Just how bad was the Gamecock offensive play Saturday night

[FeatheredCock]

Let’s just get to the point where South Carolina’s offensive line was flat-out bad on Saturday night. We’ve heard all offseason how the Gamecocks improved in the trenches, that the group was ready to prove doubters wrong. It’s only one game, but those doubters have 60 more minutes of ammo with which to work. I get it, the offensive line is not solely responsible for some of the stalls South Carolina’s offense endured on Saturday.

Pro Football Focus didn’t grade a single South Carolina lineman among its top 55 run blockers in the Southeastern Conference who played more than 20% of their team’s snaps in Week 1. The Gamecocks were marginally better against the pass including left tackle Jaylen Nichols, who ranked tied for seventh among SEC offensive linemen in pass blocking this week, per PFF. But the next closest South Carolina blocker? That’d be right tackle Dylan Wonnum at No. 49 in the league. South Carolina’s six main offensive linemen Jovaughn Gwyn, Eric Douglas, Vershon Lee, Jakai Moore, Nichols, and Wonnum averaged a 64.72 grade on PFF’s 100-point scale against the run in 2021. Those exact same players combined for a 53.72 average mark versus the run on Saturday while facing a Georgia State defense that had allowed 467.6 yards per contest in five games against Power Five opponents since 2017.


South Carolina managed 79 rushing yards and Rattler was sacked three times in the 21-point win. No Gamecocks offensive lineman ranked inside the top 50 run blockers among SEC offensive linemen who played 20% of their team's snaps this week. In pass blocking, Gamecocks Jaylen Nichols ranked eighth among SEC linemen; the next closest was Dylan Wonnum at No. 4

9. “We all had a hand in it: coaches, quarterbacks, offensive line, running backs,” Beamer said Sunday night. “Sometimes it’s a quarterback handing the ball off when he should pull it. Sometimes it’s a quarterback got confused on coverage. ... The offensive line certainly had their hand in a lot of it. We didn’t do a great job handling their movement. “Running back wise, we missed a couple blitz pickups or stayed in to protect when we didn’t need to. Receiver-wise we had some sloppy routes. Receiver-wise we got our butts kicked on the perimeter blocking. Tight end-wise we had some sloppy routes and got our butts kicked on the perimeter. “We all had a hand in it.”

I don’t think the issue is a scheme. Frankly, the notion the Gamecocks didn’t understand what offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield wanted to do blocking-wise a year ago was overblown. But for a line that has well over 100 appearances between its five starters, South Carolina should not be averaging 2.5 yards per carry on 32 touches against a Sun Belt opponent even if it is one of the better teams in that league. In fairness, it’s one game. Coaching staffs have off days. Quarterbacks have off days. Entire units have off days. These things happen especially in Game 1 of a three-month, regular-season campaign that lacks any real preseason contest.

 

[FurmanCock]

Coaching staffs have off days. Quarterbacks have off days. Entire units have off days. These things happen especially in Game 1 of a three-month, regular-season campaign that lacks any real preseason contest.

The only thing I have to say, and this causes me worry, is that there is context for the Olines performance last week. We returned the entire starting line up from last year, and this is exactly how they played last year.

 

[kingofnerf]

The only thing I have to say, and this causes me worry, is that there is context for the Olines performance last week. We returned the entire starting line up from last year, and this is exactly how they played last year.

Yep.

GSU is a lot better than Charleston Southern or EIU. The lack of a blow-out win forces the team to be honest with its shortcomings sooner.

We'll see what we get against the Hogs, but the performance of the younger guys Shane has brought in this season gives me hope in other areas besides the OL.

Our OL issues are what they are, but the defense has to stop KJ Jefferson or it will be an ugly loss for us.

 

[Cockyandproud]

The only thing I have to say, and this causes me worry, is that there is context for the Olines performance last week. We returned the entire starting line up from last year, and this is exactly how they played last year.

In the offseason, we heard some of these guys came back because they said they had something to prove. I want to see them do it. I don't want to crap on anyone. They are good guys, and I want them to do well, both for them and the team. But it's time to stop talking and now do it.

