South Carolina will close out their regular season with a home game against the Akron Zips. This is a make up game for South Carolina because they had the game against Marshall canceled due to Hurricane Florence earlier this year. The Gamecocks(6-5) hope they can get their seventh win of the season and improve their chances of making the Gator Bowl. Akron(4-7) will put everything they can into this game since they won’t make a bowl game.
I want to see three things from the Gamecocks no matter the result of the game.
Backups on Offense
The first thing I want to see is South Carolina play a lot of backups on offense. Akron’s defense is not a top tier defense. They gave up 41 points against Miami(OH) at home. South Carolina’s offense is playing better than ever. They just put up over 600 yards of offense against Clemson’s elite defense, and Bentley has outplayed Heisman contenders like Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray in his last five games. This is Deebo Samuel’s last home game, but the offense needs to be healthy going into the bowl game. This will also help fans get a look into the
future of this offense. I would love to see Dakereon Joyner get a lot of playing time because fans want to see that. Deshaun Fenwick should also be getting a bulk of the carries, especially because he had a 100-yard rushing game against Chattanooga. The Gamecock defense is so banged up that health should be Muschamp’s first priority.
Deebo be “special”
The second thing I want to see is Deebo Samuel get one more kick return for a touchdown. Samuel has four career kick return touchdowns, which is tied for the most by any player in SEC
history. Saturday will be his last time playing in Williams-Brice Stadium, and I know the fans all want to see him break the record at home. The most explosive player on South Carolina’s offense needs to go out with a bang. Unfortunately, most teams know he’s a return threat, and I’m sure Akron will kick away from him.
Dominate
The final thing I want to see is a dominant performance. South Carolina has really only had two dominant performances this year. One was against Coastal Carolina, and the other was against Chattanooga. The reason they need a dominant win is because they need confidence going into the bowl game. South Carolina put up 49 points and over 600 yards against Chattanooga, and I think that gave them confidence going into the Clemson game. I think everyone was surprised
to see South Carolina have an explosive offense against Clemson. That game would’ve been a lot closer if South Carolina’s defense was healthy, and it will be hard for that young and inexperienced defense to shutout Akron. I still think they can play hard and put on a show in the last home game of the season.
South Carolina should win this game, but anything can happen on any given day. I think South Carolina will play very conservative and will win respectably, but I would love to see the Gamecocks end the regular season with a big win.