Muschamp's confidence level in ground game could determine starting QB
The ancient football adage that when you have two quarterbacks, you have none has proven true for South Carolina so far this season.
Because redshirt senior Perry Orth and true freshman Brandon McIlwain bring distinctly different skill sets to the table, head coach Will Muschamp and offensive coordinator Kurt Roper are metaphorically caught between a rock and a hard place.
For Sunday’s game at Georgia, they figured the Gamecocks would struggle to run the football against the Bulldogs' fast and aggressive defensive front seven.
Thus, they chose to start Orth, hoping he could establish a vertical passing game, loosening up the Georgia defense and affording the Gamecock running backs more space to run the ball.
Statistically, Orth enjoyed a decent day by completing 26-of-36 passes for a season-high 288 yards. But inconsistency, lack of a productive running game (Gamecocks averaged 1.15 yards on 26 rushing attempts, including five sacks on Orth), three turnovers and third down woes (2-of-13) plagued the Gamecock offense throughout the game.
In short, USC was one-dimensional on offense, which affected Muschamp’s quarterback decision both before and during the game.
Struggling in the ground game against Georgia was nothing new for the Gamecocks as they are ranked a distant last in the SEC in rushing offense (92.3 ppg). How far behind are the Gamecocks to the other schools in the SEC in that category? The 13th place team (Vanderbilt) is averaging 147.2 yards per game, putting USC at least 54.9 yards behind every other team in the SEC in rushing offense.
“There was nothing in the run game,” Muschamp said. “So, we felt like we had to run the football. I thought we were effective at times. But when we got the ball moving, we’d have a turnover. We can’t get out of our own way at times. It’s very frustrating. We have to continue going back at it and evaluate when we need to do to improve.”
Verdict? The Gamecocks are back at square one as far as the most important position in football is concerned, meaning the bye week comes at a good time.
Clearly, Muschamp and Roper have many important decisions to make over the next 11 days until the Gamecocks face Massachusetts Oct. 22 at Williams-Brice Stadium, beginning with who should take the majority or all of snaps at quarterback.
Surely, when Muschamp contended “we have to get into the open week and find out some things we can improve and all positions are open” he was talking first and foremost about the quarterback spot, wasn’t he?
Since the Gamecocks are 2-4 with games remaining against Tennessee, Missouri, Florida and Clemson, do you stick with the veteran Orth or give McIlwain some valuable experience against some solid SEC defenses? The Gators are ranked No. 1 in the SEC in total defense (230.4 ypg).
“Perry is obviously further along throwing the football,” Muschamp said. “Brandon is further along with what we can do in the run game. But when you’re not able to run the football, you have to be able to throw it some and you have to get into the right looks to get the ball vertically down the field. We did that at times, but not consistent enough. That’s where we are right now.”
Translation: Muschamp is not going to put a young quarterback that struggles throwing the football on the field as long as the Gamecocks are making little headway running the ball.
The answer could boil down to one simple thing: how much confidence Muschamp has in the running game? If he has none (which looks to be the case at the moment), chances are Orth stays at quarterback and the Gamecocks will roll the dice with a passing attack bolstered by the return of Deebo Samuel and Bryan Edwards on Saturday. The duo combined for seven receptions for 125 yards against Georgia.
Good start, but USC needs more from them with tight end Hayden Hurst as the only other legitimate threat in the passing game.
The Oct. 22 contest against UMass looks to be a good opportunity to prepare McIlwain for the final stretch of games. However, if Orth starts and goes the distance against the Minutemen, the thought process of the coaches will have been revealed – Orth gives us the best chance to beat the upcoming SEC schools.
If Orth takes most of the snaps against UMass, that would mark two straight games in which the fifth-year senior had led the offense. At that point, it would be highly doubtful the coaches would recklessly toss McIlwain into the bonfire against Tennessee on Oct. 29.
Of course, the Jake Bentley “question” is lurking out there. Would the Gamecocks burn the true freshman’s redshirt season in the second half of the season? Doubtful. At this point, what would Bentley bring new to the table against the SEC opponents? Little that was new. So, are you just going to play him against UMass and Western Carolina, thus wasting a year of eligibility for games they should be able to win without him? Nope.
