W
Wes Mitchell
Guest
I've split this into two parts, because it's just simply going to be too much to get through otherwise.
After watching the game twice, here are my observations...
Offense
-- We'll start with the quarterback, as almost always. I'd say the best word to describe Connor Mitch early in the contest was "hesitant." After some sloppy scrimmages in the turnover department, the staff has talked plenty about not turning the football over and in this case, Mitch looked like a quarterback who was worried about making a mistake. It's often times difficult to discern if there were actually open wide receivers, but early on it seemed like there were opportunities to complete passes when Mitch rolled out despite there not being a rush in his face. That said, I think it's important to remember that this was not only Mitch's first career start, but really his first meaningful playing time at all. If you think about the fact that quarterbacks don't get hit in practice, then Mitch really hasn't been hit in three full years, so here was surely a lot going on for him and the coaches can help him out some by getting the plays in quicker.
While the announcers made a big deal about Mitch's early statistical woes, he also didn't get any help from his teammates in the first quarter with drops that would have gone for decent-sized gains. The throw to Jerell Adams almost literally hit him in the chest and was a laser from Mitch that would have gone for a nice gain and possibly gotten his confidence up. I did think that Mitch seemed to settle into the game as it went along. He made a couple of strong back-to-back throws to Terry Googer and at that time he really seems to be getting into a rhythm, but the taunting call pushed the team back again and broke that up quickly. I've never seen a taunting call on a quarterback and still haven't heard exactly what he did.
While the offense was extremely ugly at times -- and Steve Spurrier admitted that they didn't have many good pass plays on from a play-calling standpoint -- I will give Spurrier credit for manufacturing a couple of scoring drives and sticking with the running game. He gave UNC different look after different look in the backfield and while I'm not sure that helped in the effort to get Mitch into the flow of the game, the short passes to the backs and tight end certainly did, and having those options to go to were huge when Mitch was injured.
We said prior to the game that Mitch has sneaky athleticism and speed and I think that showed in the game. If not for his wheels, I think it's a far different game and that ability is something that teams will have to account for on the zone-read moving forward.
-- The sequence leading up to North Carolina's fourth down stop in the fourth was not a good one. First, the Gamecocks were stopped just short of the chains on second down. Then, on third and a couple of inches, they went to a shotgun running play. Now, I'm not one of the people who is completely against running from the shotgun on short yardage like a lot of people are, but in this case -- third and inches -- I think you have to just run the sneak on third down and with UNC having to account for other plays as well, you probably get the first down.
But not only did South Carolina not get the first on third down, it also lost yardage, which then made the fourth down play very low percentage as a quarterback sneak. The fourth down play is when you probably wanted to get the ball in the hands of one of your running backs.
I'm generally not quick to question a coach on playcalling, because they know far more than anyone watching about why they called a play in a certain situation. But the QB sneak there and the QB sneak at the end of the half made no sense.
With about 10 seconds left, and South Carolina facing 3rd and 1 with no timeouts at the end of the half and facing a very long field goal attempt, just about any play in the entire playbook made more sense than the QB sneak there. Zone read, inside zone, quick pass, intermediate pass and even a shot play if you thought you could catch UNC sleeping, all made more sense than that when you consider the risk reward and the fact that the clock stops on a first down. The "reward" to a successful sneak was a 57-yard field goal. I didn't get that at all.
-- Senior running back Shon Carson was certainly the forgotten man in the backfield this preseason, but you have to give him all the credit in the world for coming up big when his name was called. Carson has always been a physically impressive kid, but his vision hasn't always shown on the field. Frankly, Carson looked like a different back on Thursday. He ran decisively, ran hard, ran patient and he ran to daylight. I'm sure on a hot and humid night, his fresh legs played a part in the success against a worn down UNC defense, but again, he gets a ton of credit for being ready and giving the offense a big boost when it needed. As the offense and the defense showed, big plays can be the difference in the game and Carson provided that.
