Two key adjustments that helped South Carolina’s run game take its step forward
Against Kentucky, South Carolina’s football team seemed to find the play that will define its running game this season: The pin-and-pull sweep. It’s been a part of Gamecocks offenses back to the Steve Spurrier days, but USC seemed to be running it with exceptional effectiveness.
Then against Florida, offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon broke out two more wrinkles in the run game, a pair of schemes that helped complement and augment that sweep that’s become the base play. USC went for 217 yards in the loss.
The dart ... or counter
One downside of any pin-and-pull look is that it takes a little tweaking to run in both directions. A back is on one side of the QB, he runs across the QB’s face and the play heads that way.
In the past, USC has run some back side, pin-and-pull-type runs, but Saturday they broke out a different look. On this particular play design, the back comes across the QB’s face toward the tight end, but then sharply cuts back. He’s following a pulling backside tackle, trying to hit the hole between the other guard and tackle.
Former Gamecocks Erik Kimrey and Jeff Barnes explained it on Kimrey’s podcast Fade In, noting the playside tackle used one of several techniques to help draw the defensive end upfield or outside, while the interior linemen work downfield. They also said it was run toward the defensive tackle aligned between the playside guard and center.
Tailback Mon Denson said it was just a little bit of different footwork and different reads.
“I like all kinds of runs,” Denson said. “Mix it up, inside zone, counters, outside zone, just different wrinkles to the run game.”
Center Donell Stanley said the play helped to get the linebackers off-balance with where the running back went.
Will Muschamp liked the look enough to have it run as the first play of the game, and he liked what USC got from it. Overall, USC ran the play six times, with at least one RPO off it.
“That was a good plan by our offensive staff,” Muschamp said. “It was a run that was very successful for us in the game, something they saw during the game preparation that they felt comfortable that they can exploit.”
But despite asking for a few tweaks from the linemen, what was asked of them didn’t change too much.
“That’s just how we gotta block,” tackle Sadarius Hutcherson said. “I just do my job.”
Draw
The other different look USC broke out was a late-developing draw play. It was the play run on Tavien Feaster’s 21-yard touchdown run and in a few other moments.
Muschamp explained it’s actually a multiple-part RPO with pass reads on either side of the field. Late in the play, when the defensive front is well into its pass rush, the ball is handed off. It requires some communication as a late fumble happened when quarterback Ryan Hilinski tried to hand off and Feaster had already started pass blocking.
USC ran it three times for 40 yards, plus the fumble, before the game got out of reach. Twice those converted third and longs.
Stanley described it as a “good complementary play.” It also asked the backs to focus on letting the blocking develop in front of them.
“Just be patient,” Feaster said. “Just hit it whenever I get the ball.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2019 at 8:35 AM.
