Gamecock Digest

What does South Carolina Need to Do to Progress on Offense Heading Into Week Three?

Alex Joyce

Sep 7, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks running back Raheim Sanders (5) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the third quarter against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images
Sep 7, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks running back Raheim Sanders (5) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the third quarter against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

The South Carolina Gamecocks left a lot of questions on the table following a poor offensive performance in week one. After a dominant team performance that earned the Gamecocks a win over Kentucky, the offense will look to get better this time as the 16th ranked LSU Tigers come to town.

Last week in a 31-6 win over the Kentucky Wildcats, South Carolina looked a lot better than what they showed previously. On the day, the Gamecocks averaged 5 yards per pay (up from 3.6 in week one), had 173 passing yards and two touchdowns (compared to 114 and zero TDs in week one), and completed 73% of their passes (compared to 43% in week one).

While that's steady improvement, there is still a lot to get better at. One of the biggest areas to work on is limiting bad plays, especially those that move the ball backwards rather than forwards.

"Got to eliminate the negative plays," Coach Beamer said when asked about what improvements the offense can continue to make. "We've had way too many negative plays in the first two games."

Coach Beamer would go on to say that the next step he would like to see his offense take, apart from reducing negative plays, is being efficient. Be efficient through the air and on the ground to keep defenses from being able to key in on one area of your offense. Question is can they be efficient aginst LSU's new look defense?

Last season was not kind to LSU defensively. In 2023, the Tigers ranked 82nd in points per game (28.0), 118th against the pass (255.6 yards per game), and 87th against the run (167.0 yards per game). LSU cleaned house and brought in a new defensive coordinator that Gamecock fans are all too familiar of.

"We're playing a defensive coordinator that was at Missouri the last three seasons and frankly embarrased us the last three seasons with the number of negative plays. I think in three games we've had eight sacks and 24 tackles for loss if I'm not mistaken," Coach Beamer said about new LSU Defensive Coordinator Blake Baker.

Blake Baker became Missouri's defensive coordinator in February of 2022. In two games vs the Gamecocks, Baker's defenses held South Carolina to 244.5 yards of total offense, 3 turnovers, 9 sacks, 18 tackles for loss, with both games leading to Missouri wins. Now South Carolina has an opportunity to turn that around and get a win on Saturday.

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Alex Joyce

ALEX JOYCE