'All hands on deck' for South Carolina in the run game
South Carolina saw what its offense was with MarShawn Lloyd Saturday against Missouri and what it turned into without him on the field.
The Gamecocks weren’t lighting the world on fire with him on the field but did muster a touchdown drive and average 4.5 yards per play in the first half.
Without him on the field most of the second half, limited with a thigh contusion, South Carolina scored just three points with just 11 first downs and averaged 3.7 yards per play.
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“MarShawn Lloyd is a really, really talented back,” Marcus Satterfield said. “You give him five carries and he’s probably going to break off a 12 or 14-yard run every three carries. That allowed us as an offense to sustain drives and get first downs. It became a lot harder to move the ball and get first downs when we lost him. It was a struggle.”
If Lloyd is either limited or unable to go, it could be “all hands on deck” for South Carolina in the run game.
The Gamecocks could use a lot of different players in the backfield if Lloyd either can’t go or is limited. Some of which aren’t necessarily running backs, Satterfield said.
“We have a lot of guys that played running back in high school. It’s all hands on deck, whether it be quarterback runs, backup quarterbacks, quarterbacks that played in the bowl game, receivers that played running back, receivers that run kickoffs back 109 yards. Everyone is going to have a chance to see what they can do Saturday night with the ball.”
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Satterfield obviously referring there to Luke Doty, Dakereon Joyner, Jaheim Bell and Xavier Legette.
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The Gamecocks will need to get a little creative in the run game if Lloyd is limited in what he can do without a big threat of a quarterback run game at times.
According to Pro Football Focus, Spencer Rattler has 28 true rushing attempts (excluding sacks) for 124 yards and has forced four missed tackles. Most of those yards 116) have come on scrambles with eight coming on designed runs.
“I think Spencer is a better athlete than people give him credit for. Certainly want to see him run. He did that some the other night. He had the play that he scrambled…he obviously ran on the play he fumbled on as well,” Shane Beamer said. “I trust him when he runs the football because he can run and make some people miss. And he’s a better athlete than people give him credit for. But also as your quarterback, you don’t want to see your quarterback take unnecessary hits either.”
Regardless of who is toting the ball for South Carolina, the run game will have to be better than it was against Missouri.
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The Gamecocks averaged a season-low 1.4 yards per carry (3.2 yards per carry sack-adjusted). In five wins this year, South Carolina is averaging 5.2 sack-adjusted yards per carry. In the four losses the Gamecocks average 3.4.
“Everything,” Lloyd said about what the run game means to the offense. “That’s every team in the SEC. If you can’t run the ball, you won’t win. I don’t care who you are. The SEC is the best conference in the world. If you can’t run the ball you can’t win…We have to run the ball no matter what.”
