The good feelings from the upset win over Georgia have evaporated from the USC program. Maybe there were some residuals after a hard fought loss to Florida, but Saturday’s upset defeat at the hands of Tennessee wiped that slate clean. The Gamecocks are once again favorites this week (15 points) over Vanderbilt in what is an absolute, no question about it, must win game if they want to go bowling in December/ January. On his conference call Sunday night, Will Muschamp reviewed the good and the bad of Saturday’s loss and updated the injuries.

Some key notes from the Will Muschamp conference call

• Did some good things in run game in 1st half. Went 0-9 third down second half. Got whipped up front in 2nd half. Had hard time protecting QB.
• Thought defensively they played pretty well except for the 7 big passes, and those came against 7-plus pass protection packages. Special teams gives up 14 points and lose field position on the road, you lose the game.
• Dowdle, Staley, Dylan Wonnum will remain out for Vanderbilt. Expects Hutcherson and Jones to play. Kevin Harris could be back in another week. AJ Turner still bothered by hamstring and did not look good in practice Sunday.
• They didn’t block well enough on the edges to protect the quarterback in the second half, and they have to stick with the running game to help those tackles.
• They have to look at some things schematically in the secondary but he feels they are playing their best players right now.
• He’s not had any conversations yet with Jake Bentley about his future plans. Said Bentley has been a great teammate working with the QBs, isn’t able to travel with the team, and he will be welcomed back if he wants to return.