LEXINGTON, Ky. — South Carolina football dominated Kentucky on its own field, defeating the Wildcats (1-1) 31-6 in the SEC opener.

The Gamecocks (2-0) sent Kentucky fans heading toward the exits early in the fourth quarter, a reversal from last week, when Old Dominion fans were on the edge of their seat with the game so close.

Saturday marked the third consecutive win for South Carolina against Kentucky (1-1).

Here are three overreactions from Saturday's game, including the strong showing from the Gamecocks' offense:

The Gamecocks' offense isn't in that much trouble

It wasn't absurd to say that South Carolina's offensive showing last week caused a lot of worries, but it's also not absurd to use the offensive effort Saturday to measure its potential going forward. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers looked more comfortable, even with a leg injury, which sidelined him for a chunk of the second quarter.

Sellers threw two touchdown passes to wide open players, which likely will be a confidence booster rather than a highlight reel, as most SEC defenses won't lose a receiver in the end zone twice.

There's a lot to clean up. Sellers and his offensive line didn't play a flawless game, but it's fair to say the offense as a whole will improve with time, as it did in the past week.

South Carolina's defense will be a problem in the SEC this season

Kentucky didn't get anything going on Saturday; it didn't even score a touchdown.

Once again, freshman edge Dylan Stewart posed a continuous threat to the opposing quarterback. On one play Saturday, Stewart was triple-teamed and fought through, then chased Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff and forced an incompletion. Stewart finished with two tackles and a sack; against Old Dominion in his college debut, he had four tackles and 1.5 sacks.

In the third quarter, Kentucky totaled -11 yards.

South Carolina logged two interceptions, had nine tackles for a loss, four stacks, three QB hurries and two forced fumbles against a team that scored 31 points in its Week 1 game.

MORE FROM SATURDAY: South Carolina football vs Kentucky score today: Live updates, highlights from Week 2 game

South Carolina may be leaning into 'dependability' too much

Last week, Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer highlighted how when the offense flailed, the defense came out and cleaned things up.

Near the end of the first half Saturday, Sellers threw an interception; the defense stood strong to force a field goal, instead of allowing a touchdown that would have tied the score. While the fundamental trust in the defense to make big plays isn't bad, the offense can't just sit back and depend on teammates cleaning up sloppy mistakes.

On offense, the line for the Gamecocks may be too comfortable with Sellers' ability to scramble. Sellers is athletic but against the Wildcats had little protection. The only way to continue to get the passing game going is by not expecting the quarterback to get himself out of every problem.

Sellers fumbled twice on one drive because of immediate pressurel but the Gamecocks recovered both. That luck won't always be there, and South Carolina has too challenging of a schedule ahead to assume mistakes won't be costly.

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina's offense shows hope, more overreactions after Kentucky