy, could survey the field and keep all of his pass catchers involved.

4. I’m not too worried about South Carolina’s RB situation

With the injuries of DK Joyner and Juju McDowell (out for the season), South Carolina will go into the game against Kentucky with just two scholarship running backs: Mario Anderson and freshman Djay Braswell.

This, to me, is not an injury problem. It is a recruiting problem. The Gamecocks did not do a good enough job stocking up at tailback this offseason and now it’s biting them.

Still, I don’t see it as a big deal. Yes, it is a depth concern. If Anderson gets injured against the Wildcats, South Carolina will be in trouble against Clemson. But, if Anderson stays healthy, you’ll hardly notice the injuries.

Here’s how many carries South Carolina’s third-string running back got in each of the last five games: 3 (Vandy), 3 (Jax State), 2 (Texas A&M), 1 (Missouri), 1 (Florida).

So, the way I see it, the Gamecocks only need to make up for three carries a game. I’m sure Anderson could increase his load by three carries or Loggains could call three more screen passes.

PREDICTION: South Carolina 35, Kentucky 31