How far has South Carolina’s offense come under Bryan McClendon?
When South Carolina’s football team got Bryan McClendon as its offensive coordinator, there were promises: more speed, better tempo, et al.
But beyond that, there was a deeper point.
To get a group that seemed to have a decent quarterback in Jake Bentley, pass catchers like Deebo Samuel, Shi Smith and Bryan Edwards, plus a stable of backs, to actually play to that level.
The Gamecocks have one more game this season. They’ve played good defenses such as Clemson, Georgia and Kentucky. Unlike most other teams, they’ve not yet played their final game against a nonconference foe. And based on the numbers, McClendon has for the most part done his job.
A season ago, the Gamecocks ranked 99th nationally in scoring at 24.2 points per game. That’s up to 37th at 33 per game.
That number, however, can get noisy because of tempo and such. A better one might be yards per play, where USC was 85th at 5.5.
This year, they’re No. 20 in the country at 6.4, with a chance to face an admittedly good MAC defense still upcoming.
Looking at advanced stats, we see a similar jump. USC was 88th offensively last season by the S&P+ metric, which gives a deeper look into play-by-play data and adjusts for opponent. The Gamecocks are now No. 25, aided by facing the fifth-hardest schedule in the country.
It’s all come even with some imbalances. The offense hasn’t been all that efficient, but it’s gotten more explosive across the second half of the season. The early returns were rough, with bad days against the Bulldogs and Wildcats, but USC has averaged at least 6 yards a play for five consecutive weeks.
The Gamecocks running game never really got going between injuries and backs not giving Will Muschamp what he wanted. The line made major progress, a testament to a second year under Eric Wolford.
It hasn’t been perfect, but the jump in McClendon’s first year has been dramatic. Perhaps it could’ve been better, but after the three-year offensive wilderness the Gamecocks wandered through, it was impressive (even as the defense took a major slip).
The next question will be holding onto it. Deebo Samuel, the most explosive play-maker, is gone, plus the top two tight ends and two or three linemen. The bigger issues will be the other possible departures – quarterback Jake Bentley, wide receiver Bryan Edwards, perhaps McClendon himself.
Those will run through the rest of the season and maybe into the early part of the offseason. But for now, USC appears to have something like the offense it has been waiting years for, the kind some never thought would happen with Muschamp at the helm.