-- Spurrier lamented that he didn't call the sweep play that Carson scored on even more than he did because it was going so well. Here's a breakdown of the play as best I could tell and there were some variations to it, which I imagine were dependent on UNC's front.
The left guard or left tackle cuts the backside defensive tackle, the right tackle seals the front side defensive tackle and the tight end engages to the outside shoulder of the frontside defensive end and tries to turn him inside as the center and right guard pull to the right on the sweep. There are all kinds of variations to this play, but with an athletic center like Alan Knott, it makes sense to pull him rather than force the backside guard (Matulis) to try and get there [by the way - kudos to Knott, whose snaps were on point all night].
In the case of Carson's 48-yard touchdown run, the left tackle (Brandon Shell) cuts the backside defensive tackle (you don't block the backside DE, because he's got too far to run anyway), and Mike Matulis, who has a long, long way to run on that play, somehow dove and got to the linebacker on the backside of the play effectively taking him out, which probably made this a 48-yard run instead of just a solid run. Will Sport is pulling from his right guard spot, but realizes the playside safety has bit hard up the field, so he uses his momentum to carry him on out of the play. Knott gets enough of the playside linebacker to allow Carson to get just even with him, and the fresh-legged Carson explodes into the open field in-between the linebacker and the cornerback who gets blocked to the ground by Carlton Heard, who was in the boundary. If you want to see a beautifully blocked play, watch that one below.
-- Speaking of the offensive line, I wouldn't call them "dominant," but I thought it was a very good game up front. For the most part, the Carolina quarterbacks had a clean pocket to throw from and they were able to open up enough room for the running backs to amass 254 yards on the ground. This group will only get better as the season progresses, and I think that's a theme for the entire offense.
-- I can't write about the offense without mentioning Pharoh Cooper. While he didn't have a huge game statistically, he's the guy that gives you hope that this offense has a chance to be much better as the pieces around him come together. I like how South Carolina used him. Sometimes as the primary target, sometimes as the decoy, sometimes in the Wildcat. They used him a bunch of different ways, and they'll have to continue to do that. The play in which Cooper looked to throw to Mitch, but it wasn't there and he reversed field to the right side to pick up a first down was a thing of beauty.
-- As for the other wide receivers, they're going to have to get open more. Spurrier blamed his playcalling and I take Spurrier at his word when he says that. But at the same time, the receivers are going to have to make plays and earn the quarterbacks' trust, and help their young quarterback out. Deebo Samuel obviously didn't have a huge game, but he didn't get many opportunities either and he almost made an incredible catch down the field. They need him healthy for this offense to be as good as it can be.
I really, really liked what Googer did on the two plays they went to him. We're working to try and find out the extent of Samuel's and Googer's injuries, but he's someone I think you'll see playing more as the season progresses. He's a perfect fit for the 'B' receiver spot with his frame and hands. I'd imagine he plays more as the season goes on.
-- I would look for a youth movement at wide receiver sooner rather than later. I've been told that there have already been post-game conversations with Jalen Christian and D.J. Neal about getting them ready to make an impact.
-- Is Mitch going to have to play better going forward for this team to have a big year? There's no question. But this offense is going to be a work in progress in a lot of areas and it makes no sense to give up on him yet. Not having any turnovers was huge, though Carolina did dodge a couple of bullets on that front. This offense was certainly not pretty to watch, and Spurrier took a lot of blame for that, but with an improving defense and someone like Cooper to build around, Spurrier will find a way to put together a serviceable offense as the season goes on. Until then, the Gamecocks will rely on the running game and the play of the offensive line.
A receiver can run a wrong route and cause an interception and get you beat, but if this is going to be an over-simplified, run-based attack for the time-being anyway, do you sort of take your lumps on offense early and let them all gel together and group up together? It's something to think about. Offensive lines, if they stay healthy, only seem to get better as seasons go on. With a solid stable of running backs already in place, I still believe there's an opportunity for steady growth from the quarterback position, offensive line, tight ends not named Adams and receivers not named Cooper.
