Clemson Tigers Must Stop Underrated Strength of South Carolina Offense

The Clemson Tigers must focus on slowing down a particular portion of the South Carolina Gamecocks offensive game plan.

Nov 9, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks running back Raheim Sanders (5) runs the ball against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second half at FirstBank Stadium. / Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

The Clemson Tigers must take down their bitter rivals, the South Carolina Gamecocks, this weekend if they want to stay alive in the playoff race. It is a Top-15 matchup where both teams will be emptying the playbooks to come out on top.

It has been a surprisingly good season for the Gamecocks, riding a five-game winning streak into a potential playoff berth. While their defense has been solid, it has been their offense that has caught fire to push them ahead in games.

In previewing the massive matchup, Pro Football Focus' Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman put the focus on one particular portion of the South Carolina offense that the Tigers need to focus on: their ability to gain yards after the catch.

They have elite athletes across the offense that make it hard to bring them down on the first try, or at all for that matter.

Over the last four weeks, they have a nation-leading 9.7 yards after catch per reception. That is almost double what that figure was before the recent hot streak.

The biggest threat for this in their offense is superstar running back Raheim Sanders. He averages 11.9 yards after the catch per reception, of which he has 24.

Sanders has a combination of speed and power that is a nightmare for any linebacker. He has 268 yards and two touchdowns on his 24 catches this season.

Super athletic tight end Joshua Simon also averages 9.5 yards after the catch. He is up to 31 catches for 433 yards and six scores this season and has been red hot during the win streak.

Getting both of them involved in the passing offense has completely changed the outlook of the season.

Senior linebacker Barrett Carter will have a lot of focus on him across the middle of the field.

Carter has been solid at stopping yards after the catch this season overall, but has been beaten bad a couple of times. He has allowed 29 or more yards three times, with the most being 58 against the Pittsburgh Panthers. His average has gone up over 7.5 yards per catch allowed, though, so he needs to tighten that up.

On average, the Clemson defense as a whole allows 5.9 yards per catch. If they can hold the Gamecocks closer to that number, they should have a lot more success than other teams have had in that time.