It’s hard to put it any other way besides that it's been a strange season for the South Carolina offense.
A unit that is among the top-25 in the nation in total yards (479.6 per game, 24th), passing yards (294.6 per game, 19th) and points (35.9 per game, T-23rd), and that is one of head coach Steve Spurrier’s best offenses ever somehow has been part of five losses in nine games.
It's fair to say the defense has a lot to do with those losses, but the Gamecock offense had chances to put games away several times this year and couldn’t capitalize.
Against Missouri, the Gamecocks took the foot off the gas pedal to close out the game and lost 21-20 because of a late Tiger score. South Carolina decided to abandon the running game with a late lead against Kentucky and ended up losing the game in regulation through a deflected interception for a touchdown.
Two weeks ago against Tennessee, redshirt senior quarterback Dylan Thompson and company could not get a first down to run the clock out and prevent a Volunteer game-tying scoring drive. After the defense allowed a field goal in overtime, the offensive line allowed two straight sacks after looking strong before that. It resulted in a long field goal attempt that never came close.
Offensive line coach Shawn Elliott couldn't figure out what went wrong for his group in that final period.
“God, I wish I could tell you," he said. "I mean those (plays) looked like a different unit going out there. I thought to myself ‘Am I watching a movie? I hadn’t seen them run around the edge all night.’”
For the most part, the line has done a good job protecting Thompson this season, only allowing 18 sacks thus far.
And it's allowed Thompson to throw for 2,588 passing yards, which ranks second in the SEC and 19th in the nation. He is also tied for second in the conference with 22 touchdown passes. However, he is tied for the league lead with 10 interceptions as well, which has hurt the team in the fourth quarter at times. Besides the finish at Kentucky, he almost led the Gamecocks to a touchdown against Auburn and a lead, but an interception instead gave the Tigers momentum to score in their final possession.
Spurrier said he would like to have a few playcalls back this season. If he could do it over, there would probably be more running plays in that overtime.
Redshirt junior tailback Brandon Wilds said specifically he hopes South Carolina runs the ball more against Florida.
The new star of the show in the Gamecock offense is sophomore wide receiver Pharoh Cooper. But the term “wide receiver” is used loosely because Cooper can do pretty much anything. Besides his school record of 233 receiving yards against Tennessee, he caught two touchdowns, ran for another one and threw for a score to Wilds.
Cooper may see Florida's sophomore cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III covering him, which could prove for a tough day. Hargreaves will be playing on Sundays, as he is a potential future first-round draft pick in the NFL. He leads the Gators with 10 pass breakups with two interceptions to go along with it.
Florida head coach Will Muschamp said with how explosive Cooper and the Gamecock offense can be, it will be the toughest game of the season for the Gator defense.
Cooper leads South Carolina in catches (51), receiving yards (786) and touchdowns (eight). He's second in the SEC in receiving yards and said he expected to make plays this season but not attain such a high level of success. Still, he just hopes his efforts can start helping the Gamecocks win again.
“We have a whole bunch of offensive numbers in the top categories, but all them numbers that we have, we still can’t win games,” Cooper said. “So, all that really goes out the window if you can’t win games.”
The offensive gameplan seems simple enough to say, but a tall order to accomplish. It also may show how much faith South Carolina has in its defense.
“Hopefully, we can go into the game and score every drive,” Wilds said. “That’s basically the goal, so if we go in and score every drive we shouldn’t have a problem.”