This may be the recency bias talking, but South Carolina’s performance in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl might have been the most impressive win I have seen from this team in a long time. Yes, the win over Florida was huge (and without it we wouldn’t be here), but it didn’t carry as much weight as this game did.
The Gamecocks came into this contest as 12.5-point underdogs down countless key players from the first 12 games of the season and wasted no time setting the tone along with asserting their dominance on both sides of the ball.
This was the best offensive game for South Carolina from a yards perspective all year, and it felt like the moment the Cocks started to lose a step on defense, they would make up for it with a sack on third down — where North Carolina converted only once in 10 tries — to push the Tar Heels back.