Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 JANUARY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: SOUTH CAROLINA NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. SOUTH CAROLINA PASS DEFENSE This remains a wait-and-see category and is hard to measure with the recent departure of junior quarterback Drew Pyne, who entered his name in the transfer portal Dec. 5 after starting 10 games this season, and the NFL-bound junior tight end Michael Mayer having opted out of the game. Beyond that, the uncertainty clouding whether sophomore Tyler Buchner, freshman Steve Angeli — or both — will play quarterback against the Gamecocks also makes this a tough evaluation. What do we know? Even with Mayer opting out and not playing, he will still easily finish as the Irish leader this season with 67 receptions, 809 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns. He leaves Notre Dame with every career tight end receiving mark. Sophomore Lorenzo Styles (30 receptions for 340 yards and 1 touchdown) was the most reliable Notre Dame wide receiver this season. Three other Irish pass catchers have exactly 20 receptions, most notably sophomore Jayden Thomas (295 yards and 3 touchdowns). As of Dec. 12, it appeared that team captain, top pass protector and future NFL lineman Jarrett Pat- terson will play, so the starting line will be intact. With Pyne at the helm for 10 of 12 games, the Irish ranked 106th nationally in passing offense at 199.9 yards a game. For South Carolina, its pass defense has been solid, ranking 27th nationally in passing yards allowed (199.5) and 26th in team passing efficiency defense. Led by redshirt junior Marcellas Dial with 3 in- terceptions and redshirt senior Darius Rush with 2 — two first-team All-SEC honorees this season — the Gamecocks rank second in the SEC and are tied with multiple teams for fifth nationally with 12 interceptions. Led up front by junior Tonka Hemingway with 4 sacks, South Carolina is ranked 13th in the SEC and 110th nationally in team sacks with only 1.5 per game. Advantage: South Carolina SPECIAL TEAMS Second-year South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer — like his legendary father Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech before him — puts a heavy empha- sis on special teams play. And this year's results bear that out. Under Beamer this season, along with his special teams coordinator Pete Lembo — one of 15 semi- finalists for the Broyles Award as the nation's best assistant coach — South Carolina scored 2 touch- downs on punt blocks in their season opener and never slowed down on any of these units since. As a team, the Gamecocks impressively rank tied for third nationally with 6 blocked kicks, includ- ing 5 blocked punts, while they've given up one blocked kick. In addition, South Carolina also has a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by senior wide receiver Xavier Legette against Texas A&M, while junior punter Kai Kroeger ranks second in the coun- try with a 46.83-yard average. Under its special teams coordinator Brian Ma- son, Notre Dame leads the nation with 7 blocked punts this season, which it parlayed into 31 points. Beyond the blocked punts, Notre Dame has done little to report on its return and coverage units. However, the Irish have not allowed a blocked kick or a return for a touchdown this season. Advantage: Even COACHING Beamer and first-year Fighting Irish skipper Mar- cus Freeman shared similar 2022 regular-season profiles with tough starts and strong finishes. No. 19 South Carolina (8-4) began its season 1-2 before winning seven of its final nine games, including three against ranked opponents. No. 21 Notre Dame (8-4) started 0-2 before winning eight of its final 10 games, also with three victories against ranked opponents. Beamer beat North Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl as a rookie coach in 2021. A victory over Notre Dame would make him the first Gamecocks coach in program history to win a bowl in each of his first two years on the job. Freeman led his Irish on a five-game winning streak during their solid second half of this season and tied a program record along the way by scoring at least 35 points in five consecutive games — all during the streak. Given the Irish's inability to protect a 28-7 lead in their eventual 37-35 loss to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl last January, this would be a nice win for Freeman to get. The two coaches both share an upset win over Clemson this season. They also share two head- scratching losses — Freeman to Marshall and Stan- ford, Beamer to Florida and Missouri. Advantage: Even INTANGIBLES This will be the fifth trip to the Gator Bowl for the Gamecocks, but the first since 1987. South Carolina is still looking for its first win in this bowl after losing in each of their first four appearances. South Carolina will bring in plenty of momentum after finishing the regular season with wins over two top-10 teams, No. 5 Tennessee (63-38) and No. 7 Clemson (31-30). This is Notre Dame's fourth trip to the Gator Bowl (2-1), and its first since former head coach Tyrone Willingham took the Irish there and lost to North Carolina State during his debut season in 2022. Opt-outs and indifference are always worries in bowl games. An interesting trend for Notre Dame that held up most of this season is how its quick starts were often dragged down by sketchy finishes. The Irish outscored its opponents 210-100 in the first half of its 12 regular-season games while it has been outscored 161-158 in the second half. Advantage: Even Junior punter Kai Kroeger ranks second in the country with a 46.8-yard average. PHOTO COURTESY SOUTH CAROLINA