SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

After the North Carolina, it looked like the Gamecocks’ offense turned a corner with Ryan Hilinski as the starter.

They put up video-game like numbers against Charleston Southern and combined for over 450 yards on No. 2 Alabama, so those thoughts weren’t unfounded.

But, they hit a big bump in the road against Missouri, putting up 14 points on 271 yards against the Tigers and will need to do a lot better against Kentucky if they want to stop a two-game losing skid.

“Starting the game out much better than last week is a major issue, you know, and we've talked in terms of running the ball to help Ryan more in some situations,” Will Muschamp said. “You know, you go back and evaluate you know last week's game. You know, the first 26 plays, 17 of them were called runs or RPOs. Based on how they played us and whether we're reading a first-level defender and an RPO, a second-level defender, an apex player or whatever the read may be, you know, Ryan made really good decisions as far as throwing in those situations."

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With Ryan Hilinski banged up with a sore elbow, the Gamecocks scored seven points on 30 yards in the first half against the Tigers, finishing the game averaging 4.2 yards per play.

A Gamecock offense, which has been incredibly effective running the ball to start the year, finished with just 16 yards rushing, the lowest total since 2003

“At the end of the day, we've actually run the football pretty well until Saturday,” Muschamp said. “You go 150 or whatever we did against Alabama, there are not many teams that have done that. So, very disappointed with the inability to run the ball Saturday.”

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The biggest difference between the Missouri game and the one against Alabama was the Gamecocks’ inability to run the ball and get off to a fast start against the Tigers.

It took until the end of the first quarter—five drives into the game—to cross midfield and until 9:41 until halftime to get their first points: a Rico Dowdle one-yard touchdown run.

Against Alabama, they scored on two of their first three drives, crossing midfield nine times on 11 drives.

“We started extremely well in that ball game throwing the football and doing the things that we felt that were most comfortable for Ryan and his third start,” Muschamp said. “So, we'll continue to explore those things based on what Kentucky does and put us in the best situation to get out to a good start, and I think part of that is got to be running the football. There's no question.”

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The Gamecocks come into this weekend’s game fifth in the SEC in rushing offense, ninth in passing offense and sixth in total offense. They’re also eighth in the conference in scoring offense averaging 32.2 points per game.

Muschamp said, though, he hasn’t thought about changing offensive coordinators at this point in the season. He did say he’s not going to make a change for change’s sake and any decision he makes will center on winning.

Players said they haven’t seen anything different from offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon preparing for Kentucky and ultimately offensive success comes down to player execution.

“Just mentally every body being locked in on what their job entails,” Bryan Edwards said.