3 Things that Michigan fans should know about South Carolina

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The Michigan Wolverines are headed to the Outback Bowl in Tampa, FL. to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks on New Year’s Day. The game will be played at Raymond James Stadium and kick off at noon ET on ESPN2. Michigan enters the game with a record of 8-4 (5-4 Big Ten), and will take on a South Carolina team that is also 8-4 (5-3 SEC).

Most analysts had South Carolina projected to end up in the Outback Bowl, so this is really no surprise. Michigan fans should remember the Gamecocks all too well, as they beat the Wolverines 33-28 in the Outback Bowl in 2013. If you don’t remember that, you probably at least remember Jadeveon Clowney’s hit on Michigan running back Vincent Smith during that game.

That was nearly five years ago though, and a lot has changed since then. Here are three things Michigan fans need to know about this current version of the Gamecocks:

THEY JUST FIRED THEIR OC

This is pretty big news. A team who goes 8-4 and ends up in a New Year’s Day bowl game, usually isn’t firing coaches leading up to the bowl game. South Carolina has become an exception to that this year, as they just fired their former offensive coordinator Kurt Roper.

South CarolinaThis was just announced on Wednesday (12/06) and the decision was made by head coach Will Muschamp. Roper spent the past two seasons at South Carolina and also coached with Muschamp at Florida in 2014.

This really shouldn’t be that surprising, considering the Gamecocks ranked 79th or worse in all major offensive statistics in the country. That includes a scoring average of just 24 points per game, which ranks 102nd in the FBS.

South Carolina wants to make improvements on offense, and clearly they weren’t going to waste any more time with Roper calling the plays. According to Muschamp, Co-offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon will serve as the play caller for the bowl game against Michigan.

FIERY WILL MUSCHAMP

Will Muschamp was hired by South Carolina prior to the 2016 season and has shown a modest win improvement from his 6-7 record in year one. Currently, he has a 14-11 record in Columbia. Muschamp has only had one other head coaching job prior to this one, when he was the head man at Florida from 2011-14. However, was let go after turning in a 10-13 record in his final two years, following an 11-win season in 2012.

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Muschamp has a reputation for being a fiery guy, often getting extremely heated on the sidelines with officials and even with his own players. He’s also known for being a defensive guy, as he’s served as a defensive coach since 1998, when he was a defensive backs coach for West Georgia. He’s also been a defensive coordinator twice at Auburn, and also at Texas.

His fiery style and passion for the game can be seen mostly as a positive, but sometimes he goes a little too far over the edge. So far at South Carolina that hasn’t happened yet, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

STOUT D

There is no doubt the strength of this Gamecocks team is their defense. That should come as no surprise under Muschamp.

On the season, South Carolina is giving up 146.7 yards on the ground per game, and just under 228 through the air. Their scoring defense is also really good, as the Gamecocks give up just under 21 points per contest.

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It seems the staple of any good team under Muschamp is defense, which the Gamecocks are. This makes sense being that he is a defensive guy. When he was with Florida, his best season came in 2012 when the Gators went 11-2 that team played dominant defense.

This group isn’t exactly dominant, but it was good enough to win eight games and get the job done against most offenses. That could be a problem for a Michigan offense that was mediocre for most of the regular season.