Beamer evaluates South Carolina's offense and why being different might be better

Shane Beamer knows what he has on offense is different this year. That was a given as soon as he learned Spencer Rattler and Xavier Legette were moving on to the NFL.

Initially, maybe it felt like South Carolina would take a step back without those two on offense. But in hindsight, that hasn’t been the case through four games.

The Gamecocks may not have the best passing attack in the country, but they’re certainly more balanced than they were at any point last season. And it’s part of why the team is off to a good start at 3-1 in the bye week.

“I think we continue to get better there, without a doubt,” Beamer said about the offense. “We weren’t running triple option in the run game, which is what we were doing (on Saturday) and what we’ve been doing some with LaNorris (Sellers) where you can hand it, you can pull it, you can pitch it. That’s triple option, old school football.”

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Instead of having a dynamic passer like Rattler under center, South Carolina has Sellers, who has proven to be much more of a dual-threat quarterback. He admittedly hasn’t put up the same passing numbers as his former teammate, but can make throws and also scramble. That’s where the big difference between the two lies.

Because of what Sellers can do as a runner, it’s forced opponents to prepare for the unexpected. So far this year, South Carolina has averaged 179.5 passing yards per game, much less than last year. But the run game has made big strides, averaging 192.3 yards. For comparison, the Gamecocks were dead-last in the SEC a year ago with only 85.1 rushing yards per game. How about now? Seventh-best in the conference and that’s with adding two new teams into the fold.

“I think Dowell and that entire offensive staff have continued to do a good job of just finding unique ways to run the ball and formation people and personnel people and shift and motion still,” Beamer said. “I think we’re doing some really cool stuff and I think we continue to get better each week.”

It’s been a slow but steady progression for the offense to get to where it’s at. In Week 1 against Old Dominion, the Gamecocks were able to run the ball but Sellers couldn’t provide much as a passer. Just a few weeks later, South Carolina nearly put up identical stat lines in both passing and rushing in a 50-7 win over Akron last Saturday.

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And sure, the argument is going to be, ‘Oh, well, it’s Akron. They’re one of the worst teams in college football.’ That point has a lot of validity. But South Carolina plays who’s on the schedule and did what it needed to do. If anything, that game proved what this offense can do when everything is clicking.

“Obviously, to have 549 yards of offense and and throw it for 276 and run it for 273, that’s pretty dang good when you’re missing your starting quarterback, basically your starting running back and one of your starting receivers. So from that standpoint, that was really good,” Beamer said.

Beamer’s next goal for the offense is to keep taking steps forward. But it’s easier said than done since the other teams have more film to watch on South Carolina. Recognizing this, Beamer knows the Gamecocks need to be able to counteract what opponents will do in their game planning.

“We’ve got to continue to just get better each week and continue to stay ahead of other teams,” he said. “… We’ve got to make sure that we continue to stay ahead. But it was good to see us do some things in the passing game as well that will continue to help everything all together as an offense.”

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