1) One of these things is true: South Carolina’s defensive end Jadeveon Clowney isn’t as good as people say, UNC’s James Hurst – who blocked Clowney – is better than people say, Clowney is out of shape or Clowney is lazy. I guess more than one of those things could be true because he certainly took some plays off and was gassed trying to keep up with the Tar Heels fast-moving offense. If the pre-game hype hadn’t all been about Clowney, no one would know he played.
2) One of these things is true: Officials don’t know there is a rule that offensive players can’t push their runner forward for extra yardage without getting a 10-yard penalty, or they know and they’ve been informed not to call it. There were two important plays where South Carolina got first downs by virtue of players pushing their runner forward.
3) The four biggest plays of the game were these: The 65-yard TD pass on the third play of the game that put the Gamecocks up 7-0. The first down, which led to a scoring drive, that I alluded to above where the line pushed the runner forward. The punt fumble after UNC had held the Gamecocks on a three-and-out. The Cocks didn’t go on to score but it switched back the momentum and field position. And finally, after the Heels scratched and clawed for a field goal, South Carolina scored almost immediately thereafter on a 75-yard run. The Heels missed a couple of tackles on that play that should have gone for two or three yards.
4) One of these two things is true: South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier has a bit of a screw loose or his hatred of UNC is real as he went for it on fourth down in his own territory in the fourth quarter (and failed) and tried to score on a play action long pass with seconds left with his team at their own one-yard line. Regardless, he’s certainly not a class act. Interestingly, Fedora called a timeout to force Spurrier to run a play, a punt, with three seconds left. The game in two years in Charlotte is going to be interesting, especially if the Heels have a legit QB at that time.
5) Coach Larry Fedora said it best, “We knew this game wasn’t going to make or break our season. There’s a long way to go. We knew we were up against it. I’m just disappointed we didn’t play better.”
UNC beset by familiar problems in a 27-10 loss against South Carolina