5 things to know before South Carolina faces North Carolina

It’s been more than seven months since South Carolina last played a football game. But at long last, it’s finally game day.

The Gamecocks, who finished 8-5 last year, are looking to take another step forward in Shane Beamer’s third year as head coach. And they’ll have a great test to start the year against No. 21 North Carolina.

Before the teams take the field, here are some important things to know about the Tar Heels.

[Game Week Special: Get 50% off of your first year of GamecockCentral (new subscribers only)]

Not the same team from the Mayo Bowl

As if it weren’t obvious, this Tar Heel squad is not the same one that got beaten badly in the 2021 Duke’s Mayo Bowl by South Carolina. On that day, the Gamecocks rolled to a 38-21 victory to cap off Beamer’s first year.

A lot has changed. Both teams have different, arguably better quarterbacks than they did previously. The signal callers and game plans will look completely different. One of the only things that remains the same are the head coaches and some players from those teams.

North Carolina showed a lot of good last season, winning nine of its first 10 games. But from Nov. 19 on, everything changed. The Tar Heels lost their final four games, including the ACC Championship and bowl game.

So there’s definitely going to be a lot of hunger from this team, not so much as to avenge the Mayo Bowl loss, but to contend in the ACC and more.

[Win two FREE tickets to South Carolina vs. Furman from 107.5 The Game! 🏈]

Drake Maye

Believe in the hype or not, Maye is a pretty talented quarterback. But just how good has he been?

As a first-time starter last year, he threw for 4,321 yards with 38 touchdowns to seven interceptions. He completed 66.2 percent of his passes. When given space to work with in the pocket, he completed 75.6 percent of passes while averaging 9.3 yards per attempt. 

Maye also ran for 698 yards and seven scores. And he was the ACC Player of the Year. Needless to say, his abilities pose a big challenge for the Gamecocks.

“(He) will be a high draft pick in the NFL draft when he decides to go to the NFL,” Beamer said. “Talented thrower, unbelievable runner, he’s a great athlete with great size and will be a big challenge for our defense.”

Between both teams, there should be a ton of offensive firepower, with Spencer Rattler under center for South Carolina. It should be an exciting matchup between two of the better quarterbacks in the country.

[GamecockCentral Business Network]

Stopping the run

If South Carolina wants any chance at beating the Tar Heels, it will really start with the run defense. North Carolina’s run game looks to be strong with Elijah Green and Omarion Hampton returning.

With a new offensive coordinator in Chip Lindsey, the Tar Heels could be running the ball plenty on Saturday. Last season as UCF’s offensive coordinator, the Knights ranked eighth in the nation in rushing at 236.1 yards per game. They picked up more than 200 yards in nine games.

“If they can go out Saturday night, North Carolina’s offense, and run the football, it’s going to be a long night for us…and you’ve got Drake Maye at quarterback. So every game, whether we’re playing North Carolina, Furman, whoever it is, for us it starts with stopping the run,” Beamer said.

Last year, South Carolina’s run defense was nowhere near perfect, allowing 198 yards and nearly two touchdowns per game. The key will be to contain and limit the big runs, forcing Maye to throw the ball more. If that happens, the Gamecocks have a fighters chance.

[Get news from GamecockCentral via email]

UNC missing transfer receiver

One of the bigger storylines heading into this matchup will be the absence of Tez Walker. As of right now, the transfer wide receiver is currently ineligible to play this season.

With the double-transfer rule, the NCAA denied immediate eligibility for Walker, who transferred to UNC in January after spending two years at Kent State. Before that, he was at NC Central in 2020.

It’s a big loss for the Tar Heels offense, but at the same time, it’s huge for South Carolina. Walker had 63 receptions for 1,045 yards and 12 touchdowns in his time at Kent State.

On top of not having Walker, the Tar Heels lost Josh Downs and Antoine Green, who made up roughly 65 percent of the team’s receptions.

That said, there will be a lot of targets to go around with Maye under center. Two names to keep an eye on will be Kobe Paysour and J.J. Jones. Both combined for 758 yards and six scores last year.

[Subscribe to GamecockCentral’s YouTube page]

Looking to put defensive struggles aside

Neither group is phenomenal defensively. But UNC was especially bad in 2022.

The Tar Heels 116th worst out of 131 FBS teams at 437 yards allowed per game. They gave up more than 30 points a game. Sure, some games were better than others in terms of defensive play, but as a whole, it was rough.

In all fairness, last year was Gene Chizik’s first season as defensive coordinator. So it probably took some time for things to get going. But now in year two, the defense should be at worst somewhat better than it was a year ago.

At the same time, there’s a lot of uncertainty heading into this game. It’s unknown what South Carolina’s offense will look like under offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, who has never called plays at the college level before. So that could give the Gamecocks some benefit depending on what they’re running.

But Loggains’ goal from the beginning has been to keep it simple for his players. What that will mean for the first game? Time will tell. But it gives them an advantage in some ways on top of facing a shaky defense.

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!