 

[gamecock88]

They're bad across the board. They looked soft, heavy footed and slow Saturday night. Some worse than others and this isn't something you just fix with the same offensive attack. If we tried to pull a guard, he'd need a 5 second head start. I'm not sure if it's talent, coaching/motivation or all three but as a unit they're bad. I'm sure we'll see some flashes but only managing those yards against GSU doesn't bode well for the future. How we manage to recruit RBs yearly is truly an amazing feat.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I will preface this remark by stating that I never played organized football. However, I just can't seem to grasp all of this talk about the "scheme" being soooooooooo complicated that our players can't execute or understand it.

I mean seriously, how many damn different things can you do as an offensive lineman that is sooooooooooo damn complicated? Someone help me out here, these guys are in college right? I assume they have a fundamental understanding of the English language. What is so complicated about playing football?

 

[kingofnerf]

I will preface this remark by stating that I never played organized football. However, I just can't seem to grasp all of this talk about the "scheme" being soooooooooo complicated that our players can't execute or understand it.

I mean seriously, how many damn different things can you do as an offensive lineman that is sooooooooooo damn complicated? Someone help me out here, these guys are in college right? I assume they have a fundamental understanding of the English language. What is so complicated about playing football?

Right.

Block straight ahead, to the right or to the left.

Not that complicated.

 

[CockyinVa]

They're bad across the board. They looked soft, heavy footed and slow Saturday night. Some worse than others and this isn't something you just fix with the same offensive attack. If we tried to pull a guard, he'd need a 5 second head start. I'm not sure if it's talent, coaching/motivation or all three but as a unit they're bad. I'm sure we'll see some flashes but only managing those yards against GSU doesn't bode well for the future. How we manage to recruit RBs yearly is truly an amazing feat.

I can’t believe it’s coaching. And as someone else said how hard really is it to learn schemes. So what does that leave?

 

[GMB2USC23]

It's the little things, the guard pulls and is in position in time to make the block, thinks the player is out of the play and turns up field instead of hitting his assignment that makes the play from behind... making what looked like a nice gain into 2yds... or the tackle that blocked outside trying to get to the LB instead of inside turning what might have been a huge play into a nice 5yd gain... I think these things can be seen on film and addressed as well as just hitting the hole hard vertical taking 5yds more aggressively...

 

[kingofnerf]

Just looking at the game highlight reel itself, we didn't look too bad.

The problem is we haven't had many highlight reels like that against quality opponents in recent years.

It's hard to say who will step up against the Hogs until it happens, if and when it happens.

 

[GamecockSkip]

If you can't make a block, just fall down in front of your assigned defender. That will slow the rusher down more than just letting him brush by you and breeze on by.

 

[kingofnerf]

Just being competitive enough so that people think we have a decent chance at an upset or two in a season would be better than we've had in recent years.

 

[GregoryHouse]

I do not understand why our offensive line is so ineffective in the run game but have tried to a year and a game to make zone blocking work under Greg Adkins and it has been a failure.

"Zone blocking in the running game is when two or three offensive linemen work in tandem as opposed to each offensive lineman having a specific, predetermined man to block. Zone blocking involves the center, guard, tackle and tight end working in combination to block an area with an emphasis on double-teaming the defensive linemen who are aligned on the line of scrimmage."1

There are several keys to this technique:
1. The linemen stay hip to hip.
2. The linemen keep their shoulders square.
3. Most importantly, all four of their eyes are on the linebacker.
4. Knowing when and who takes over the defensive lineman and who leaves to block the linebacker.

More than anything else, our line has not been able to do #3 and #4.

Maybe we should scrap Zone Blocking for the time being and have our linemen just go to the simpler man blacking scheme (each O lineman is responsible for a D Lineman). In zone blocking, you don't have a lot of different assignments, but you have a lot of techniques. It takes many repetitions to get the feel of working together as a unit. Our line is a veteran line and should look and be much improved over last year when it comes to Zone Blocking...but they are not.


P.S. - I don't know the first thing about being a lineman or a line coach so their knowledge and opinions trump anything I have just said. But something about this weakness needs to be addressed.

1 - Football 101, Zone Blocking (https://www.espn.com/ncf/columns/davie/1440703.html)