After watching the game twice, here are my observations...
Offense
-- We'll start with the quarterback, as almost always. I'd say the best word to describe Connor Mitch early in the contest was "hesitant." After some sloppy scrimmages in the turnover department, the staff has talked plenty about not turning the football over and in this case, Mitch looked like a quarterback who was worried about making a mistake. It's often times difficult to discern if there were actually open wide receivers, but early on it seemed like there were opportunities to complete passes when Mitch rolled out despite there not being a rush in his face. That said, I think it's important to remember that this was not only Mitch's first career start, but really his first meaningful playing time at all. If you think about the fact that quarterbacks don't get hit in practice, then Mitch really hasn't been hit in three full years, so here was surely a lot going on for him and the coaches can help him out some by getting the plays in quicker.
While the announcers made a big deal about Mitch's early statistical woes, he also didn't get any help from his teammates in the first quarter with drops that would have gone for decent-sized gains. The throw to Jerell Adams almost literally hit him in the chest and was a laser from Mitch that would have gone for a nice gain and possibly gotten his confidence up. I did think that Mitch seemed to settle into the game as it went along. He made a couple of strong back-to-back throws to Terry Googer and at that time he really seems to be getting into a rhythm, but the taunting call pushed the team back again and broke that up quickly. I've never seen a taunting call on a quarterback and still haven't heard exactly what he did.
While the offense was extremely ugly at times -- and Steve Spurrier admitted that they didn't have many good pass plays on from a play-calling standpoint -- I will give Spurrier credit for manufacturing a couple of scoring drives and sticking with the running game. He gave UNC different look after different look in the backfield and while I'm not sure that helped in the effort to get Mitch into the flow of the game, the short passes to the backs and tight end certainly did, and having those options to go to were huge when Mitch was injured.
We said prior to the game that Mitch has sneaky athleticism and speed and I think that showed in the game. If not for his wheels, I think it's a far different game and that ability is something that teams will have to account for on the zone-read moving forward.
-- The sequence leading up to North Carolina's fourth down stop in the fourth was not a good one. First, the Gamecocks were stopped just short of the chains on second down. Then, on third and a couple of inches, they went to a shotgun running play. Now, I'm not one of the people who is completely against running from the shotgun on short yardage like a lot of people are, but in this case -- third and inches -- I think you have to just run the sneak on third down and with UNC having to account for other plays as well, you probably get the first down.
But not only did South Carolina not get the first on third down, it also lost yardage, which then made the fourth down play very low percentage as a quarterback sneak. The fourth down play is when you probably wanted to get the ball in the hands of one of your running backs.
I'm generally not quick to question a coach on playcalling, because they know far more than anyone watching about why they called a play in a certain situation. But the QB sneak there and the QB sneak at the end of the half made no sense.
With about 10 seconds left, and South Carolina facing 3rd and 1 with no timeouts at the end of the half and facing a very long field goal attempt, just about any play in the entire playbook made more sense than the QB sneak there. Zone read, inside zone, quick pass, intermediate pass and even a shot play if you thought you could catch UNC sleeping, all made more sense than that when you consider the risk reward and the fact that the clock stops on a first down. The "reward" to a successful sneak was a 57-yard field goal. I didn't get that at all.
-- Senior running back Shon Carson was certainly the forgotten man in the backfield this preseason, but you have to give him all the credit in the world for coming up big when his name was called. Carson has always been a physically impressive kid, but his vision hasn't always shown on the field. Frankly, Carson looked like a different back on Thursday. He ran decisively, ran hard, ran patient and he ran to daylight. I'm sure on a hot and humid night, his fresh legs played a part in the success against a worn down UNC defense, but again, he gets a ton of credit for being ready and giving the offense a big boost when it needed. As the offense and the defense showed, big plays can be the difference in the game and Carson provided that.
