W
Wes Mitchell
Guest
** In my review of the TV copy of the Gamecocks' loss to Texas A&M, not much looked different than what all of you saw live on Saturday. The Gamecocks were beat up front on the offensive line in both the running and passing games, and while there were some small signs of progress from the run defense early in the game, that evaporated fairly quickly as the game wore on and the Gamecocks experienced the result of a defense that couldn't get off the field and an offense that couldn't stay on it. It's a terrible combination really.
** From a game plan standpoint on offense, it appeared that South Carolina felt it was going to have some trouble running the football on A&M, and that scouting report would prove to be correct. The staff came out trying to stretch the field vertically in the passing game and actually had some really nice shot plays called that were open, but drops kept them from hitting and I'm told that you could feel the sidelines deflate after the early drop by Jalen Brooks on a great throw from Collin Hill.
Once Carolina proved it couldn't execute well enough to stretch the field on those early deep balls, it only allowed A&M to continue to focus on taking away the South Carolina running game. That resulted in a worst-case scenario of sorts for the Carolina offense.
While the Gamecocks were awful on third downs, that's a byproduct of their lack of success on first downs and it's not just an issue from the A&M game, but a big picture issue as well.
If you walk through a sequence from down to down when South Carolina faces a defense that can stop its running game, it looks something like this... first down, run it against a stacked box or try to take advantage of the defense's weakness and throw it down the field. But if that first down throw isn't completed, you're stuck with a second and 10 now against a defense that still doesn't have to respect the deep ball. So now you either run it again and are probably looking at a third and 7 or so or you try to throw again and are potentially looking at a third and 10. Now facing, third and 10, you're looking at a defensive line that can pin its ears back against an offensive line that hasn't been great at pass protection and now you're throwing into a defensive call that's geared to stop the pass.
When really good offenses face a third and 10, they have what you'd call a bailout player - think Alshon Jeffery - who can sometimes bail you out and just go make a play which can negate down and distance issues. But at this point in time, the Gamecocks simply do not have that. As South Carolina averaged third and around nine yards to go on Saturday, you saw this exact scenario play out over and over.
** Getting into some specifics on why South Carolina couldn't run the football, it reminded me a bit of late last season when defenses adjusted to South Carolina's pin and pull running scheme and were able to get penetration and stop those plays before they get going down hill. Carolina clearly felt like it needed to run on the edges/to the outside, but a lot of those plays seem to create opportunities for big plays but also for negative plays.
It appeared that A&M's defensive linemen were able to use their quickness to shoot through the gaps created by the pulling linemen. That's an area where, in theory, you have an offensive lineman coming from the side to "pin" that defender inside, but when that defender is quick enough to blow by the pin, he's essentially got a free run at your running back and I saw that happen several times.
** I maintain that Collin Hill still hasn't been the biggest issue at all on offense, but I can respect the need for a potential change there just in an effort to spark things for the offense. Even without seeing a snap of practice, there's certainly a case to be made for starting someone else on Saturday just to see if it sparks the rest of the team.
When the week started, I was leaning heavily towards believing Ryan Hilinski is getting the start with Luke Doty continuing to get more and more playing time (as I previously mentioned, Doty playing more is part of the plan either way down the stretch), but as the week has gone on, I have not yet received a clear indication of who will start on Saturday. That may truly go all the way to gameday.
As for other guys who have been out, I have been told that Shilo Sanders has been back practicing, but I haven't received any other updates on players who have missed.
I hope to have more on the QB situation in Friday's Carolina Confidential when I'll dive into the matchup and what to watch for on Saturday.
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