After uneven opener, Gamecock offensive line has ‘got to get better,’ Muschamp says
Last season, a poor season opener against UNC led South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp to retool his offensive line — two starters were benched and another switched positions as the Tar Heels beat the Gamecocks, sacking the quarterback three times and holding the USC run game to 4.1 yards per game.
It’s not yet clear if Muschamp is going to overhaul things once more in 2020, after a opener against Tennessee in which South Carolina gave up four sacks and only averaged 2.5 yards per rush. But he made it clear Tuesday that the offensive front’s performance wasn’t good enough against the Vols.
In particular, Muschamp honed in on the right side of the line, where redshirt freshman Jakai Moore started at tackle and redshirt sophomore Jovaughn Gwyn at guard.
“One missed assignment, there was a critical error going in, and then just flat out getting physically whipped on a couple other occasions,” Muschamp said of what he saw on film that led to the offensive line’s struggles. “But, you know, coming out of the game, we felt like the right side, we need to play better there. Felt like (left tackle Dylan Wonnum, left guard Sadarius Hutcherson and center Eric Douglas), you know, played well enough for us to win.”
In particular, the first half was a struggle for the unit, as Hill was sacked three times, all in the second quarter, and the ground game produced just 26 total yards on 19 attempts — 1.37 per rush. Those struggles translated to a poor first half overall for the offense, as the Gamecocks failed to score on five possessions following an opening drive touchdown.
“We need to run the ball better. I think we did in the second half, and (offensive coordinator Mike Bobo) came in at halftime, first thing he says (is) ‘We need to start stretching the field, we need to get them off us a little bit.’ And that’s what he did, and that opened up some things in the running game. So it all works hand in hand,” Muschamp said.
Protection was better in the second half — Hill settled in and was sacked just once and hurried on one other occasion. In addition to the vertical passing game, Wonnum said the line had an attitude adjustment during halftime.
“It wasn’t from a schematic standpoint, I think it was just more so, you know, everybody, the O-line especially, we got to just buckle up, tighten our straps and we got to block,” Wonnum said.
Looking ahead, the Gamecocks will have to go on the road to face a Florida defense that lost some talent from last season’s highly-rated unit. But the Gators were able to get behind the line of scrimmage in their opener against Ole Miss, recording four sacks and 11 tackles for loss, and are known as a team that likes to bring plenty of blitzes.
“I see they like to bring a lot of pressures,” Moore said. “And so we’re going to handle it like we handle every other team — just go out, execute everything, and basically that’s it.”
Whether or not Moore will remain in the starting lineup, however, isn’t set in stone. While he said Tuesday that he felt he played better in the second half against Tennessee along with the rest of the unit, Muschamp has not been shy in saying that changes might be needed.
“We got to get better at the right guard and right tackle positions. And so looking at that this week again, we’re continue to look at the right combinations for us. All positions are open to get the best five, six, seven, eight (players), whatever it takes to be successful,” he said.
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "After uneven opener, Gamecock offensive line has ‘got to get better,’ Muschamp says."
