Non-scripted plays causing Gamecocks problems

Starting fast has always been a big mantra surrounding a Will-Muschamp coached offense, and this season the Gamecocks, despite their offensive struggles, have lived up to that standard.

The problem, though has been maintaining that level.

It’s no secret almost every team offensively script the first two drives of each game, and the Gamecocks are executing those well but struggle once they actually get into the meat of the game, even before halftime.

“I think we start great. We just have to finish and keep the momentum going,” Chavis Dawkins said. “Just not getting off-focus on what we need to do and staying focused on what we need to do.”

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For the purpose of this exercise, the stats are looking at the first two drives of each game, which are typically pre-planned in practice, against Power 5 teams compared to the ensuing drives in those games.

The Gamecocks have had a lot of success on scripted plays this year, scoring on half of the 14 scripted drives against Power 5 competition this year. They’ve scored five touchdowns with two field goals for 2.9 points per drive average.

In the 81 drives against Power 5 teams after those scripted ones, the Gamecocks have scored 20 times (24.7 percent), putting up 108 points for an average of 1.3 points per drive.

In totality, the Gamecocks are averaging a full two yards more per play on the first two drives of the game (6.3) compared to 4.4 yards on drives after that.

Scripted vs. Non-scripted vs. P5 teams

Stat	Scripted	Non-scripted

Points per drive	2.9	1.3
Pass yards/attempt	8.9	4.9
Completion %	65.1	53.4
Rush yards/attempt	3.4	4.1
Total yards/play	6.3	4.4

On scripted drives, they’re completing 65.1 percent of passes and averaging 8.9 yards per attempt while averaging 3.4 yards per carry.

Almost all of that is lower on drives after the scripted plays are called with the Gamecocks completing 53.4 percent of passes (4.9 yards per attempt). The better metric, which is a yard better on average, is the 4.1 yards per rushing attempt.

All but one turnover this year has come on drives after the first two of the game; the only one that did was the Ryan Hilinski fumble against Missouri.

“We have to find ways to make it work on offense. If you think about it, there’s a way we could have been 7-1 or 6-1. We had a couple bad opportunities in every game,” Nick Muse said. “It’s the little plays we haven’t made in a game costing us.”

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What’s the significance of this?

Well, teams usually have the plays they’re going to run first when they start practice that week and rehearse them daily in practice gearing up for Saturday’s game. It shows how comfortable the Gamecocks are with what they’re running to start and, for whatever reason, don’t produce as well the rest of the game.

There could be a lot of reasons for that: play calling, player execution or defensive adjustments they maybe weren’t ready for.

“Everybody’s going to make adjustments,” Muse said. “If we’re creasing somebody, they’re going to make the adjustment on defense.

After the first two drives of the game, which are typically scripted, then teams usually begin making their adjustments once they’ve seen how the defense is going to attack them that day.

That falls largely on the players to convey to their position coaches what they’re seeing on a play-by-play basis, the coaches to relay that to offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon and adjustments to be made.

It’s not until halftime when McClendon and Muschamp are able to really convene and make any other adjustments the Gamecocks’ head coach would want to make.

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“At halftime, we're able to kind of go through some things that I might be able to see, that I'll look at from a defense perspective, that I just tell Bryan, these are the things I'm seeing. Middle-field coverage, this is what they're doing, this is the matchup they're trying to get. I've just been in this league for a long, long time and knowing a lot of the coaches in this league, just as far as those things are concerned. But when the defense is on the field, I'm on the defensive headset.”

If the Gamecocks (3-5, 2-4 SEC) want to have a winning record down the stretch and make a bowl game, those numbers after scripted have to go up and look similar to what the starter plays look like.

“I feel like we’ve started games really well,” Bryan Edwards said. “We hit the big play with Shi (Smith), I feel like we’ve done a good job executing the starters.”