Spencer Rattler Shows Resiliency in Big Moments
So far this season, at least from a statistical standpoint, it's probably fair to say that Spencer Rattler hasn't had the season he envisioned coming to Columbia. Some of the reasons behind this being the case have been out of Rattler's control. Still, Rattler has had his moments of subpar quarterback play, which is more noticeable when facing SEC defenses.
On Saturday night, however, Rattler showed glimpses of his game that reminded South Carolina's fanbase why they were so excited when the news broke this past December that Rattler was coming to Columbia.
In the first half of the game, Rattler completed six of his first ten passes for 49 passing yards, one interception, and one fumble off a strip sack. There were many occasions where Rattler would sit back in a clean pocket for what seemed like years and could not find any receiving threat break open. While it can be assumed these breakdowns weren't all on him, Rattler was playing with what felt like a great deal of hesitation, which could've been a product of the two turnovers he had in the first half.
However, in a game-changing third quarter, South Carolina would tally 145 offensive yards, with 98 coming through the air. Rattler seemed much more settled into the offense, and the play calling in the second half was geared more toward getting the short passing game going. The important thing is that Rattler could've let a poor first-half performance dictate his second-half play by allowing it to linger, but he didn't.
"Yeah, he was a little off. I mean, we didn't play a ton of plays," coach Shane Beamer said in his postgame press conference. "Felt like we played okay in the first half; we just kind of got plus territory a couple of times and went backwards. We threw the interception late in the half to Stogner; we just wanted to get them an opportunity to go up and get it and underthrew it a little bit, but I told Spencer at halftime that he's been in environments like this, and I told everybody on offense we all just need to play better around him and he's going to make some plays in the second half to go win it."
The fact that Rattler still didn't play a complete football game but was able to right the ship is undoubtedly going to serve as a morale booster for him and the team to build on moving forward.
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