South Carolina cared far more about covering than winning

We may never know what Will Muschamp and the South Carolina Gamecocks were thinking, but their backers with the 14.5 point spread couldn’t be more grateful.

While in The Swamp facing the Florida Gators, USCe took over after a Gator punt at their own 22-yard line with 8:11 left in the game trailing 38-24. They needed at least two touchdowns to tie, and that seems like a bad time to engineer an 18-play, 74-yard drive that took 7:23 off the clock.

Here is every play on the drive. Again, this is all while trailing by 14 points. Look at these time stamps!

The Gamecocks were not only making personnel substitutions with under three minutes left in the game still... THEY WERE HUDDLING! WHILE THE CLOCK WAS RUNNING!

It’s not the first time the clock management of Muschamp has come under fire. College football fans are very familiar with the term Big Dumb Will Muschamp, but this absolutely inexcusable from a coach whose job it is to, you know, win the football game!

The side result of this is that South Carolina covered by half-a-point, and USC bettors must have been thrilled to watch their team grind the clock down to a nub. But in the immortal words of the head coach of Arizona State: You play to win the game!

As if Muschamp’s seat could get any hotter in Columbia, today might have been a fireable offense. The players got failed by their coaching and game management today. Full stop.

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