3 takeaways from South Carolina’s close 37-30 home victory over Mississippi State

South Carolina desperately needed a win on Saturday night after starting 2023 with 2 losses — and while it wasn’t pretty at times — the Gamecocks pulled off the 37-30 victory over the Mississippi Bulldogs in their first home game of the year.

The Gamecocks’ offense was clearly the story of the night putting up nearly 500 yards, with a nice balance of 288 through the air and 146 on the ground.

Here are 3 takeaways from South Carolina’s win over Mississippi State:

Spencer Rattler was fantastic

Rattler came into Saturday’s SEC clash poised for a breakout performance, and he found it in a major way against the Bulldogs. At the start of the fourth quarter, Rattler had just one incompletion on the night. He finished the game with just two incompletions, completing 18 of his 20 passing attempts for 288 yards and 3 touchdowns.

If Rattler can build on tonight’s performance, the Gamecocks will have a chance to pull off upsets over their next to opponents, Tennessee and Florida, who are both currently ranked within the top 25.

Xavier Legette had breakout performance

Shane Beamer and the South Carolina coaching staff have been waiting for a wideout to prove himself as the true No. 1 threat against opposing defenses. On the same night the program retired Alston Jeffrey’s jersey, senior wide receiver Xavier Legette put together a dominant performance. He hauled in 5 receptions for 189 yards, including a pair of 65-yard touchdowns. Gamecocks’ fans have always been aware of Legette’s speed as one of the top returners in the SEC, but on Saturday night, he proved to be a matchup nightmare for the Mississippi State defense as a true deep threat downfield. If Legette can continue to put together these performances, defensive coordinators will be forced to game plan around him, opening up opportunities for the other offensive playmakers.

Passing defense needs improvement

While the South Carolina defense caused two key turnovers with an interception and fumble recovery on the night, the unit as a whole kept Mississippi State alive for 60 minutes when the Gamecocks could have closed the Bulldogs out much sooner. After Rattler, and the offense gave the defense a comfortable 14-0 lead in the first quarter, the defense allowed Will Rodgers and the Bulldogs offense to beat them through the air for big gains. The result? Mississippi State came back and trailed by just three points at halftime.

Shane Beamer addressed this during his halftime interview.

“Our biggest issue right now is we can’t cover them and we can’t get pressure on the quarterback,” Beamer said at the half. “We’ve got 2 great quarterbacks in this game, when Will Rogers is able to sit back in the pocket for like 8 seconds and throw deeps balls over our defenders heads, we’re gonna be a long night.”

Rogers and company was able to post 519 of total offense on the night, with 487 of those yards coming through the air. If South Carolina wants to beat its next two opponents, it will have to clean up the passing defense in a hurry.