Boo? Cheer? Kurt Roper has South Carolina fans doing both
Rico Dowdle’s positive run around the right side of South Carolina’s offensive line nearly produced a first down, but it didn’t matter. Those 70,000-plus in garnet and black had their eyes more on the clock than on the sticks at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“The crowd doesn’t like it,” noted Matt Stinchcomb, who was calling the game for SEC Network.
The first half was ticking away Oct. 7 as USC and Arkansas were locked in a 10-10 tie, a score the Gamecocks seemed plenty content with heading into the locker room.
During a week when coach Will Muschamp publicly defended his offensive coordinator, Kurt Roper, with 1:58 on the second quarter clock, two timeouts to use and 69 yards in front of him, called three runs before he had Jake Bentley throw a pass.
The conservative – and familiar – approach wasn’t going over well.
“There’s really no sense of urgency from the offense,” Stinchcomb said over a chorus of boos.
USC fans had their pitchforks out. Social media buzzed as Roper was offering another Saturday of frustration.
Bentley is South Carolina’s quarterback, but also a son of a coach. He’s never been immune to criticism. He heard the boos when the Gamecocks started their final possession of the first half slowly. He heard cheers when they ended that drive with a touchdown, sparking an eventual 48-22 win.
“The fans just want us to score, and that’s what we want to do, too,” Bentley said. “And we did that for them, and it was a great drive.”
The drive’s final play was a Bentley 18-yard toss to the back of the end zone, where Bryan Edwards made a highlight-reel grab. It capped an eight-play sequence that took most everyone involved on a roller coaster of emotions.
Roper can do this to a fan base. Seven games into his second season as South Carolina’s offensive coordinator, the Gamecocks entered Saturday 12th in the SEC in total offense and 11th in scoring. They were 14th in both categories last season.
Yet the 2017 Gamecocks, despite numerous injuries to important players, are 5-2, and Bentley is third in the SEC in passing.
There’s some bad, there’s some good.
Roper can’t explain his experience because Muschamp doesn’t make assistants available to the media during the season.
Bentley recently gave reporters a peek into how his OC handles the lightning rod of a position.
“I’m not on Twitter, but he says if you are, just hit the notifications and look away and then just scroll to the top of them,” Bentley said. “You just don’t look at them because all we got is the guys on our team. Coach Roper knows that we fully believe in him, and he fully believes in us.”
Bentley is the latest in a long line of QBs to train under Roper, Eli Manning being the most famous of the bunch. Thaddeus Lewis became Duke’s all-time leader in completions, yards and touchdowns under Roper.
The two-time All-ACC selection (2008-09) still keeps in regular touch with his former coach. Lewis came to Columbia in August, observing USC’s first two weeks of training camp.
“It was different to see him coach other people, but he was the same guy,” said Lewis, who has been with nine NFL teams since 2009. “I just told him he’s gotten a little softer. He was harder on me than he is on the guys now. I always joke with him, but the times are changing, the kids are getting younger, so you have to adjust and adapt.
“I think he’s done a great job with that. You can see the difference between Jake Bentley from year one to year two because he trusts him more.He lets him operate the offense and throw the ball more downfield, and that’s because Jake knows the defense and knows the plays. And it’s sticking out.”
According to Lewis, Roper likes the use of two sayings – “Don’t worry about the pain, just deliver the baby” and “Control the things you can control.”
Both likely have been repeated often this season as Roper’s offense has dealt with injuries to Dowdle, Deebo Samuel, Zack Bailey, Cory Helms and Malik Young, among others.
“Coming into Duke, we didn’t have as much talent as other people, but when guys got hurt, we adjusted and adapted,” Lewis said. “And he had to do that with us. He’s the type of person, he won’t dwell on the past. If he can control what he can control, he’s going to do that.
“And they’re doing a tremendous job. I watched the [Arkansas] game and thought everyone played well.”
Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe has known Roper since he was a graduate assistant at Tennessee in 1996. The two also have worked together at Mississippi (1999-2004) and Duke (2008-13).
“He’s got a natural ability to take charge, and he’s a guy that you can trust as a coordinator,” Cutcliffe said. “He knows how to get an offense ready, and that’s not just a quarterback. It’s more than that. It’s getting your offensive front ready, and it’s organization. Kurt is an outstanding person that goes with it, but just an outstanding football man.”
But all football men get booed every now and then.
“He’ll say what’s on the outside doesn’t really matter,” Lewis said. “Coach, he’s been in the SEC, so he knows what it’s about. He was at Tennessee, he was at Ole Miss, he was at Kentucky, so he knows the expectations of those places.
“Obviously he’s mild-mannered and it kind of rubs off on his players, the guys he coaches. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. Just try to stay even keel.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2017 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Boo? Cheer? Kurt Roper has South Carolina fans doing both."