South Carolina's offensive line starting to see things come together after 'a great played game'
South Carolina showed flashes of being a great offense. But even when it looked like they were on the right track, the Gamecocks still weren't able to put all the pieces together.
One of the only things holding them back was the offense line. Even in a season where everyone has stayed mostly healthy, the unit has struggled as much as it did last year when it gave up 41 sacks.
Heading into Texas A&M week, head coach Shane Beamer challenged his team to be more physical, which he believed would be a necessity to win the game. This would especially be true in the trenches, a tall order for an offensive line going up against a solid defensive front.
But when no one expected them to do much, they found a way to play their best as a group. The starting five on the line won the battle at the line of scrimmage convincingly, not allowing a single sack for the first time all season. This allowed for the offense to operate efficiently and go for more than 500 yards in a 44-20 win last Saturday.
There wasn't some hidden secret as to what changed for the O-line. From starting right tackle Cason Henry's standpoint, South Carolina was rolling and did a good job of blowing the Aggies off the line as the game wore on.
"One thing that our coach Lonnie (Teasley) preached on was the work is the magic. So, I think we really put it together this week," Henry said. "I think we're firing on all cylinders as an offensive line. We really played together. A lot of kudos to LaNorris (Sellers) for being as elusive as he is. And the offense meshed together really well. I think a great week of practice translated to a great played game."
Just because the line didn't give up a sack doesn't mean it was a flawless performance, though. The Gamecocks allowed nine quarterback hurries, one of which came from running back Rocket Sanders. But it didn't cause a ton of issues for Sellers, who escaped pressure multiple times and ran for 106 yards with one touchdown.
Sellers had a great game, even throwing for 244 passing yards and two touchdowns without a turnover. But it was mainly what he did in the ground game that caught everyone's attention, including Henry's.
"He is a hell of a player, excuse my language. All respect to him. I love my quarterback and I'm going to protect him with my life. He's a great player. I just said after the game I was like, 'Thanks, man, cause we wouldn't have had zero sacks if you hadn't been Superman out there and eluded three or four guys on one play,'" Henry said.
"I saw somewhere he had like an 80 percent miss rate on his tackles — that's elite. It was really impressive to me just watching him out there. I'd be blocking my guy and he'd be making three or four people miss, and I was like, 'This guy's crazy.' But it's definitely a joy to block for him."
Otherwise, it was South Carolina's best game from an O-line standpoint. This was the type of outing they so desperately needed to earn some much-needed confidence.
"I think confidence is something you build over the weeks and it's not something you really start with. We had new guys come in at the beginning of the year and we had to learn how to play together," Henry said. "And I think that's really served us well playing a bunch of really, really good teams in the front half. And obviously, we've got some good teams in the back half, too. But now we know how to play together. We know how each other plays. And we're able to mesh together better as an offensive line and we get better week to week."
One good game isn't going to fix everything, though. While not all sacks are entirely on the O-line, South Carolina has given up 32 sacks as a team this year. The run game has been hit or miss, which goes back to if holes were created or not. They were on Saturday with Sellers and Sanders combining for 250 yards on the ground.
They'll have a chance to continue their improved play with four games to go. Though, it's going to be a challenge with a trip to Nashville to take on a much-improved Vanderbilt team on Saturday (4:15 p.m., SECN). The key will be to bring the same mentality as before, Henry said. More so than that, they need to show they can win another big game.
"It doesn't matter what we did last week if we don't go out and play well and place in strain and win a ballgame this week. It doesn't matter, like no one cares," offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said. "And that's the intensity that everyone has to take in this whole game. But to the to their credit, they played really well last week. But now we're on to the next one and the next one this is the biggest one of the season."
