South Carolina Football: Examining the offensive and defensive lines
While it might not be the most exciting of positions, football games are won and lost in the trenches with the offensive and defensive linemen. That was certainly the case week one against North Carolina, and it rang true again when Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team took on Furman at Williams-Brice this Saturday.
The struggles of the offensive line picked up right where they left off in Charlotte, with an illegal snap penalty on the first play of the game. While the Gamecocks picked up some nice runs on the drive, two penalties from the offensive line ended up causing a field goal attempt from 50 yards, which doinked off the left upright.
However, whether it was just pre-game jitters or spillover from last week’s performance, the offensive line righted the ship and produced a solid performance, allowing running backs to find holes and Spencer Rattler to buy enough time to make accurate throws.
Nine sacks and 16 TFLs from the North Carolina defensive front rang alarm bells all over Columbia for the entire week, but the only alarms heard at Williams-Brice Saturday night were the touchdown fireworks as the Gamecocks put up seven TDs in the 47-21 win.
The pass protection and run blocking weren’t perfect by any means, and playing an FCS opponent (albeit a good one) is a bit different than facing Alabama or Georgia’s line, but it was difficult to poke holes in the offensive line’s performance excluding the first drive.
Even towards the end of the game, the linemen were hustling and protecting the quarterback, a good sign and also perhaps a tell that the coaching staff lit a fire under the offensive line over the past several days leading up to the game. Only 1 sack was given up, and that was once 4th-stringer Tanner Bailey had entered the game in the 4th quarter.
Last week against North Carolina, the defensive linemen struggled almost as much as the offensive line, as they didn’t register a single sack on Drake Maye and only recorded 1 TFL. While they didn’t catch as much flak as the big men on offense, they certainly had their share of problems, namely putting any pressure on the QB and stopping runs at the line of scrimmage.
Defensively, the front was, like the offensive linemen, shaky for the first drive. After that, however, the Gamecocks settled in and made life difficult for Furman quarterback Tyler Huff, who did manage to have himself a solid game. T.J. Sanders and Jordan Strachan both registered a sack, while Tyreek Johnson and DQ Smith split a sack.
Sanders might have had the best day of all the Gamecock linemen, registering another TFL in addition to the sack. The 6’5” sophomore will look to continue his hot play against Georgia next week in Athens.
Holding Furman to just 2.6 YPC was quite an improvement for the defensive front, and the elusive Huff only averaged 1.9 YPC, much less than his career mark of 4.6.
Ultimately, playing an FCS opponent will usually mean taking the results with a grain of salt. That will be the case this week, but it doesn’t mean South Carolina football fans can’t celebrate a stout performance from the linemen. Furman is one of the best FCS programs in the nation, and it’s a good sign that the line looked completely different than last week. Had it been a similar type of game, all alarm bells would be sounding, but this was a promising performance.
Next week, however, will be mightily different in terms of both skill level and size as the South Carolina football team takes on Georgia in Athens. It will be the toughest test the Gamecocks’ linemen will face all year on both ends, which means if the Gamecocks don’t completely fall apart, it’s a good precursor for the rest of the year.