Is South Carolina a Rival? Stoops Preparing Kentucky for a Close Game
There’s a tenuous relationship between Kentucky and South Carolina. It’s unavoidable for a variety of reasons, and yet Mark Stoops isn’t building this game up as a bitter rivalry.
It did not start with a war of words off the field between the head coaches, but Shane Beamer certainly used Stoops’ “sunglass” comments to fuel his team to win at Kroger Field. That was just the second South Carolina win over the Cats in nine years. Now the Gamecocks have consecutive wins in the series, one that’s expected to be played annually when the league moves to nine SEC games a year.
For Stoops, the past does not matter. He expects his Kentucky football program to learn from its mistakes, but that should not amplify the significance of Saturday’s showdown in Lexington.
“It’s always new team, new year. You’ve always heard me say that, what, a hundred times? Whether it’s dealing with bad streaks or good streaks, you name it, every team is a new year,” he said Monday.
Even so, Stoops is not ignoring history. Since Kentucky’s come-from-behind victory in 2014, seven of the ten meetings have been decided by 10 points or less. Another close game may be on the horizon. It will certainly be a crazy environment at Kroger Field, but his team’s motivation plays a secondary role in the outcome of the game.
“Is juice overrated? We need to be prepared,” he said. “We need to be prepared. Our guys after a two-hour 20-minute delay last week, they had juice. But it’s really about going out and executing and playing. I think the fact that it’s a conference game this early definitely amps things up a little.”
Stoops Highlights South Carolina Playmakers
Two of South Carolina’s top playmakers are in new, prominent roles for the Gamecocks. The one running the show on offense provided mixed results in his debut. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound former four-star recruit, only completed 10 of 23 passes for 114 yards in his first career start, but the big redshirt freshman ran for a touchdown and 105 non-sack rushing yards.
“He’s a dual-threat guy. He’s big, he’s strong, he can throw the heck out of the ball down the field, you saw that. So you see the arm talent. I think he’s a very good football player that is going to get better with every snap he takes, every game, every rep, he’ll improve,” said Stoops.
“But he’s a physical guy with a lot of lot of attributes. He could run, could throw. He seems like a very mature young man. Obviously, everything you read and see about him, he takes the game very serious and works very hard at it.”
On the other side of the line of scrimmage, the Gamecocks have a couple of disruptors on the EDGE. They combined for four sacks, six tackles for loss, and four forced fumbles. South Carolina needed all of them in a 23-19 win over Old Dominion.
“They have a really good combination with No. 5 and No. 6. You can see them both out there. You can’t miss them, but you may get the numbers confused because they both play,” said Stoops.
“One’s a very mature, older player that’s an impact player in (Kyle) Kennard. Then with Dylan Stewart, a five-star freshman, big-time player who’s very disruptive. Those guys are, they’re just very good players. They’re athletic. They get off on the football, they attack, but they also have a nice feel. When they tried to bait them upfield and run some draws and things of that nature, they read it well and retraced well. So they’re good football players.”
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