SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL
It's been a rough year for the Gamecocks offensively, and those struggles boiled over in a six-point effort against Texas A&M Saturday.
Those were the fewest points scored this season and the fewest in a regular season game since 2009. So, what's gone wrong offensively this season?
GamecockCentral looked at 10 stats that tell the story of the offensive struggles.
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*Stats are out of 130 FBS teams and are current through games on Thursday, Nov. 20*
Incompletions per game
Stat: 18.1
National rank: 129
Why it's significant: This is a reflection of just how hard it is to piece together anything. If the Gamecocks aren't completing passes, it means no yards and a wasted down, which sets the offense back during a drive.
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Yards per play
Stat: 4.6
National rank: 116
Why it's significant: South Carolina hasn't been explosive and it shows here. The Gamecocks are averaging less than five yards per play and it's hard to get in any kind of offensive flow when you're not consistently getting big chunk plays.
Yards per pass attempt
Stat: 5.6
National rank: 125
Why it's significant: This is one of the more telling stats in the pass game, showing they're not stretching the field overall. They're not completing a lot of passes and when they do those aren't going for big chunks of yards. It's hard to put up a lot of points dinking and dunking down the field.
Third down percentage
Stat: 32 percent
National rank: 121
Why it's significant: When the Gamecocks aren't running the ball well, they get behind the chains on drives and it's hard to sustain drives when an offense gets put into third and long situations. Not being able to convert on third downs has resulted in a lot of three and outs or drives stalling after a few first downs.
Red zone offense
Stat: 76.5 percent
National rank: 107
Why it's significant: This was a big focal point of improvement this season and it hasn't come to fruition. They're scoring just 77 percent of the time but scoring touchdowns at a 50 percent clip. That's going to be hard to overcome when the offense hasn't been as explosive as needed. They have to convert more when they're within striking distance.
Also see: Five takeaways from Tuesday's basketball loss
Rush attempts per game
Stat: 33.2
National rank: 106
Why it's significant: The Gamecocks' bread and butter this season has been the run game, and when clicking on the ground they usually win. The rank here shows they're not running the ball as some other teams, which means getting away from what's made them successful at times. A lot of that comes from poor offensive line play there and trailing later in games, which means more pass attempts.
Yards per carry
Stat: 3.7
National rank: 100
Why it's significant: As mentioned, when they run the ball well, they usually win. Averaging less than four yards a carry means they're not getting any real consistency, especially lately, in the run game which means the offense stalls.
Team passer rating
Stat: 108.2
National rank: 116
Why it's significant: It shows the inefficiency in the pass game so far this season. They've thrown for over 300 yards three times this year but the yards per attempt weren't great, and when they're not completing passes at a high rate, then it becomes difficult to be efficient throwing the ball.
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Rush play percentage
Stat: 43.6 percent
National rank: 94
Why it's significant: Similar to rushing attempts per game, it shows the Gamecocks are somewhat getting away from what made them successful against teams like Georgia, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and a few other teams. That means they're throwing the ball 56 percent of the time which, given the inefficiencies there, means they're not getting the same explosiveness offensively.
Chunk plays (20+ yards)
Stat: 45
National rank: 78
Why it's significant: This is almost strictly middle of the pack but, coupled with the poor yards per carry and yards per attempt it shows how anemic the Gamecocks have been being able to create some momentum in the ground game or stretch the field vertically.
