‘We can’t be one-dimensional’: MarShawn Lloyd, USC address run game before UGA clash
One hundred nineteen rushing yards through two games isn’t a great total, and South Carolina knows that.
Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks have a more reliable passing attack this season, but the running game has yet to figure itself out.
Running back MarShawn Lloyd — the team’s leading rusher so far — made it clear that improvement is necessary on the ground.
“We’ve just got to be able to run the ball,” Lloyd said. “This is the SEC. We’ve gotta get more carries. So I just feel like we have to be able to get out there and run the ball more. We can’t be one-dimensional.”
Lloyd has totaled 53 yards and two touchdowns in the team’s first two games. He leads the team with 18 carries, as well.
South Carolina has amassed just two yards per carry in 2022, though Beamer attributes that average to some of the short-yardage situations — such as third downs or goal-line runs — that the team designs plays for.
Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield said the team averaged five yards per carry on first and second down runs.
“We have to do that more, and we have to do it more consistently,” Satterfield said. “I’ve got to give our guys more runs to start a game so they can get going and get a feel for it.”
Beamer said he feels “better” about the run game after the Arkansas game.
Still, he knows the team is in for a “long day” if it can’t establish the run against Georgia, and it will take every position group’s blocking ability to do so.
“You’ve got to win your one-on-one battles,” Beamer said. “It’s easy to say, ‘Run the ball.’ Well, we’ve got to be great competitors and win those battles as well.”
Georgia is holding opponents to 79.5 rushing yards per game and was the best team against the run last year in the SEC. So far, it’s holding opponents to just 1.5 points per game.
Left guard Vershon Lee said he feels the pass blocking has improved, but he knows the team has work to do in the running game against Georgia’s defense due to the team’s physicality.
“I feel like we need to be more connected, move more as a unit together,” Lee said. “Every step we take, we got to be in sync with each other. The more we rep it, the better we get. Consistency is what we’re trying to establish right now.”
With the improved passing game the team has now, it’s not a “run-first” offense. Spencer Rattler threw 38 times in the first game and 37 times in the second, and he sits at 604 passing yards.
Part of the reason South Carolina threw as often as it did was because of the hole it fell into early on, as Arkansas got out to a 21-3 lead.
“Last week became one of those games where you didn’t have a lot of time to establish the run,” Satterfield said. “You had to get the ball down the field and try to score points.”
Beamer said the strategy to win games varies by matchups, but the team needs to bring attention to the run to be successful.
“I want to be an offense that has the ability to run it and the ability to throw it,” Beamer said. “But to me, we’ve got to be able to, when we want to run the football, run the ball.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 2:03 PM.
