Why South Carolina turned to the run after going up 10 on Texas A&M
South Carolina’s offense staked itself to a 10-point lead against Texas A&M by living on the edge.
The Gamecocks’ best drives came with Jake Bentley dodging pass rushers and heaving long tosses or letting players make runs after the catch. The team’s last touchdown came on a drive that started with Ty’Son Williams going 34 yards, the best USC run of the night, and then had passes of 29 yards and finally 13 for the score.
USC got the ball back and started by running the ball, twice, both for losses of two yards, and a punt came one play later. To some, that’s a turn toward the conservative, trying to hold a slim lead with the ground game, but the South Carolina staff saw something else.
“So we felt like there were some things in the run game that we did feel good about,” South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said. “At the end of the day, you go back and you’ve got to be able to stay balanced. ... We can’t get into a launchpad with the quarterback, and that’s what happened late in the game.”
That reflected what happened one possession after that three-and-out, drives that were sandwiched around an A&M field goal.
Bentley took a big sack to open things, then Bryan Edwards couldn’t haul in a deep shot. A third-and-17 run again drew some comments about being conservative, and the Aggies’ offense turned the resulting short field into the game-tying score.
Bentley said the second of those two runs was a change he made, after looking at the A&M defense, but the Aggies switched up after he called for the snap.
USC’s problems up front tied into the instability along the offensive line. Three opening-day starters were missing, the latest being Malik Young, who started the season at left tackle, was supplanted by Dennis Daley, stepped in for an injured Zack Bailey and then got hurt in College Station, Texas, forcing D.J. Park into action.
“We didn’t really establish a run game in the first half,” center Alan Knott said when asked about those runs. “And we felt like that was something that we needed to do to get the job done here.”
USC overall struggled to produce efficient rushing numbers. Outside a 34-yard Williams run, South Carolina backs had three carries longer than four yards, four longer than three (12 of 17 were shorter than that).
Texas A&M has a lot of talented pieces, but the run defense had been inconsistent. Against the Gamecocks, the Aggies seemed to have every answer.
“Schematically they plugged up the middle and played really good defense on the outside,” Knott said. “It was tough to run the ball. We’ve got some young guys in there. I know it’s no excuse. We’ve got to get the run game going. That’s the bottom line.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2017 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Why South Carolina turned to the run after going up 10 on Texas A&M."