South Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Shula stepped to the podium Wednesday with more questions than answers. After the Gamecocks’ embarrassing 31-7 loss to Vanderbilt, fans wanted solutions. What they got instead was Shula’s trademark vagueness.
“I think offensively, we’ve done some good things,” Shula said. “And we haven’t done some good things.”
That understatement does little to explain why South Carolina’s offense has been one of the worst in the SEC through three weeks. The numbers are grim: just five touchdowns all season, a league-worst rushing attack, and an average of 303 total yards per game — dead last in the conference. Even with arguably the most athletic quarterback in program history in LaNorris Sellers, the offense has looked pedestrian.
It’s not just the lack of production that frustrates fans, but the pattern. Three of USC’s five touchdowns this year have come on scripted drives — the opening series against Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt, and the first possession of the second half versus SC State. Once the plays move beyond the script, the offense stalls.
So why can’t the Gamecocks adjust?
“Well, I mean, those are all things that, again, you look at during the course of the game,” Shula explained. “You look at going into a game. You look at after a game. Yeah, you want every drive to go 80 yards for a touchdown. You want every play to go score a touchdown. But, you know, the teams we’re playing are pretty good.”
Head coach Shane Beamer was more direct on Tuesday when asked about urgency.
“I mean, we only get 12 of these guaranteed,” Beamer said. “So there’s not a lot of patience that you have when things aren’t going well, to just say, ‘Well, hopefully by November we kick it into gear.’”
That urgency suggests South Carolina could look different offensively this Saturday against Missouri. Sellers, who left the Vanderbilt game with a concussion, is trending toward playing, which would give the Gamecocks a near full-strength unit.
But what exactly will change? Shula is unlikely to overhaul the playbook in a week. Instead, tweaks could come in the form of a simplified scheme, more pre-snap motion, or unleashing Sellers’ legs in designed runs.
At this point, “everything is on the table” as the Gamecocks prepare for a pivotal road test. Whether it looks different won’t be clear until the first few drives in Columbia, Missouri.
