South Carolina wide receiver Deebo Samuel (1) celebrates his touchdown reception with Blake Camper, right, Jake Bentley (19) and Shi Smith (13) during the second half of Saturday’s home win against Coastal Carolina.COLUMBIA, S.C. – University of South Carolina football players and coaches talked all offseason about going faster and displaying a new speed on offense.
It was only one game – against a team that is just more than a year removed from playing its first season in the Football Bowl Subdivision – but the Gamecocks’ 49-15 victory over Coastal Carolina on Saturday left no doubt that South Carolina can achieve its goal.
Jake Bentley threw for four touchdowns, Rico Dowdle scored twice and South Carolina had six players reach the end zone in a dominant opener before turning their attention to Southeastern Conference play this week as Georgia visits.
Coach Will Muschamp didn’t think his Gamecocks went as fast as they could all the time – but they didn’t need to.
“What you’re going to see is times where we’re going really fast, and there’s going to be some times where we’re taking a look and see what we’re getting,” Muschamp said. “I think it’s going to be a game-by-game operation from what (offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon) and I have talked about in administering the offense.”