After starting the season as an RPO-oriented offense, South Carolina's offensive identity has made a decided shift in the last three football games.
The Gamecocks' 34-14 loss at Missouri four games ago stands as a clear inflection point (editor's note: shoutout to Erik Kimrey for introducing that phrase into my football vocabulary) for the South Carolina offense.
After rushing for just 16 yards in that game - and giving running backs Rico Dowdle and Tavien Feaster a combined 14 carries - the entire focus of the offense has shifted.
While South Carolina has still called RPOs at times during the last three games, the Gamecocks have shifted to more hard run or hard pass calls which has led to a run-pass mix that is far heavier on the run side.
With that adjustment, the South Carolina running game has also evolved from one that relied heavily on the inside zone, to one that uses the pin-and-pull concept as its base run call, with several variations of that concept.
If the lack of a running game against Missouri can be seen as the catalyst for Carolina doubling down on the run against Kentucky when it rushed 46 times for 247 yards and three touchdowns, then the specific way Carolina had success against Kentucky can be seen as the genesis for the new offensive identity.
When Will Muschamp said heading into halftime of that game that the Gamecocks needed to get in a two-tight end set and run to the "nub side" - and the Gamecocks then did just that for a touchdown on the first offensive play of the second half on a pin-and-pull concept - he might as well have been talking about the rest of the season.
In fact, the Gamecocks' first seven run calls of the Georgia game were some variation of the pin-and-pull from a two-tight end formation and 13 of the first 14 run calls were a pin-and-pull of some kind, with the majority using that personnel.
As that game progressed (and Dakereon Joyner entered) and then this past week against Florida, the Gamecocks have continued to use the pin-and-pull concept as their base run, though they've continued to evolve the rushing attack with tweaks and complementary plays.
In the last three games, South Carolina has rushed for 247 yards against Kentucky, 142 yards against UGA (66 more than their average of 76 yards allowed vs. their other six opponents), and 217 yards against Florida.
Perhaps even more impressive is that the Gamecocks now average 5.58 yards per carry, the second highest in the SEC.
Below is a breakdown of some of the staple plays that have led to the Gamecocks' successes in the running game...
PIN AND PULL VARIATIONS
