Not-so Special Teams
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Special teams. Often overlooked or a second thought. But not on this night.
A misplaced kickoff returned for a touchdown. A low line drive field goal that was blocked. An illegal motion penalty that resulted in the Gamecocks starting position being their own 20 yard line instead of the five for a drive that ended in a touchdown. A snap infraction. Illegal touching that resulted in a touchback and cost Missouri seven yards. A muffed punt return that was recovered by South Carolina and resulted in a touchdown drive.
Those six plays weren’t the only reason Missouri lost to South Carolina on Saturday night, but man did they hurt.
The Tigers were leading South Carolina 10-0 when the special teams bus started to veer off the road. Drew Lock had just hit Jason Reese for a 61-yard touchdown reception. The stadium was starting to get fairly loud.
Everything changed over the next thirty seconds however. Tucker McCann booted the ensuing kickoff down the middle of the field to Debo Samuels. The Gamecock star promptly returned the kick 97 yards for a touchdown.
Jordan Kodner
South Carolina had counter punched Missouri. How would the Tigers react?
On first play of the Tigers’ next drive Lock threw a pass out in the flat which Jamyest Williams intercepted. The very next play Samuels ran 25 yards for a touchdown that put the Gamecocks up for good.
“I didn’t,” senior defensive end Marcell Frazier said when asked if he sensed the wind coming out of the Tigers’ sail. “It was big time swing for them for sure, but I thought we still had it.”
Ultimately, whether Frazier was right about the players’ reaction or not, the game turned drastically on the three plays and Mizzou wasn’t able to overcome those 30 seconds.
All teams deal with unexpected trials and tribulations over the course of a season. Reese said despite the team continually preparing for dealing with said adversity, Missouri obviously failed at it tonight.
“We got to do a better job of responding to adversity. That’s what our training is based on is responding to adversity. We didn’t do a great job as a team tonight,” he explained.
In the second half the special teams bus continued it’s wayward trek and eventually flew completely off the tracks. Penalties by long snapper James Workman and defensive back Anthony Hines cost the Tigers yards, but the back breaker came when wide receiver Johnathon Johnson muffed a punt and South Carolina recovered.
The game already felt like it was out of hand, but at 24-13 with 13:15 to go in the 4th quarter the Tigers had a puncher’s chance. After the muffed punt, though, South Carolina drove 44 yards on seven plays and ended any chance Mizzou might have had at a comeback.
“Special teams is really important,” said junior wide receiver Emanuel Hall. “When you let the ball roll into bad field position or you fumble or let up a big play scored off a kickoff return, those are big plays. Those are momentum shifters that can really swing a game.”
All night Missouri dealt with negative swings on special teams. And despite training on overcoming adversity Barry Odom and his team weren’t able to pull it off on this night against South Carolina.