Film review: Did the Gamecocks find some answers for short-yardage problems?

The two plays that stood out in South Carolina's first half of a 15-9 win against Tennessee were those two headlong dives into the line.

South Carolina's handling of short yardage this season has stood out for the combination of simple approach and memorable missed conversions. More often than not, when the Gamecocks are in that position, they load up the box with tight ends and come downhill on some variation of inside zone.

When this doesn't work, it sends folks into a tizzy, and twice in the first half, it bit the Gamecocks

On the first, there was no push and a defensive end ruined things. On the second, a blocker busted on the outside and an end dragged down the runner.

USC faced third and 2 or 1 three times after halftime, and attacked each in different ways, all successfully.

On the first, Jake Bentley pulled the ball, and while the defensive end didn't fully crash, Hayden Hurst sealed him inside.

On the second, a third-and-2, USC's staff got a little tricky. They sent out the jumbo, three-tight end personnel, but lined up with two split out. USC moved the pocket and Bentley got Kiel Pollard for the first down.

The third was inside zone, albeit with bigger back Mon Denson. The edge blocking held up, Denson bounced outside as a linebacker peered inside and he broke off 8 yards.

USC's short-yardage running issues were particularly glaring against Texas A&M, Kentucky and early against Tennessee, and USC has been below average in those spots. On third or fourth and 2 or shorter, plus goal line runs, USC is converting 65 percent, 87th nationally (68.7 is average).

Blown coverage

The primary reason Gamecocks fans had to sweat things out was the 39-yard pass to Brandon Johnson with 41 seconds on the clock. The reason: a coverage bust.

"Our middle-field safety's got to stay in the middle of the field," Will Muschamp said. "He stays in the middle of the field and the ball is not completed."

It appeared D.J. Smith was the safety in question. The No. 3 inside receiver on the wide side of the field cut across the middle, and Smith followed him.

That opened a post route, as two defensive backs to that side were playing intermediate zones under what looked like a cover-3 shell.

Too conservative?

The Gamecocks got the ball back, up three with 4:25. The question always lingers, sit on the ball or try to get a bit risky?

USC chose the former, and it just about worked out.

South Carolina ripped off five runs in a row of at least five yards. All were A.J. Turner. All were some variation of inside zone. USC got from the Vols' 47 down to the 18.

But on 2nd and 6, Tennessee's Bob Shoop came with a good call. A pair of linebacker cross-blitzed into the A-gap, and Turner got stuffed. It left South Carolina's staff with a choice.

After the clock bled down, there was 2:01 left. The aggressive call would be to try a play action. The standard call, a run. If the former goes right, it would've about iced the game. If it didn't it would've nearly doubled the amount of time Tennessee had to mount a late drive.

USC went with the latter. Tennessee sent the same blitz, and it looked like Turner could have maybe hit a gap to the left depending on what he was reading (and to be fair, the TV angle obscures if the defensive tackle was in passable position to shut that down). Instead, Turner tried to bully through a tiny crack and got wrapped up by a lineman. Getting stopped wasn't ideal, but it did burn the clock down to 1:16.

Against a first-time starter that looked atrocious, that's not much time. The only way it comes back as an issue is if a defense built to not allow big plays has a mistake and allows the third-longest completion of the season (See previous section).

Hurst's day

Look at South Carolina's box score against Tennessee, and you won't see Hayden Hurst listed under receptions.

Flip on some of the Gamecocks’ key runs, and you’ll see him pushing folks around.

Hurst had a solid day working on the perimeter, getting in folks’ way or locking them up. Notably, he sealed a player inside on a Jake Bentley zone read run, and he led the way on a A.J. Turner outside run, driving a linebacker backwards and getting in the way of a defensive back.

“Whether it’s on a perimeter run or an inside run, that’s something I think he’s taken a huge step,” Muschamp said. “We tried to get him the ball a couple times ... they did a good job of taking him away.

“Late in the game, (offensive coordinator Kurt Roper) called a speed sweep just to get him the ball.”

That speed sweep came during a burst in diversity of the Gamecocks running game in the second half.

Beyond letting Bentley keep on zone reads, they also had him sell run fakes inside while A.J. Turner dashed outside. They broke out counter runs that had been a limited part of the arsenal in recent weeks, and added jet sweeps and other small blocking games to their inside and split zone looks.

On one particular one, a fake sweep to OrTre Smith, not the prototypical burner for that spot, held a pair of backside defenders, opening up a lane.

This story was originally published October 16, 2017 at 6:26 PM with the headline "Film review: Did the Gamecocks find some answers for short-yardage problems?."