South Carolina's recent takeaways not only helping the defense
After going over a month without forcing a turnover, South Carolina’s defense has turned into ball hawks in their last two games.
A trend they’ll look to continue this weekend at home. A place where the Gamecocks have gone (9-0) in the past two seasons when they force at least one takeaway.
“We have to go after the ball,” said defensive coordinator Clayton White. “Understanding that Kentucky doesn’t run a ton of plays you might not have that many opportunities. You have to be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there and do it violently and make sure we’re all on the same page. Turnovers don’t just fall in your lap. You create them.”
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In those past two weeks, the Gamecocks have forced six takeaways. This comes after only being able to force seven takeaways through the team’s first eight games. That’s the difference between two weeks ago being ranked towards the bottom of FBS in takeaways to now being tied for 71st in that category.
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“You have turnovers on downs and you have takeaways. In the defensive room we count downs as turnovers. We don’t count them as takeaways. We want more takeaways and we have to do a great job of getting to the ball. Tips and overthrows, we have to get those. If a ball does bounce our way we have to take advantage of it.”
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Those takeaways have proven to be key for the Gamecocks. Including Stone Blanton’s pick six, five of South Carolina’s six takeaways over the past two games have resulted in points on USC’s ensuring offensive drives. The lone one that didn’t led to the Gamecocks taking two knees to end the game against Jacksonville State.
“That’s something we’ve been looking for all year from our defense,” said tight Joshua Simon after South Carolina’s win against Jacksonville State. “It’s not like they’re not capable of doing it but to actually go out there and do it, it’s like a momentum shift. We can feel it, the fans can feel it, and when all that energy just going around Willy-B you can’t do anything but make the best out of it.”
