Contrasting styles: South Carolina has to overcome power gap against Kentucky
These problems for the South Carolina football team, they sit as almost reciprocal to what the Kentucky Wildcats will show in Williams-Brice Stadium.
The Gamecocks offense has many attributes, but the ability to assert their will in the run game hasn’t been one of them. The scheme built around run-pass options (RPOs) — inside zone and pin-and-pull sweep — is meant to attack defenses with fewer men in the box.
That means opponents can dictate run and pass to a degree, and the Gamecocks have had issues pushing folks around. On the other side, UK hasn’t been particularly effective on offense, but at the least its backs will come downhill.
In short, South Carolina’s football team has been somewhat lacking in establishing power in the run game and will have to hold up against a run game that’s heavy on power.
Coming off a Missouri game where the run game both struggled and wasn’t heavily used, USC coach Will Muschamp admitted on his weekly call-in show that the team’s tailbacks were not being used enough.
“Really dug ourselves a hole not establishing the line of scrimmage and not being effective in running the football,” Muschamp said. “Rico (Dowdle) is running the best he has been since he’s been at South Carolina and (Tavien) Feaster is a really good player.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to be able to establish the line of scrimmage. … Obviously, we didn’t get that done and that’s my responsibility. We talked about that a lot this week, as far as establishing the line of scrimmage and being able to run the ball, maybe get away from some of the RPOs.”
Dowdle and Feaster totaled 14 carries against Missouri. It didn’t help that they were mostly ineffective. That was in part because of the line and in part because Missouri kept plenty of guys in the box.
But opponents will sometimes do that, and offenses have to find ways to create movement and seams with fewer blockers. South Carolina had some early success running the ball, but even then there wasn’t a level of pushing folks back — something the team likely needs to get even a hint of if it wants to get its offense moving forward.
Oh, and the Gamecocks’ defense is going to need to stand up to an offense that prefers to pound on folks.
UK offensive coordinator Eddie Gran designed a scheme heavy on pistol looks. It worked for Benny Snell, oft pairing him with mobile QBs. Snell is gone and his replacements aren’t at that level.
But they’ve still been able to lean on the Gamecocks historically. It hasn’t always been efficient, but the Wildcats have averaged 47 carries a game the past three meetings and had a big running day in the 2014 meeting as well.
Part of that has been the use of the Wildcat formation, putting backs in direct-snap situations behind clusters of tight ends and big lines. Muschamp said the Gamecocks have stood up well to those schemes, but they make life difficult.
“It creates an extra gap,” Muschamp said. “Because you’re not necessarily identifying — when you talk in terms of defense — we’ve got a seven-man box. Generally, you’re defending a seven-man box against a five-man offensive line, the tight end blocks and the running back is the seventh guy, so you ought to have a free guy if everyone gets blocked on defense in a seven-man box.
“Now, when the quarterback can run the ball, they’ve really got eight and you’ve got seven, so you have to create an extra player in the run game. … Most situations they have, have been in third-and-short, fourth-and-short situations and (Benny) Snell was a really good back in those downs.”
It might become a factor for no other reason than the Wildcats are missing their starting quarterback and their backup has been nursing a shoulder injury.
UK tailbacks Asim Rose and Kavosiey Smoke have 573 yards combined this season on an even 100 carries. The Gamecocks rushing defense has been middle of the pack in terms of yards per carry, but those stats are a bit skewed early in the season.
Regardless, Kentucky’s best chance to move the ball is riding those two backs, and that could mean the Wildcat that has seemed to torment Gamecocks fans the past five games of this series.
“That’s something you’ve got to be prepared for,” Muschamp said. “Obviously, it’s something we think we’ll see quite a bit on Saturday night, based on their situation at quarterback. We’ve prepared for it this week and the different ways we want to try to play it. It creates an extra number in the run game and when they’re able to get a hat on a hat, you’ve got to have one more player to defend it.”
Today’s game
Who: Kentucky at South Carolina
When: 7:30 pm Saturday
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia
TV: SEC Network
Line: South Carolina by 3
