Gamecocks’ short-yardage plays could take on a different look; final injury report

South Carolina could take a different approach in short-yardage and goal-line situations moving forward, coach Will Muschamp suggested Thursday.

“We’ve evaluated some things we think can help us,” Muschamp said during this weekly call-in radio show on 107.5 FM. “We’ll see how things pan out Saturday. We’ve had a lot of discussions.”

A lack of success in the running game, particularly on short yardage plays, was a source of frustration for Muschamp and the Gamecocks in Saturday’s loss to Kentucky.

On consecutive carries, A.J. Turner failed to convert on third- and fourth-and-1. Rico Dowdle was stopped in a fourth-and-goal run at the one-yard line.

“When you don’t convert a third and one, and you don’t covert two fourth and ones, especially on the 1-yard one, criticism is part of it.”

The Gamecocks (2-1) host Louisiana Tech (2-1) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium. The game is on SEC Network.

The effort was there

Muschamp reiterated that the loss to Kentucky wasn’t because of a lack of effort.

“We don’t need to confuse a loss with not playing hard. That’s frustrating to me. Our guys did play hard,” Muschamp said. “We need to coach better and we had some self-inflicted wounds and penalties that we did not had in training camp and did not have in the first two games on the road.”

Time to step up

Wide receiver Deebo Samuel is out indefinitely with a fracture in his leg, and Muschamp said he was pleased with how the receiving group practiced this week.

In addition to veteran Bryan Edwards, the Gamecocks are expected to lean on Randrecous Davis, Shi Smith, OrTre Smith and Chad Terrell in Samuel’s absence.

“Randrecous continues to come on for us. He just needs more and more reps and turns, the same with OrTre,” Muschamp said. “Chad Terrell is another freshman that keeps coming along. Shi has been really good in the slot for us. We’ve got capable guys that may not have experience in spots but certainly guys I’m excited about.”

Success without Samuel depends just as much on contributions from the tight ends, offensive linemen and quarterback Jake Bentley, Muschamp said.

“This is going to be a collective effort,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

Injury report

Zack Bailey (high ankle sprain) is likely out “a couple weeks.” Malik Young still start at right tackle.

Dante Sawyer (hamstring) and Bryson Allen-Williams (shoulder) will play. Muschamp said it will be game-time decision as to how much both will play.

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Gamecocks’ short-yardage plays could take on a different look; final injury report."