Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JANUARY 2023 33 GAME PREVIEW: SOUTH CAROLINA Junior defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway has recorded a team-high 4 sacks for the Gamecocks during the regular season. PHOTO COURTESY SOUTH CAROLINA Todd D. Burlage: Notre Dame 27, South Carolina 24 The emergence of Gamecocks' redshirt junior quarterback Spencer Rattler in back-to-back wins over No. 5 Tennessee, and No. 7 Clemson to finish the regular season is worrisome for the Irish defense. The Oklahoma transfer threw for 8 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in those consecutive upsets. Where Notre Dame holds its greatest advantage is in its running game. The Gamecocks rush defense allows 192.4 yards rushing per game, situating it 113th nationally and 13th in the 14-team SEC. That's good news for the Irish, whose rushing game rates No. 42 nationally at 182.8 yards per game. Patrick Engel: South Carolina 20, Notre Dame 17 Drew Pyne could make defenses pay often enough when they sold out to stop Notre Dame's run game. It's hard to have enough faith either Tyler Buchner or Steve Angeli can do the same having seen just two starts of the former and zero passes from the latter. The Gamecocks have given up big rushing totals, but stopping the run and making the Irish beat them through the air should be their No. 1 focus. Tyler Horka: South Carolina 31, Notre Dame 27 For the second year in a row, being without both sides of the ball's best players — Kyren Williams and Kyle Hamilton last season and Michael Mayer and Isaiah Foskey this time around — will be too much to overcome. Notre Dame is starting a quarterback other than Drew Pyne for the first time since Sept. 10, too. South Carolina is on a heater offensively. Notre Dame's offense, mean- while, has largely revolved around Mayer. Sure, the Irish are at their best when they run the ball effectively. But that didn't happen in Tyler Buchner's Week 1 and 2 starts, and it didn't happen the last time out versus Southern Cal. This one has a weird feel to it. Weird feel tends to mean the underdog rises up and wins. Mike Singer: Notre Dame 28, South Carolina 24 It's incredibly hard to predict this game considering we don't know the game plan for the Irish at quarterback and which players will be available for the game, but South Carolina is dealing with similar problems. Give me the Irish to come out with a close win. Marcus Freeman will rally the troops. Steve Downey: Notre Dame 24, South Carolina 19 Although he has three-plus months of rust to shake off, quarterback Tyler Buchner may actually be better suited than the departed Drew Pyne to lead the type of ground attack that can exploit the Gamecocks' porous run defense, which was gashed for at least 200 yards six times this season. He doesn't need to throw for 300 yards for the Irish to win, he just needs make a few plays in the passing game to keep South Carolina honest. Both squads enter this matchup with a negative turnover margin, but the Gamecocks have given the ball away 25 times (122nd in the nation). Prior to his impressive finish the last two weeks of the season, South Carolina quar- terback Spencer Rattler actually had more interceptions than touchdown passes and is responsible for 15 of those turnovers (11 picks, 4 fumbles). The Irish have not been great at taking the ball away from opponents this season, but the bet here is that they can force Rattler into a couple mistakes. That, combined with a productive rushing attack that is looking to redeem itself after a subpar effort at Southern Cal, should be enough to get Marcus Freeman his first bowl victory as a head coach. Staff Predictions