South Carolina Football: Report card for win over Kentucky in Week 5

Defense

The defensive unit for South Carolina has been subpar for most of the season. Will Muschamp thought that this would be his best defensive unit since being head coach of the Gamecocks. It didn’t show until Week 5.

The defensive line controlled the entire game. Kentucky couldn’t move the ball at all in the first half. In fact, they only had 1 first down and that came by way of penalty. South Carolina held the Wildcats offense to a total of 76 yards in the first half of the game.

Kentucky wouldn’t get anything going until late in the game with Lynn Bowden Jr. in the Wildcat formation. Bowden was a high school quarterback so the Gamecocks had to respect his passing ability a little instead of just throwing eight or nine guys in the box. His dynamic agility is ultimately what gave the Wildcats their loan score of the evening.

South Carolina’s defensive line was continuously setting a new line of scrimmage by pushing the offensive linemen back. The penetration by DJ Wonnum was outstanding. He finished the evening with three sacks.

The Wildcats were held to a total of 212 yards of offense. They never seemed to figure out the defense. They Gamecocks get an A+ for an outstanding defensive performance. They can look to win more games this season if they continue playing with the passion and aggression they showed Saturday night.