Gamecocks seal Auburn win, bowl eligibility by running same two plays ‘over and over’
Sometimes, sports are simple.
Moments after South Carolina coach Shane Beamer sealed a 21-17 win over Auburn in primetime, while he was still dripping with orange Gatorade, he fielded questions from ESPN about what it meant to reach that elusive sixth win — and bowl eligibility — with these Gamecocks.
No one pegged USC, a 2-8 team last year with a brand new coaching staff, as a bowl team before the season. Few prognosticators had USC winning Saturday night. Yet the Gamecocks (6-5, 3-5 SEC) found a way to accomplish both. How did they do it? Some kind of newfangled offensive scheme? An overhauled game plan?
No, much simpler than that.
“We talk about this being big-boy SEC football, and we literally lined up in the second half and ran the same two plays over and over and over and over and over again,” Beamer told ESPN from the field, tears welling in his eyes, his family huddled around him. “And that’s a heck of a team we just beat.”
In a game with massive postseason implications, the Gamecocks leaned on the basics. The idea wasn’t to out-smart the Tigers or to win through trickery. Instead, the Gamecocks ran the ball time and time again and dared the Auburn defense to stop them.
Saturday’s contest played like an old-school, smashmouth football game, with both offenses flowing through the ground game. And, as Beamer said, the Gamecocks ran the same two running plays repeatedly: a duo and a counter. The offensive linemen laid down their blocks, and ZaQuandre White and Kevin Harris took care of the rest.
After emerging as the team’s go-to tailback in recent weeks, the redshirt senior White turned in his most meaningful performance as a Gamecock, running with ferocious physicality, making men miss and finding extra yards on seemingly every play.
In a game where the USC offense produced 306 yards, White accounted for 168 yards — 55% of the team’s ouput — by himself. Whether bouncing outside or running up the gut, White picked up chunk gain after chunk gain, averaging 6.2 yards per carry. He finished with 99 rushing yards on 16 carries, and he added three receptions for 69 yards.
“Every single time he touches the ball, something good is gonna happen pretty much,” quarterback Jason Brown said. “I have full confidence just being back there with him, just giving him the ball and watching him do what he does. He’s always gonna make that first person miss pretty much, so if we just get the ball in his hands and let him do what he does we’ll always be in good position.”
With the team’s run-heavy approach, Brown attempted only 15 passes Saturday night. He completed 10 of them for 157 yards and an efficient three touchdowns, but he served as more of a game manager than as the key player driving the offense. Almost every time the Gamecocks needed a big play, they turned to White. Even in the passing game, White served as an important safety valve. Down 14-0, Brown found White on a short pass near the left sideline, and White raced 28 yards for the team’s first touchdown.
Between White and Harris’ 63 yards on 13 carries, the Gamecocks kept pace with Auburn star running back Tank Bigsby and his 164 yards on the ground. And for much of the game, they only needed two different play calls to do it.
“You guys talked about the Auburn run game all week, as did I, and rightfully so,” Beamer said after the game. “But we got a pretty special group of running backs, too.
“I’m proud of them from the way they played tonight.”
