South Carolina 48, East Carolina 10
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina's coaches said throughout preseason practices that they felt confident in backup quarterback Dylan Thompson's ability to lead the offense. The notion appeared somewhat flimsy when Thompson was pressed into duty in the Gamecocks' opener, but Thompson did all he could to prove his coaches right Saturday.
Despite not having junior starting quarterback Connor Shaw, ninth-ranked South Carolina rolled past East Carolina, 48-10, in its home opener.
Shaw bruised his right (throwing) shoulder in last week's 17-13 opener at Vanderbilt and did not play Saturday. Thompson, a sophomore, started for the first time, and he made the most of his opportunity by essentially ending the game in the first half.
South Carolina led 21-0 at halftime, as Thompson completed 14-of-23 passes for 216 yards and touchdown passes of seven and 30 yards. He finished 21-of-37 for 330 yards and three touchdowns.
The Gamecocks (2-0) out-gained the Pirates (1-1), 304-193, in the first half.The Pirates' defense has struggled mightily at times under third-year coach Ruffin McNeill, but Saturday's first half was dismal even by their standards.
Before replacing Shaw at Vanderbilt, although Shaw did return, Thompson's career experience amounted to four games in mop-up duty last season as a redshirt freshman. He completed 2-of-2 passes for 17 yards.
At Vanderbilt, he was 0-of-3 before Shaw came back, Thompson was in for the first two drives of the second half, both of which went three plays and out, and resulted in minus-12 and minus-2 yards.
As Thompson diced East Carolina's shoddy defense in the first half on Saturday, the Pirates' up-tempo, spread-the-field offense did little to help their cause, despite a respectable yardage total.
Already down, 21-0, they turned the ball over on three consecutive drives in the second quarter, botching legitimate scoring chances on the first two.
The Pirates to South Carolina's 35 before Rio Johnson threw an interception. They reached South Carolina's 14-yard line on a pass that would have resulted in a first down, but they immediately fumbled the ball away. On the third drive, they managed to run only two error-free plays before Johnson threw another interception from his own 34-yard-line.
Coach Steve Spurrier said on his radio show Thursday that South Carolina's trainers were optimistic about Shaw being able to play, but the coaches were still preparing Thompson, just in case. Spurrier said that involved trying to boost Thompson's confidence after his disastrous showing at Vanderbilt. Shaw did not practice until Wednesday. He participated on a limited basis on Wednesday and Thursday.
South Carolina hosts Alabama-Birmingham next Saturday at 7 p.m., while East Carolina travels to Southern Mississippi at 3:30 p.m. for its Conference USA opener.
NOTES: South Carolina debuted its 124-by-36 video board Saturday. It is the 11th-largest in college football, by square footage. ... South Carolina is 19-3 in home games since the beginning of the 2009 season. ... The Gamecocks improved to 11-10 all-time when ranked in the top 10. The Gamecocks have won three consecutive games as a top-10 team, dating to last season's bowl game, tying the longest such streak in school history. They also won three ht games as a top-10 team in 1984.
