Missouri and South Carolina football meet in Week 4 for the battle of the Mayor’s Cup. I present you with three reasons why the Gamecocks will win.
South Carolina and Missouri have a young history against each other, but it is one filled with nail-biters.
Last year saw a monsoon-like rain sit over the top of Williams Brice Stadium for the entire second half of the game. The two teams went toe-to-toe through the storm and the game went down to the wire. With six seconds left in the game, down by one point, Parker White kicked a 33-yard field goal for the Gamecocks to win by two points.
Let’s look at how South Carolina can replicate that success this year.
3. Quarterback play
Ryan Hilinski had a very nice performance for South Carolina against Alabama in his first SEC contest of his career. He was asked to do a lot with 57 passing attempts against a stout defense. He proved to be up to the challenge by completing 36 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns.
Ryan had a pretty bad throw late in the game for an interception, but at that point he was just trying to force something to happen. Look for him to play within himself in this one and do enough to move the ball down field.
Missouri had a terrible outing in their opening season loss to Wyoming. The Cowboys rushed the ball 42 times. Wyoming’s quarterback, Sean Chambers, rushed for 120 total yards in that game.
You can bet that Will Muschamp took note of that in the film room.
Sophomore Dakereon Joyner has only played sparingly with the rise of Ryan Hilinski for the Gamecocks. However, he is a speedy and elusive dual threat quarterback. Look for South Carolina to mix him in at quarterback for some designed runs. If he gets in the open field he has proven to be difficult to take down.
Joyner also has the ability to throw the ball which should hold off Missouri from cheating up on him too much when he takes a snap.