Scouting USC’s next opponent: Vanderbilt Commodores
Game info
Who: South Carolina (5-2, 3-2 SEC) vs. Vanderbilt (3-4, 0-4)
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium (80,250)
TV: SEC Network
Radio: 107.5 FM
Three story lines
1. Let’s go bowling: Win this one and the Gamecocks are bowl eligible. It took until the second-to-last game of the regular season last year to achieve that. It would also put USC a win away from its most victories since 2014.
2. A bad way: Vanderbilt was looking like a potentially solid team in the first three games. Since, the Commodores have allowed 199 points in four games and gone winless in the first half of their SEC schedule.
3. Bye week boon? It’s never fully clear what a team can reap from a week off. Last year’s bye saw South Carolina throw Jake Bentley in the fire, a move that powered a 4-2 close to the regular season. The Gamecocks probably don’t have quite that big a change in store, but they should return several injured starters.
Three players to watch
1. Junior quarterback Kyle Shurmur has quietly come on as a pretty solid SEC passer. His 54.9 completion percentage isn’t great, nor are his 1,331 yards, but a 14-to-2 touchdown to interception ratio was big. Plus the passing offense he leads has been subtly efficient.
2. Wide receiver Trent Sherfield has simply made big plays. How big? His average catch yields 17.4 yards and his average target produces 11.7. He’s got 399 yards on 23 catches and has eight catches for 20 or more yards (ranks 42nd nationally).
3. Linebacker Charles Wright is the top pass rusher on a defense that has been relatively feisty in getting after quarterbacks. He has six sacks, five hurries and 28 tackles.
Scouting report
▪ The first thing you can say about Andy Ludwig’s offense, it has a lot of power sets. Extra tight ends, fullbacks, downhill running, pistol formations, Vandy will deploy a lot of that, even if it’s not supremely effective.
▪ The Commodores also have some wildcat formations in the mix and work in end-arounds.
▪ Shurmur was somewhat thrown into the fire two seasons ago, but he’s developed into the orchestrator of a kind of odd passing attack. It’s relatively efficient, especially on early downs, and has some explosiveness. He’s also been excellent at avoiding sacks.
▪ Tailback Ralph Webb gets hype for the statistical volume, but he’s never been all that efficient. He averages 3.8 yards a carry, and less than one-fourth of his runs get five yards. Khari Blasingame is a big, powerful backup.
▪ In the past, the Commodore defense often relied on a 2-4-5 approach against three-receiver sets. That’s shifted more toward three-down looks with 3-3-3 personnel, keeping a tackle and two ends on the field.
▪ Vandy has been abysmal against the run. Their pass defense hasn’t bent much but will break. They also are only so-so getting to the quarterback in passing downs (second or third and long), but very good outside then.
Ben Breiner
This story was originally published October 22, 2017 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Scouting USC’s next opponent: Vanderbilt Commodores."