Evaluating the script

When Spencer Rattler jogs onto the field to take South Carolina’s first snap against Kentucky, the signal in from the sideline will be a familiar one. 

It will be a play he and the rest of the Gamecocks offense have repped time and time again throughout the week as part of offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield’s script. 

The script–which spans about 10 plays–is designed for a few reasons, the primary one is to get the Gamecocks off to a fast start. 

“You’re not going to necessarily say, ‘OK this is the first play, second play, third play, fourth play. You don’t know how the game’s going to go,” Shane Beamer said. “It’s more so that these are the opening 10 plays we want to get called early. One, it’s something we like. Two, it may be, ‘Let’s see how they’re going to play this formation.’ Three, let’s run this to set this up later.”

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Scripts are not new in college football, and each offensive coordinator approaches that process in different ways. Some stick to it no matter what, others go with the flow and most have a set number of plays dialed up but adjust based on situations. 

That’s the case with South Carolina, adjusting slightly at times based on certain down and distances. For instance, the Gamecocks started a game this year with a gain close to a first down. Instead of running the scripted second play, they went tempo and ran the ball to get the first down.

Then they picked the script back up again.

The goal of those scripts is to throw certain formations out to opposing defenses to see how they defend plays. With Satterfield, he also likes to have a few shot plays embedded in his script. That’s so the Gamecocks can have an opportunity for an early chunk play in the passing game.

“Obviously, they’re plays that have felt good all week and you want to get off to a fast start. There are usually one or two shots to make sure you get the shot called. Sometimes you get within a drive and get into a play-calling mindset,” Satterfield said.

“Then it’ll be 20 plays and you’ve been dinking and dunking to try and get first downs and you haven’t taken that shot. By scripting a shot or two early on it forces you, if you get that far down the script, to get that play called in the game early.”

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The script essentially spans two drives more often than not. And those have been successful to varying degrees this season for South Carolina. 

Through five games, the Gamecocks have run a combined 56 plays on their opening drives and are averaging 6.5 yards per play. That number is a lot higher thanks to the last two games and an explosive play to Jaheim Bell. That came on the second drive against Georgia before an interception.

On 10 drives to start games, South Carolina’s scored 13 points (1.3 points per drive) and have seven explosive plays (0.7 per drive) and a pair of interceptions.

Comparatively, the Gamecocks have scored 165 points on the other 50 drives, an average of 3.3 points per drive and averaging 5.9 yards per play. South Carolina has 32 explosives (0.64 per drive) with 11 turnovers (22 percent of drives). 

“It’s also the first third down this is what we’ll call. The first time we’re on the goal line here’s what we’re going to call. A lot of it is what we do well but how we’re going to attack them and how we want to set things up later in the game for sure,” Beamer said. 

“Then we talk about it as a staff and go over it with the offense on Friday night. That’s what the Friday night offensive meeting is: here are the openers and how we’re going to start the game.”

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And South Carolina will need to be better to start compared to other games against SEC teams this year. Of the two opening drives against SEC opponents (four total drives) South Carolina has three total points with a pair of punts and one interception. 

A fast start from Satterfield and his offense could go a long way for the Gamecocks’ chances against Kentucky. 

“That was one of the great things I learned from Lincoln Riley. Every Friday we’d sit down as an offensive staff,” Beamer said. “And he’d say, ‘OK, when I call this, guys in the press box make sure you’re watching for that. Because I want to see if this will be there. If I call this, make sure somebody has their eyes on the WIL linebacker. If he does X we’re doing to do Y.’”

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