The toughest stretch of 2025 is ahead. Has USC’s offense turned the corner?
When you read that South Carolina has six touchdowns from its defensive and special teams units through five games this season — the most in the nation — it might be cause for some excitement. But the stat comes with a grim realization: It’s more than half of the eight touchdowns scored by the Gamecock offense.
USC, before its 35-13 win against Kentucky on Saturday, ranked as the Southeastern Conference’s worst offense in terms of yards gained. It had yet to surpass 350 yards in a game, and failed to reach that threshold again vs. the Wildcats. The Gamecocks surpassed 350 yards nine times in 2024, including three 400-yard games, two 500-yard games and a 600-yard effort against Wofford.
Despite the lackluster start overall on offense, the Gamecocks feel their season-best 348 yards of offense against the Wildcats is a step in the right direction — and it comes before the toughest stretch of the season.
“We need to continue to get better. Some stuff we missed, but it’s a good start,” quarterback LaNorris Sellers said.
To be fair, USC didn’t surpass 400 yards last season until Week 4 against Akron, but only because it fell two yards short the week prior against LSU. Offensive coordinator Mike Shula’s unit would have to surpass the 350-yard mark in each of the remaining games this season to match 2024’s total.
Turning the corner on offense won’t be easy. After a bye week, USC enters a stretch of five consecutive ranked opponents, with three of those games on the road.
It starts with an LSU team coming off a 24-19 loss to Ole Miss in Death Valley, then a homestand against Oklahoma and Alabama, and ends with a trip to Oxford for a matchup against the Rebels and College Station to face Texas A&M. LSU, Alabama and Ole Miss are all top 10 in the SEC for yards and points allowed per game this season.
“It’s a lot to build on. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we know the month of October doesn’t get any easier,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “We certainly hoped and expected to be 5-0, and we’re not. ... Tonight was a really good start and certainly a game we had to have.”
Replicating and continuing to improve on the offense that showed up against the Wildcats will depend heavily on the run game. The 178 yards and three touchdowns on the ground against Kentucky were the highest single-game mark of the season. Matthew Fuller. who started the year as the third-string back on the depth chart, finished the game as the yards leader for USC’s backs.
“That’s a hell of a lot better than minus 12 or whatever we were last week, so that’s a positive,” Beamer said. “Certainly needs to be better.”
Sellers had a vintage night using his legs, finishing with 81 yards on the ground, his best of the year by a wide margin. He broke that threshold three times last season. In 2024, Sellers finished with negative yards just once — he’s done so twice already this year. His freedom to move in the pocket was a factor against Kentucky and will be moving forward as defenses plot to contain the third-year quarterback.
South Carolina’s defense and special teams unit adding points to the scoreboard is certainly a welcome addition for the Gamecocks. But those plays could be more rare against the more prolific offenses in the SEC. USC will need more from its own offensive unit to sustain winning momentum through a brutal conference slate.
“Coming off the last two weeks, we didn’t play our best. We know that,” Sellers said. “We’ve still got everything we want ahead of us. We’ve just gotta take it one game at a time, and tonight was a start.”
