South Carolina hoping run game success carries over to SEC play

After failing to rush for over 100 yards in their first three games, things appear to be clicking for the Gamecocks in the run game. 

In the last two games against non-conference opponents, South Carolina has rushed for nearly 500 yards as a team and is averaging just below seven yards per carry. 

During those first three games, the Gamecocks were only able to average a measly 2.3 yards per carry. 

Though the spike in production can partially be attributed to South Carolina’s back-to-back matchups with a Group of Five and FCS opponent, it’s still an impressive one.

The return of the run game’s success has helped the offense as a whole. 

“Obviously running backs have been doing a great job,” Spencer Rattler said. “It definitely takes a lot of pressure off receivers, myself, everybody.”

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South Carolina has scored 50 points in the last two weeks and has outscored its opponents by an average of 38 points. 

“It definitely makes all of our jobs easier,” Rattler said. “It starts with the O-line, they did a great job these last couple of weeks, you know, getting those holes blocked up so MarShawn and Juju and CBS and those guys who can hit them.”

MarShawn Lloyd has been a pivotal part of the resurgence and leads the Gamecocks in rushing yards so far. He’s rushed for 249 of the 324 yards he has this season in the last two games. 

Juju McDowell has also eclipsed the century mark on the ground in his limited number of carries, and a now-healthy Christian Beal-Smith is right behind him. 

Marcus Satterfield said Beal-Smith’s return has been beneficial for the running back room and offense as a whole. 

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“The person that benefits the most is Juju because he’s not having to get beat up being the second back, so it’s helped Juju be a little bit more explosive in space,” Satterfield said. “When CBS does get healthy, it does make a difference to have that one-two punch because he is a physical downhill type guy.”

The boost in momentum on the ground is well-timed considering the Gamecocks are getting back into SEC play against Kentucky on Saturday. 

Part of the success South Carolina has seen in recent weeks is due to its opponents having similar defensive fronts, Satterfield said. 

Satterfield said that there was a lot of carryover between the games against Georgia, S.C. State, and Charlotte. He said this allowed the Gamecocks to attack defenses in similar ways on the ground across those three weeks. 

Against Kentucky though, Satterfield said that won’t exactly be the case.

“Kentucky is a different front, they’re more of a…NFL style Okie 3-4 style front that two-gap things that make it really, really hard to run north and south,” Satterfield said. 

“You got to try to find different edges to try to attack. So, it’s a little bit different mindset than what we’ve been doing the last couple of weeks, but still, things that our kids are comfortable with.”

Kentucky currently ranks in the middle of the pack in the SEC for run defense. Through five games the Wildcats are allowing 123.80 rushing yards per game and an average of 3.70 yards per carry. 

Regardless of whether or not South Carolina continues to run the ball the way it has recently against Kentucky, Satterfield said that the offense understands it has to be successful in every aspect of its game on Saturday,

“I think that we’re taking steps, especially the last couple of weeks, on both facets of our game,” Satterfield said. 

“We got a long way to go but I think that our guys are just trending in the direction of whatever is needed to win the game. We’re gonna have to do that at a really high level in order to have success.”

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