‘Finish the game the right way’: Gamecocks seek answers for second-half struggles
South Carolina football has started games strong this season. In the second half, though, things have been a different story.
In eight games, the Gamecocks have scored on their first drive six times, matching their total from all of last season. In the final 30 minutes, however, USC has been outscored 131-86, an average swing of 5.6 points per game. Things are even worse in the fourth quarter — opponents are outscoring Carolina 83-45.
Those issues were in sharp relief against Tennessee, as the Vols shut out the Gamecock offense and ripped off a 24-0 run to rally for the win.
“I point to some youth in some key areas,” coach Will Muschamp said Tuesday when asked about the offense’s struggles in particular late. “Let’s call like it is. I mean, it’s hard what we’re asking some of these guys to do. I think that field position has been an issue. You look at the last second half and third quarter against Tennessee, three possessions we self-inflict five-yard penalties: a delay of game and two false starts.”
Against Vanderbilt this upcoming Saturday, South Carolina will have a more favorable matchup. The Commodores are being outscored 121-52 in the second half this year, 52-31 in the fourth quarter. But figuring out ways to finish games strong is still an area of emphasis and concern for USC, as the Gamecocks have outscored opponents in the second half just twice this year.
“I really don’t, honestly,” said senior receiver Bryan Edwards when asked if he knew why those struggles keep popping up. “I guess other teams are just doing a good job of adjusting at halftime. ... We just gotta keep working, keep getting better at the things we’re doing and just try to execute.”
Muschamp, however, offered plenty of theories as to why the offense has struggled.
“I don’t think that it’s one thing, I think it’s multiple things. You look at the second half, and we study this stuff, and we’ve had 10 turnovers vs. Power 5 opponents this year. Seven of them have come in the second half. ... We’ve had six possessions end on downs. We don’t convert a fourth down situation, regardless of the situation might have been,” Muschamp said. “But that’s 13 possessions (and) right now, I want to say in the second half this year we’ve had anywhere from 46 to 48 possessions. I’m not very good at math, but I’m gonna say that’s about (27-28)% of your possessions are not ending with you giving yourself a chance to score points.
And what’s led to those breakdowns and turnovers has been an offense that has had failures across the board, ranging from a weak passing game to a lack of explosive plays to a run game that has been mostly solid but disappeared in several key games.
“I think that you really look at it from a standpoint of why is that happening? I think that we’ve been ineffective consistently throwing the football. And I think that goes to multiple layers of protection. It goes to route running, running precise routes. (It goes to) accuracy with the football. It’s not one thing, it’s multiple things that we just, we’re trying to correct and trying to get it right,” Muschamp said.
Looking at halftime adjustments, Muschamp pointed out that a season ago, the Gamecocks scored 17 points in five of nine Power 5 games. So the issue is not that the staff in incapable of making counter-adjustments to opposing teams’ adjustments, he said.
Early on in games, though, South Carolina has had success scripting drives throughout practices — the coaches generally have two drives already planned out before kickoff, and nearly 22% of USC’s points on the year have come on those first two drives of a game.
“We gotta be a better second-half team. Gotta come out and finish, finish the game the right way. We start off very well, but we just got to come out after halftime and finish it,” senior running back Tavien Feaster said.
