As South Carolina’s offense struggles, its players stand strongly with Bryan McClendon
As tough a year as it has been for South Carolina football, it’s been especially tough on the offense.
The Gamecocks are 118th in yards per play against FBS competition. They’ve had injuries at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end and offensive line. And when it’s all said and done, that might put second-year coordinator Bryan McClendon’s job in a tenuous spot.
If McClendon stays in Columbia beyond this season, it would show a great measure of faith from a coach in Will Muschamp, who himself is facing criticism in the midst of a 4-7 season. If a change comes, it would mark the fifth man tasked with running an offense under Muschamp.
USC offensive lineman Sadarius Hutcherson made it clear: McClendon’s guys are in his corner.
“All I got to say is, that’s my OC,” Hutcherson said. “We got his back. We’re going to do whatever it takes to win the game. We don’t really care about the outside because what goes on in here stays here with us. So we’re all brothers, we’re all a family in here. So we’re going to do whatever it takes to win.”
Hutcherson said the noise outside the program is just that, noise.
It’s almost inevitable in the modern college football world that people will call for change — jobs, coaches, coordinators, quarterbacks — as soon at things go bad. Offensive coordinators are especially targets, as play-calling is oft-considered the simplest cause for offensive good or ills.
“You see it on social media,” starting tailback Rico Dowdle said. “I mean, like I said, I try and block things like that. I’m not big into that, but I mean we got faith in him. We came out early on in year and executed. It was just all about execution we got to go out and execute. And I believe that coach BMac is gonna put us in the right situations. And then we just gotta execute.”
USC’s offense looked bad in the opener, and has mixed moments of looking solid with problems either in the running or passing game. The past month has been particularly bad, with three games averaging less than 5 yards per play.
It’s a far cry from a season ago, when even after an ugly finish the team was 22nd in the country in yards per play and scoring more than 30 points per game. That offense had the likes of Deebo Samuel and Kiel Pollard, with Shi Smith playing better and Ty’Son Williams and A.J. