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A Notebook On North Carolina Offensive Coordinator Chip Lindsey

South Carolina's Football team will face a familiar foe in UNC Offensive Coordinator Chip Lindsey on Saturday. What did he do in their last matchup?
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One aspect of the South Carolina vs. North Carolina matchup that hasn't been discussed nearly as much regarding the Duke's Mayo Classic is the two new offensive coordinators in this contest: Dowell Loggains for the Gamecocks and Chip Lindsey for the Tar Heels. Chip Lindsey comes to Chapel Hill after spending one year as the offensive coordinator at UCF under coaching mentor Gus Malzahn. Through his time under Malzahn and other coaches, Lindsey has taken concepts from the Air Raid offense and Spread Option and meshed them together to make his own brand of football.

In fact, the Gamecocks saw up close and personal what that brand of football looked like back in 2021 when they went up against Chip Lindsey's Troy Trojans. I took the liberty of watching the game back to see if I could spot any schematic or play-calling trends that might be worth keeping in the back of our minds as we inch closer to Saturday night's matchup. Here were my main takeaways:

Chip Wants Balance

Lindsey has the philosophy of the more modern Air Raid play-callers in football, believing in a strong power-run ground game that forces defenders to play good fundamental football in terms of shedding blocks and form-tackling. The Trojans ran the ball around 40 percent of the time in their matchup against South Carolina nearly two years ago, and that percentage is skewed by the fact Troy threw the ball so much late in the game in their comeback attempt.

Every Blade Of Grass

There are two major goals in an Air Raid offense when it comes to the passing game: execute at a high level and find open space. Lindsey's offense will attempt to do this by lining up in similar formations and spreading out his receiving threats on the field through four-WR double sets or trip sets. This, combined with route combinations that include slants, digs, hitches, and out routes, allows for receivers to run into open space or sit in an open area and wait for a pass.

Final Thoughts

Chip Lindsey's offense will most certainly look different at North Carolina compared to his time at Troy, but coaches are like zebras: they don't change their stripes, unless they have a quarterback like Drake Maye. Expect the Tar Heels to try and test this Gamecock rush defense early and establish a rhythm to take a touch of the load off Maye and the Tar Heels defense, especially.

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