Birmingham Bowl: Darius English and Marquavius Lewis (DE – South Carolina)
South Florida has one of the best rushing attacks in college football, so it will be up to the South Carolina defense to keep this game close. If that’s going to happen, it will be Will Muschamp’s two defensive ends who have to step up.
Darius English and Marquavius Lewis will have one job in this game; prevent quarterback Quinton Flowers and running back Marlon Mack from getting to the edge and gaining large chunks of yards. The pair ran for over 2,500 yards and combined to score 30 touchdowns on the ground this season. All while averaging more than 7.5 yards per carry.
The two defensive ends from South Carolina have recorded 10.5 sacks and 16.5 tackles for a loss this year, with most of the production coming from English.
The Birmingham Bowl won’t be decided by how many stops the pair make in the backfield, but more so by how many stops the two make within five yards of the line of scrimmage. If the Bulls continue to average over seven yards per carry, the Gamecocks won’t stand a chance.