SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL
When Will Muschamp walked into the building Sunday morning after a disappointing loss to Tennessee, he fully expected to talk with his offensive staff about shaking things up against Vanderbilt.
But, when he went to talk with the group, they already had an idea concocted and he agreed with it: Bryan McClendon will move back to the booth and call plays from there while Dan Werner stays on the sidelines.
“They had already had the discussion. I came in on Sunday and said we need to change something up and we need to do something different,” he said. “I felt like Bryan could see it better from the box. I felt like we needed to change something up but they already had the discussion when I came in.”
Also see: Instant analysis from Saturday's win
At least a game in, it seems to have benefitted the Gamecocks, who put together a much better offensive showing than their last time out against Tennessee in that 41-21 loss where they were shutout in the second half.
After being shutout in the second half against the Vols, the Gamecocks put up 10 points after halftime.
Their 5.5 yards per play, 7.6 yards per completion and 4.2 yards per rush were all higher than those respective statistics a week ago against the Vols where they averaged 4.9 yards per play, 6.3 per pass attempt and 2.6 per rush.
Their pass game was insanely more efficient against Vanderbilt with Ryan Hilinski posting a 162.4 efficiency rating Saturday compared to his 113.9 last week.
Some of that can be attributed to the competition he was going against and their receivers not dropping as many passes; but some of it has to do with Werner being on the sidelines to provide more hands-on coaching in-game.
Also see: Everything Muschamp said after Saturday's game
“Most definitely I think it helped us a lot,” Dakereon Joyner said. “I think it helped us calm down just having his voice there. Coming off the field talking to your quarterback coach and him asking what you saw, I think we definitely benefit from it.”
They’d put up over 200 yards in both the passing and running games for the first time against a Power 5 opponent since they did the same thing last year, ironically, against Vanderbilt.
Deshaun Fenwick led the team with 102 of its 205 rushing yards while Hilinski threw for 235 yards, a touchdown and didn’t turn the ball over.
Of their 80 plays, 31 were passes while the other 49 were rushes, and they converted 60 percent of their third downs (9-of-15), which is a marked improvement over the 32 percent they entered Saturday with.
It wasn’t all sunshine, though, and honestly the Gamecocks (3-5, 3-4 SEC) had ample opportunity to score more but missed some chances.
Mon Denson fumbled going in on the Vanderbilt 12-yard line and the Gamecocks were stuffed on the goal line late in the game for a turnover on downs. They’d fail another fourth down conversion earlier in the game, too.
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“I thought we had good balance. I thought we were real outstanding on third down,” Muschamp said. “We have to get better in some short yardage and goal line situations. That was abysmal. In other situations, you’re able to run for over 200 and pass for over 200, you’re going to be pleased with the outcome a lot. You get in the red zone and capitalize on two of those three or three of those three, you feel different about those scores.”
The Gamecocks needed a more consistent offensive performance this week with a few important games down the stretch and needing two more wins for bowl eligibility.
They’ll host App State next week for a 7 p.m. kickoff on ESPN2.
“We took a step forward today I feel like,” Bryan Edwards said. “We just have to keep it going, stay positive and keep the energy rolling into next week. That’s all.”
