Gamecocks struggle on third downs in loss to Georgia
South Carolina emphasizes a lot of things for winning football with one of those being third down efficiency.
But of the issues that were evident in the Gamecocks’ 48-7 loss to SEC-rival Georgia on Saturday, execution on third downs may have been one of the more glaring ones.
“Certainly we got to be better on third down than what we were, if you’re 4-for-13 you’re not good enough,” Shane Beamer said.
The Gamecocks only converted on 30 percent of their third-down attempts against Georgia, So far this season, South Carolina has been faced with 37 third-down opportunities and only converted 10 of them.
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“Give Georgia some credit. I mean, they’re really good on third down when they get you in those situations, “Beamer said. “Just got to continue to – what we call – be able to execute it better than what we did today.”
South Carolina’s struggle with third downs can also be blamed on a lack of consistency on first and second-down plays.
The Gamecocks failed to stay on schedule during the game, averaging just over three yards per play on first downs. This put Spencer Rattler and South Carolina’s offense behind the eight ball, leaving it with an average of 6.5 yards to go on third downs.
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There were a few times during the game the Gamecocks made what appeared to be questionable run calls on third-and-long. Beamer said after the game that these calls were typically in four-down situations.
“A lot of those had told (Satterfield) on the headphones, ‘We’re gonna go for it on fourth down, so you got two downs here,’” Beamer said. “And then a couple of them we lost yardage, so we ended up punting. But obviously, we’ve got to look at that, okay, it is two downs and we’re gonna go for it on fourth down, let’s be smart about what we’re calling as well.”
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In total, South Carolina ran the ball seven times on third downs and collected 17 yards for an average of less than one yard per run.
“Knowing how multiple and complex they are defensively on third down too we felt like we needed to be able to line up at times and run the ball and try and pop a run in there too, with some of the things they’re doing pressure wise and coverage wise,” Beamer said.
Despite the lackluster production on third downs offensively, South Carolina’s problems on third downs weren’t just unique to the offense.
Stetson Bennett and the Georgia offense were able to convert on 55.6% of its third-down attempts, going 5-for-9 on third down. The Bulldogs were typically set up nicely on third down, averaging 4.2 yards to go on third downs during the game.
Todd Monken’s offense did most of its work early on in the drives, totaling 390 yards on first downs alone and gaining 10.8 yards on average on those plays.
