Muschamp talks McClendon, offensive corrections

When Will Muschamp broken down the film of Saturday’s game against Texas A&M, he saw an offense get held without a touchdown and put up 102 yards in the second half.

But, as he watched, the problems he saw weren’t ones that have to wait to be fixed in the offseason but problems that can be corrected in the days leading up to the Clemson game Nov. 30.

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“I certainly think we can play better. I think we can. I think as coaches, when things aren’t going well, the first thing you have to do is look in the mirror: what can we do to have better production and better results?” Muschamp said. “That’s the first thing. Then, the execution; are we asking the players to do too much? Obviously we didn’t do a good enough job.”

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The Gamecocks have been anemic on offense as of late, putting up a season-low in points against the Aggies and have averaged 16.5 points and 4.6 yards per play over their last four games.

He reiterated after Saturday’s game offensive coordinator will still call plays against Clemson and Sunday said McClendon’s obviously frustrated with the lack of offensive output right now.

Muschamp did go to the defense of his second-year play caller to a degree, falling back on the success they had last season—30.1 points and 426.2 yards per game—and saying this was a tough year.

“Last year, we averaged over 30 points a game,” Muschamp said. “In 13 years, I looked at it, only five or six times we’ve averaged 30 points per game. Only three times over the last 13 years we’ve averaged over 400 yards a game. Bryan McClendon and his offensive staff did that a year ago. OK? They’ve done some good things offensively. We’ve had a rough year.”

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The tough year will have to go on for one more game with the Gamecocks going into the annual rivalry game with Clemson without star receiver Bryan Edwards.

Edwards, Muschamp announced Wednesday, will likely miss the Clemson game after having a procedure done on his knee, effectively ending his season.

With him out, it takes another explosive playmaker off the field against the No. 3 Tigers, which means there’s more pressure on the run game that’s averaged 87.3 yards less than three yards per carry over the final four games.

“We’ve got to find ways to move the ball against a very good Clemson defense. Not a whole lot of people have moved them,” Muschamp said. “We have to find some ways to run the ball. Those are things we continue to go back and look at. We have to have the right answers, and we certainly didn’t in College Station. I can assure you of that.”

Clemson is currently ranked the No. 2 overall defense in the country with offenses averaging just 238.2 yards against the Tigers this season.

The Gamecocks (4-7, 3-5 SEC) are on a bye this week before hosting the Tigers Nov. 30 on ESPN.

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