leading up to South Carolina's first SEC roow test of the Season there was so much talk made about the Gamecocks and the way they performed against Old Dominion last week only winning 23 to9 and also couple that with the fact that a lot of people were talking about how good this Kentucky Wildcat team could be with all the guys they have returning on defense talking about you know how they're favored by this many points and all that Shane Beamer didn't bring that up once right obviously he knew there were things to correct with this team from last week but not once did he mention the fact that you know South Carolina's going to be an underdog this week they're they're uh kck's favored by 10 points all this and that and it led to South Carolina playing very well today and they picked up a shocking shocking to most there are there are a few people like myself who did pick South Carolina to win today so I'm going to stand on business and call for what it is but The Game surpris a lot of people here in Lexington and picked up a 31-6 win here on Saturday in Lexington to move to 2-0 on the season for the first time since year one of the Shen Beamer era when the Gamecock did start out 2-0 with wins over Eastern Illinois and East Carolina back in 2021 so this is a big game that had a lot of stakes right if whoever won this game was really set up well for the rest of the season with bu bull eligibility and all that stuff like we're not talking about Kentucky being like you know college football playoff Contender and neither was South Carolina but these are two evenly matched teams to where whoever wins this game is more likely than not going to probably make a bowl game and have a good year whereas the other team you start the discussions of maybe the hot seat with Mark stup or Shane Beamer and the potential of having a down year because Kentucky plays Georgia next week and South Carolina plays at home versus LSU so it's very tough sledding from here for both teams but South Carolina was able to come in here and do what a lot of people didn't think they could do it starts on offense there were so many questions about this group and rightfully so about the way they threw the football it was not pretty last week Lenor cellers made his first career start at quarterback for South Carolina taking over after Spencer Rattler and did not look the part of a veteran seasoned experienced ready to go quarterback he struggled and it's going to happen it's not totally surprising but also a big part of it has to do with the fact that South Carolina's receiving corpse didn't really do much to help him with not getting open not blocking enough not catching the football so there was a lot that went wrong in the passing game but today while the stat line might not say that South Carolina had the best St throwing the football it was a significant Improvement in my opinion Lenoris looked a lot more comfortable out there he at the start of the game first touchdown South Carolina scored open the uh the scoring in this game fires a 24 yard touchdown pass to Mao Bennett who was for some reason left open by kuy's defense so it was a break in the defense by uh the wild cats and South Carolina took advantage and exposed that weakness and it was a really nice play to open the open the scoring and get The Passing game going cuz that's what they needed today to get into a little bit of a rhythm as the first half goes on the struggles come back uh for South Carolina's offense and going into the half they're only up six but the defense throughout the entire first portion of this season with two games so far man this defense has been absolutely outstanding today they had five sacks 11 tackles for loss and two interceptions one of which was a fourth quarter pick six that essentially put the game on Ice uh by Nicki minari and was just an absolute standout day they made Brock Vander Griff's life absolute uh to put it bluntly absolute hell out there on the field and uh Vandergriff only completed three passes for 30 yards had an interception like I said and it was just an ugly day and this forced Kentucky to run the football a lot more I know uh at one point I think they ran the ball 11 straight times and it led to a field goal in the first half but I mean outside of that they never got into the end zone and that's a big credit to Clayton white every position coach involved in this defense because they do a outstanding job and everything they did in the final month of last season has seemingly carried over into this year and been so much better let's get back to the offense though for a second second half uh Lenoris fumbles twice luckily his guys got on it and recovered uh on the opening drive of the second half when South Carolina got the ball but it wasn't pretty then Dylan stort uh on the on the next possession uh for Kentucky gets a gets a third down sack and uh it sets the tone for South Carolina to go back out there and make some big plays it starts with the fourth and one uh offsides call on Kentucky that changed everything cuz you're at the 50 ydd line and you have a first down and now you're in in you're you're in Wildcat territory to where you can make some things happen and then from there Bennett was left wide open again this time for a 32 yard gain and then from there sellers connected with Josh Simon in the end zone for a 16 yard touchdown and that point it's like 176 then like I said before South Carolina scored again on Nicki min War's pick six and rocket sander scored a touchdown today too so again a 25-point blowout for the game Coxs an absolute surprise like look I picked South Carol to win 1917 today I I don't even think I could have told tell you that this team was going to win by 25 today I don't think anyone could in their right mind and it's okay it's understandable because of how this team played last week and look a lot of people doubted this team they thought this team is not going to make a ball game maybe Shane Beamer needs to be on the hot get fired whatever the case might be I think I think a lot of people's tunes about this team it is only two games after all and it is only one really good win but I think a lot of people's perception of this team is getting back to maybe what it was at the end of 2022 when they have those signature wins over top 10 teams like Tennessee and then uh Clemson to end the year I think this is it is one game but I do think South Carolina is on the right track to where they're playing great defense special teams has been good Alex Herrero was very good today and Shout Out Kai Kroger cuz he also had a very good game vintage 2022 style in my opinion at least and then the offense while I think in my opinion it's probably the weakest part of this team they showed a lot of progress today and if they play like this if they play the way they did today just a little better there's no telling what this team could do I'm not saying you know get out get your playoff tickets ready and all that sort of stuff that is not what I'm saying but the path to a bowl game getting there getting to six wins and getting back on track to what you did in 20122 is a lot more attainable now because you won this game today and you're off to a 2- 0 start with LSU coming into town next week and speaking of which that is going to be a massive game in the SEC uh noon kickoff ABC next Saturday in Columbia hopefully it will be rocking I will be there along with some of my uh fellow co-workers that Gamecock Central so be sure to stay locked in cuz that is going to be a huge game and A lot's going to be at stake just like every week from now on for South Carolina and a lot more people are going to be paying attention to this team and what they do but I think this team is ready for it and I think they can handle it because of the way they play so that's going to do it for all from now from Lexington be sure to stay locked in Gamecock central.com for all coverage the rest of today tomorrow going on the rest of the season and that'll do it for now for game central.com I'm Jack vry