There were two things entering this season Will Muschamp and the Gamecocks wanted to clean up offensively: cut down on the turnovers and improve in the red zone.

It’s easy for coaches to quantify limiting interceptions and fumbles, but improving in the red zone is often subjective and progress can be judged differently by different people.

That’s why the Gamecocks are putting their own lofty numbers on paper so players know exactly what’s expected.

"Offensively, you need to score points 100 percent of the time and if you score touchdowns at a 70 percent rate, you’re probably going to lead the country” Will Muschamp said. “Those are our goals in the red zone and our guys understand that. We always spent a lot of time on the red zone.”

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Last season the Gamecocks had some success in terms of the red zone, making 22 more trips than they did in 2017 but didn’t convert at as high of a rate.

They only had a 77 percent success rate (42-of-56) and scored touchdowns 57 percent of the time inside the 20-yard line (32-of-56).

Comparatively, in 2017 the Gamecocks scored points on 85 percent of their 34 red zone trips and had touchdowns on 56 percent.

A big reason for the dip in production when they get in the red zone was turnovers, which was a sore spot last season. The Gamecocks turned it over eight times in the red zone last year, six of those being interceptions from Jake Bentley.

That’s why, entering year two under Bryan McClendon as offensive coordinator, there’s an added premium on taking care of the ball and being able to punch the ball into the endzone.

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“Don’t turn it over, which was our Achilles heel when it came to that part of the field,” McClendon said. “The thing is you want points 100 percent of the time in the red zone—that’s touchdowns more than field goals—but you want points. If you can leave the red zone with points every time, that’s a good leg up.”

Something the Gamecocks think will help them this season is a resurgent run game, which struggled at times last season and should be better this season.

They’re bringing back Rico Dowdle and Mon Denson while also adding Tavien Feaster to the mix, who’s impressed in preseason camp so far.

While McClendon said they still want to be balanced once the field condenses, a good running game can take some of the pressure off Bentley and the receivers to do too much.

“If you look at the stats, a lot of teams that are real running teams are better at it,” Dan Werner said. “For us, we have to get better at running the football down there. But we are the type of team where if you load the box, we have the ability to pull it and throw it. If that’s the case, we have to make plays.”

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So far, coaches are pleased with the offensive production in the red zone and how Bentley’s taken care of the ball through camp and now entering his senior season.

Muschamp raved last week about Bentley through camp and other coaches are seeing it, too.

“He’s doing good. Like anything it’s about the level of consistency and he’s done a good job of taking on that, knowing he needed to grow in that area and work extremely hard at it,” McClendon said. “He really has. I’m excited to see where everything goes from there but he’s done a good job.”