South Carolina 31, Central Florida 14

Many outside observers expected Central Florida’s visit to Williams-Brice Stadium to be an afternoon void of danger for a South Carolina team expected to easily get back on track versus an outmanned foe. The Knights (0-4) entered the game winless after being beaten by Football Championship Subdivision squad Furman last weekend. Both coaches have had to contend with the age issue, although O’Leary, 69, has pretty much brushed it aside while Spurrier, who doesn’t take kindly to any criticism, has fought back. “We have to go stop some good teams. We’ve just got to improve in areas that are constantly showing up in each game”. I told that to our guys. “I came in the locker room and tried to make sure everybody’s mind was right in the second half so we could perform like we should”. One of the more notable changes that will be seen is true freshman quarterback Lorenzo Nunez getting the start for the Gamecocks.

South Carolina also started a true freshman center in Zack Bailey due to injury and was without injured senior tailback Brandon Wilds.

T.J. Holloman, elevated to starter at middle linebacker to try and bolster a USC defense which was picked apart in last week’s loss at No. 7 Georgia, responded with a pair of interceptions.

But the spotlight, and pressure, was mainly on Nunez, a highly-touted dual-threat quarterback outside the norm of a classic Spurrier scheme.

“Except for the picks, I thought [he] handled the game better”, O’Leary said in the release.

“I was just thinking ‘Do my job, do my job”. But that was not almost good enough, in Nunez’s opinion.

“The first half was unacceptable to me, in my eyes”, South Carolina linebacker Skai Moore said.

“We caused some of our own self-inflicted wounds”. He’s just young. He’s going to continue to grow and be a good player.

Things opened up for them in the third quarter, though. Boosie Whitlow stoped a run in the backfield for a safety that gave the Gamecocks a 5-0 lead early in the second quarter. After a busted attempt at a trick play, Cooper saved the play by reversing field for a 29-yard scamper to give South Carolina a 15-14 lead with 7:41 to go in the third.

Spurrier was pleased with the victory, but tempered things knowing UCF was a subpar opponent.

“Yeah, I think we were the only ones to beat them”, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier recalled of UCF’s 12-1 mark in 2013. “We need to probably spread out a little bit and run and get him out of the pocket and throw”.

“We both have a lot of knowledge about the scheme”, Holloman said. “We’re going to keep fighting”. The test is still out there for us.