South Carolina Football’s GOAT Series: Top-10 greatest offenses of all-time

South Carolina football has had an interesting history on the offensive side of the football. Most successful years in Columbia were built on the backs of strong defenses, but almost every iteration of the Gridiron Gamecocks (from elite championship contenders to winless cupcakes) has had NFL-caliber players on the offense. Sometimes those players led to positive results on the scoreboard, and sometimes they did not. But which seasons of South Carolina football produced the best offenses?

Honorable Mention

1958: In 1958, the Gamecocks were known as a gritty, hard-nosed running team, a tradition starting with Steve Wadiak almost a decade earlier. Fortunately for South Carolina, the 1958 team had more weapons than Wadiak’s Gamecocks. A powerful rushing attack was led by a loaded backfield of All-American running back Alex Hawkins, All-ACC back King Dixon, and Jacobs Blocking Trophy-winning fullback John Saunders.

1969: Tommy Suggs led the Gamecocks to an ACC Championship in 1969, and the offense was extremely balanced, a rarity for that time period in football history. All-American running back Warren Muir and All-ACC receiver Fred Zeigler were arguably the best in the conference at their respective positions. The ACC couldn’t handle the Gamecocks that season, as Carolina went undefeated in the conference and only lost games in out-of-conference play. The offense was even better the next season, but the schedule was significantly harder, so the results faltered.

1970: 1970 was a very different team than the previous season, despite Tommy Suggs returning at quarterback. Warren Muir and Fred Zeigler graduated, but somehow the Gamecock offense got better. Jim Mitchell and Doug Hamrick were great at receiver and tight end, and a more spread-out running back room split carries to match Muir’s production. Compared to the previous year, the schedule got harder and the defense got worse, so the Gamecock’s record suffered as they won just four games.

1973: Coach Paul Dietzel turned to sophomore quarterback Jeff Grantz in ’73, and the offense flourished. The first 400+ yard offense in Gamecock history was led by a strong run game. Grantz, Jay Lynn Hodgin, Randy Spinks, and backup quarterback Ron Bass all carried the ball a lot for Carolina, but Grantz and Bass combined to be efficient passers relative to the era they played. Thanks to the offense, South Carolina football won seven games for just the 8th time in 1973 despite a subpar defense.

1979: George Rogers won the Heisman Trophy in 1980, but he was almost as good in ’79 when he tallied over 1800 yards from scrimmage. The offense was almost 100% on the shoulders of “Big George,” though, as the Gamecocks somehow only threw for 77 yards per game that season. To compliment Rogers, the second through fifth backs on the roster added 1200 more yards on the ground, but it took them 400 carries to do so.

1987: The 1987 Gamecocks were an interesting blend of amazing defense and outrageous potential on offense. The offense was good overall but had an amazing stretch of five straight games with 30+ points (in 3 of those games, the Gamecocks scored at least 40). Unfortunately for that offense, Todd Ellis threw an astronomical 24 interceptions, and he and the entire offense struggled against good opponents, averaging about 15 points per game against five ranked foes.

1990: After following coach Sparky Woods from Appalachian State, Bobby Fuller finally got his chance under center in 1990. The Gamecocks racked up the yards but struggled a bit to put the ball in the end zone. Fuller was good, and the three-head backfield monster of Mike Dingle, Rob deBoar, and Albert Haynes racked up over 2000 yards of offense. Robert Brooks was a stud on the outside at receiver, and Eddie Miller had some long catches. For “academic reasons,” athletic director King Dixon declined a bowl game bid after the regular season.

1991: The Bobby Fuller era at quarterback was a good one that most fans wish lasted longer. In his second year as the starter, Fuller orchestrated a good passing game that was one of the best in football, but the running game struggled. Freshman Brandon Bennett was good, but he was the only real weapon on the ground. The Gamecocks had a bad season despite Fuller’s good play, but most of that could be laid on the feet of the defense as Carolina’s opponents rushed for 70 more yards per game  than the Gamecocks did.

1994: Head coach Brad Scott’s “basketball on grass” or “fast break” offense started shaping the identity of the Gamecock football team in 1994. Carolina’s defense wasn’t very good, but the offense was fast and fun. Steve Taneyhill had a good year despite having no one catch 600 yards worth of passes. The runningback duo of Brandon Bennett and Stanley Pritchett combined for just under 2000 yards of total offense, and the Gamecocks won their first-ever bowl game, a victory over West Virginia in the Carquest Bowl.

2000: Part of the greatest single-season turnaround in college football history up to that point, the 2000 offense carried the load at times. In the Gamecocks’ 7-1 start to the year, they scored almost 200 points in the 7 victories. Quarterback Phil Petty became just the 4th Gamecock to throw for over 2200 yards in 2000, and the running game was stout behind the efforts of Derek Watson, Andrew Pinnock, and Ryan Brewer (combined for over 1600 rushing yards and over 2200 yards from scrimmage).

2001: The 2001 team was almost a carbon copy of the 2000 squad. Most of the same contributors returned, except Brian Scott took over the lead receiver role from Jermale Kelly. The three-faceted running back group of Watson, Pinnock, and Brewer combined for just over 2200 yards again, and Phil Petty was slightly more efficient in a lower volume of throws. Corey Jenkins added an extra element to the offense with his dynamic running ability from the quarterback position. 2001, like 2000, was a fun team to watch.

2007: Head coach Steve Spurrier had one of his weirdest Gamecock offenses in 2007. Neither quarterback nor running back positions had set starters most of the season as Blake Mitchell and Chris Smelley (and a little Tommy Beecher) split time at quarterback, and Cory Boyd and (the OG) Mike Davis split carries in the backfield. Despite the instability, the Carolina offense averaged over 370 yards per game in 2007. After reaching #6 in the polls, the defense faltered, allowing a whopping 149 points in the team’s final four games to fall out of a bowl game invitation.

2011: The 2011 offense was an offense in transition. Alshon Jeffery was double teamed most plays after a dominant 2010, Marcus Lattimore tore his ACL halfway through the year, and Stephen Garcia was dismissed and replaced with Connor Shaw after five games. The talent on the roster and the wizardry of the Head Ball Coach allowed the offense to still be very productive, but they had help as the defense set up the offense for success in 2011 more than just about any other season. The offense scuffled a bit in SEC play, including in the team’s two losses.

2018: The best offense of the offensively-challenged Will Muschamp era in Columbia, 2018 was the Jake Bentley show (plus the famous Michael Scarnecchia Game). New offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon used an extremely RPO-heavy scheme that left most of the decision-making in the hands of his quarterback, and Bentley had a very good season. Deebo Samuel, Bryan Edwards, and Shi Smith combined for the best three-man receiving season in school history, but an inconsistent running game and turnovers limited Carolina’s success.

2020: One of the worst passing offenses in recent Carolina history, 2020 was also the best rushing season in Columbia in a decade. In a Covid-shortened season, Kevin Harris led the SEC in rushing yards with over 1100 yards on the ground in just 10 games, so 2020 deserves a mention. Unfortunately, the Mike Bobo-led offense was “Kevin Harris or bust,” and combined with the poor defense, the ground game success did not translate into many wins and losses. The Gamecocks were quarterbacked by transfer Colin Hill and freshman Luke Doty to a woeful 2-8 record.