Williams-Brice Stadium was just a tad over half full in the third quarter on Saturday. What a beautiful sight! Three weeks ago, the last time South Carolina welcomed an FCS foe to Columbia, folks to stay. to endure a lighting delay, sitting on metal bleachers biting their fingers while the Gamecocks scraped their way to a tense victory.
There was no need to stay on Saturday and, yes, that’s a good thing. South Carolina rolled to a 50-7 win over MAC squad Akron,bouncing back after a emotionally-draining loss to LSU last week and heading into its first bye week with a 3-1 record. If there was any night that coach Shane Beamer wanted to avoid drama, any night he might have been OK with some fans exiting early, it was this.
His starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers was on the sidelines munching on sunflower seeds, his right foot in a boot. Sellers missed practice almost all week and was still recovering from a sprained ankle suffered against LSU. During Saturday’s ESPNU broadcast, the announcers said that Sellers could have played against Akron.
The translation: There was no need to risk Sellers’ injury worsening when the Gamecocks can likely win without him. Auburn transfer Robby Ashford started for the Gamecocks after playing most of the second half against LSU and, well, the thought was he would just hand the ball to tailback Rocket Sanders 35 times and walk out of Willy-B with a win. If that was indeed the plan, offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains threw it out the win.