-- Spurrier lamented that he didn't call the sweep play that Carson scored on even more than he did because it was going so well. Here's a breakdown of the play as best I could tell and there were some variations to it, which I imagine were dependent on UNC's front.
The left guard or left tackle cuts the backside defensive tackle, the right tackle seals the front side defensive tackle and the tight end engages to the outside shoulder of the frontside defensive end and tries to turn him inside as the center and right guard pull to the right on the sweep. There are all kinds of variations to this play, but with an athletic center like Alan Knott, it makes sense to pull him rather than force the backside guard (Matulis) to try and get there [by the way - kudos to Knott, whose snaps were on point all night].
In the case of Carson's 48-yard touchdown run, the left tackle (Brandon Shell) cuts the backside defensive tackle (you don't block the backside DE, because he's got too far to run anyway), and Mike Matulis, who has a long, long way to run on that play, somehow dove and got to the linebacker on the backside of the play effectively taking him out, which probably made this a 48-yard run instead of just a solid run. Will Sport is pulling from his right guard spot, but realizes the playside safety has bit hard up the field, so he uses his momentum to carry him on out of the play. Knott gets enough of the playside linebacker to allow Carson to get just even with him, and the fresh-legged Carson explodes into the open field in-between the linebacker and the cornerback who gets blocked to the ground by Carlton Heard, who was in the boundary. If you want to see a beautifully blocked play, watch that one below.
-- Speaking of the offensive line, I wouldn't call them "dominant," but I thought it was a very good game up front. For the most part, the Carolina quarterbacks had a clean pocket to throw from and they were able to open up enough room for the running backs to amass 254 yards on the ground. This group will only get better as the season progresses, and I think that's a theme for the entire offense.
-- I can't write about the offense without mentioning Pharoh Cooper. While he didn't have a huge game statistically, he's the guy that gives you hope that this offense has a chance to be much better as the pieces around him come together. I like how South Carolina used him. Sometimes as the primary target, sometimes as the decoy, sometimes in the Wildcat. They used him a bunch of different ways, and they'll have to continue to do that. The play in which Cooper looked to throw to Mitch, but it wasn't there and he reversed field to the right side to pick up a first down was a thing of beauty.
-- As for the other wide receivers, they're going to have to get open more. Spurrier blamed his playcalling and I take Spurrier at his word when he says that. But at the same time, the receivers are going to have to make plays and earn the quarterbacks' trust, and help their young quarterback out. Deebo Samuel obviously didn't have a huge game, but he didn't get many opportunities either and he almost made an incredible catch down the field. They need him healthy for this offense to be as good as it can be.
I really, really liked what Googer did on the two plays they went to him. We're working to try and find out the extent of Samuel's and Googer's injuries, but he's someone I think you'll see playing more as the season progresses. He's a perfect fit for the 'B' receiver spot with his frame and hands. I'd imagine he plays more as the season goes on.
-- I would look for a youth movement at wide receiver sooner rather than later. I've been told that there have already been post-game conversations with Jalen Christian and D.J. Neal about getting them ready to make an impact.
-- Is Mitch going to have to play better going forward for this team to have a big year? There's no question. But this offense is going to be a work in progress in a lot of areas and it makes no sense to give up on him yet. Not having any turnovers was huge, though Carolina did dodge a couple of bullets on that front. This offense was certainly not pretty to watch, and Spurrier took a lot of blame for that, but with an improving defense and someone like Cooper to build around, Spurrier will find a way to put together a serviceable offense as the season goes on. Until then, the Gamecocks will rely on the running game and the play of the offensive line.
A receiver can run a wrong route and cause an interception and get you beat, but if this is going to be an over-simplified, run-based attack for the time-being anyway, do you sort of take your lumps on offense early and let them all gel together and group up together? It's something to think about. Offensive lines, if they stay healthy, only seem to get better as seasons go on. With a solid stable of running backs already in place, I still believe there's an opportunity for steady growth from the quarterback position, offensive line, tight ends not named Adams and receivers not named Cooper.
