How South Carolina started running over Tennessee

Another week, another step forward for South Carolina’s running game, though it came with more injuries and a slow start.

The Gamecocks rolled up a season-high 194 yards against Tennessee. It came on 4.85 yards per carry, the second-best total of the season.

And it really didn’t kick into gear until after halftime.

“You’ve got to credit Kurt Roper and Eric Wolford and Bobby Bentley and Pat Washington, Bryan McClendon,” Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp said. “Those guys did a fantastic job at halftime of ... not a whole lot was going good at the time.”

USC had 49 yards on 13 carries before halftime, under 3.8 yards a pop. Three of those carries accounted for 43 of those yards, and USC had seen a pair of third-and-short plays get stuffed on inside zone runs.

The Gamecocks then started to wear down the Vols, going into the bag of tricks.

It started with USC pinned inside its own 10 and letting quarterback Jake Bentley get loose. He started reading defensive ends, pulling the ball and running into open space.

Then came a “power read” play where Bentley sold the fake of running inside, and the perimeter opened wide for A.J. Turner’s speed. A sweep followed where Ty’Son Williams led Turner around the edge for a 20-yard touchdown.

The next drive, USC was at it again, running five different run plays across nine carries, including breaking out the Hayden Hurst sweep.

“We felt like some of the divide zone stuff really worked well for us as far as dividing the flow,” Muschamp said. “We cut the ball inside a good bit and we made better cuts at the running back position. RPOs were very effective for us, which I think loosened them up. I think some of the shots early loosened them up.”

South Carolina’s last drive was mostly Turner hammering away on the base inside zone and the “divide zone,” where a tight end crosses the formation to open up cutback lanes.

All told, USC averaged nearly 5.4 yards a carry after halftime, despite no runs longer than 20 yards and only one longer than 12.

And all that came despite more shifting in the backfield and up front.

Starter Rico Dowdle went down after four carries, and it was later revealed he is out for the foreseeable future with a fractured bone in his leg (the same injury that sidelined Deebo Samuel and K.C. Crosby).

And the offensive line saw another change, with Blake Camper starting at right tackle, making it USC’s sixth starting combination in seven games. He’s the fifth player to start for USC at tackle.

Turner said the line’s early struggles in short yardage came down to holding blocks and getting to the second level. But the group came around.

“I feel like our line’s done a great job,” Turner said. “And they’ve been growing every since game one, learning how to block zone, learning how to block perimeter plays.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2017 at 1:44 PM with the headline "How South Carolina started running over Tennessee."