South Carolina football avoided disaster vs. Jax State. Does that inspire confidence?
Rich Rodriguez walked into the media room with his voice soft and his eyes red. He had either just shed tears or was doing all he could to hold them in. He was sniffling and wiping his face as he answered questions.
The former head coach at West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona, Rodriguez — now in his second year coaching Jacksonville State (7-3) — is not new to losing in college football. And, still, he looked like a man who lost his job and then crashed his car. Devastated. Deflated. Angry.
Jacksonville State, which will be paid $1.3 million by South Carolina to play at USC, had defied all expectations on Saturday. Actually, all year. This is a program in its first season in FBS (JSU is in Conference USA), meaning most of Rodriguez’s roster is full of FCS-level talent and probably will be for another year or so.
It was a moral victory that Vegas only picked South Carolina as 14.5-point favorites. It was a moral victory that JSU led by a touchdown late in the third quarter. It was a moral victory Jacksonville hung tough with South Carolina, with its SEC talent and SEC money, and only lost 38-28.
But Rodriguez was not one for moral victories on Saturday. Maybe, in a few weeks or months, he’ll reconsider. But, minutes after walking off the field at Williams-Brice Stadium, Rodriguez thought his team should’ve won. Like, actually won. No moral victory. A real victory.
“The what-ifs make you sick,” Rodriguez said. “We know why we’re here. It’s a payday. Getting a nice check. It’s about a quarter of our budget. But we want to win. And the guys played hard enough to do it, but I’ve gotta help them a little bit.”
And it’s hard to argue with him. For most of the day, some might say the whole day, Jacksonville State was the better team. Using blistering tempo and the read-option that Rodriguez popularized back in the day, JSU kept South Carolina’s defense out of breath, out of position, out of sorts.
The Gamecocks from Alabama ran the ball 57 times for 225 yards and kept USC’s defense on the field for 84 plays.
Does that say more about Jacksonville State or South Carolina? Time will tell.
The good/bad news for USC: If not for four Jacksonville State turnovers, JSU would have tacked on plenty more yards and points.
The most-costly JSU mistake came late in the fourth quarter. The underdogs were down three and driving. Past midfield. Into the red zone. If you’ve been closely following this South Carolina season, you were expecting Jacksonville State to stroll into the end zone. Kick a game-tying field goal, at best.
But USC’s defense, to their credit, met the moment. Sophomore linebacker Stone Blanton recognized JSU’s play call, bolted to the wheel route and snatched what would be an 88-yard pick-six.
“He was in the right place and made a really instinctive play,” USC coach Shane Beamer said. “Now, if the quarterback had thrown it deep and kept going, we’re maybe having a different story here.”
Minutes after the game, Rodriguez was still kicking himself for the decision.
“I would have run it, did something different,” he said. “I’m probably gonna be sick when I watch it because there might be a guy or two that’s open. But, either way, we were running the ball good. The plan then was to try and win it right at the end. Not give them any time on the clock. So calling a run play would’ve been smart on my part.”
South Carolina’s defense has struggled all season. Heading into Saturday’s matchup, no team in the SEC had allowed more yards. Florida had its way with South Carolina. So did Missouri and Texas A&M. In a way, Jacksonville State seemed like the get-right game, a lesser opponent that would build some confidence.
It led to a win. But it might be hard to have much confidence going forward.
“Physically, for the most part, we have better players,” Beamer said. “Not for the most part. I’d say at every position we should have better players than them being in the SEC.”
Beamer’s right. Rodriguez would say the same thing. The Jacksonville State coach gushed about how quarterback Spencer Rattler is “a Sunday guy.” He praised South Carolina receiver Xavier Legette — “Oh, he’s a freak,” Rodriguez said.
If Jacksonville State had either one of those dudes, perhaps it wins going away.
But even as Rattler (27-38, 399 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs) and Legette (9 catches, 217 yards, 2 TDs) shined, South Carolina still couldn’t pull ahead of Jacksonville State, a school Rodriguez is still having to tell people, “No, we’re not by the beach. We’re in the mountains in Alabama.”
That is the frustrating part about South Carolina this year and historically — great talent isn’t always surrounded by a great team.
South Carolina has three games to change that narrative. It needs to win out to become bowl-eligible. And after Saturday, USC should be relieved a bowl is even still on the table.
This story was originally published November 5, 2023 at 6:30 AM with the headline "South Carolina football avoided disaster vs. Jax State. Does that inspire confidence?."
