Harris, Muse carry Gamecock offense to 41 points
Through two games, the Gamecock offense looked a lot like The Shai Smith Show, but things changed Saturday.
Smith only picked up four receptions for 46 yards, but the offense was carried by Kevin Harris and Nick Muse as the Gamecocks drubbed Vanderbilt 41-7.
Harris led the ground attack, rushing 21 times for 171 yards and two touchdowns, highlighted by an 88-yard run that stretched the South Carolina lead out of reach at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
“Really proud of Kevin, I think you saw our sideline erupt on the 88-yarder. I mean I thought we were gonna get a penalty,” Will Muschamp said. “But those guys are so happy for him, they’re happy for good guys who have success and do good things.”
South Carolina’s offense put on their best performance of the year against Vanderbilt, rushing for almost 300 yards and notching 30 points for the first time against an SEC team since scoring 44 on Ole Miss in 2018.
Harris has scored four touchdowns already this season and has made himself the clear number one option at running back.
“Kevin’s a guy that gets better as the game goes, you get tired of hitting him. There’s nothing really soft on his body. He’s got a short stature but he’s a very muscular guy,” Muschamp said. “He runs with high knees, he gets behind his pads and when you take him on there’s nothing there that’s soft to hit. He’s a guy that wears on people as the game continues to go.”
Muse led the Gamecocks in receiving, hauling in five of his six targets for 85 yards. It’s well-documented that Muse has had some struggles with drops early in the season but he bounced back today, to the benefit of quarterback Collin Hill.
“To have that kind of game I was really excited for him, he works his tail off,” Hill said. “We were kind of in a similar situation when I first got here, both in the training room just trying to get healthy and seeing how that guy works and how he operates, you wouldn’t want it for another guy.”
South Carolina eclipsed their yardage total of the first two games, totaling 485 yards on Saturday.
After struggling in the first quarter, the Gamecocks came out firing the rest of the way, getting a touchdown before halftime before putting up 31 second half points.
“I think we did a really good job adjusting in the second quarter, and then in the second half. We came in and we changed some things up that we actually didn’t bring into the game and Mike (Bobo) and his offensive staff did a really good job of adding some runs at halftime that we felt like based on some things they were doing to us, which was different, to take advantage of those things,” Muschamp said. “When you’re able to run at 290 yards, that’s a heck of a day running the football no matter who you’re playing against."
