Deebo Samuel returned. Rico Dowdle emerged. And a revamped offense moved up and down the field as South Carolina checked all the boxes it could under the circumstances in a season-opening 49-15 win over Coastal Carolina on Saturday in Williams-Brice Stadium.
Now the Gamecocks (1-0) must ready themselves for the start of the SEC season and a visit from No. 3 Georgia next week when the degree of difficulty will rise dramatically.
Against an overmatched Chanticleers team (Coastal was ranked 125th of 130 FBS teams in ESPN’s Football Power Index headed into the season), South Carolina showed about all it could, scoring the most points of the Will Muschamp era and the most since it beat these same Chanticleers 70-10 in 2013.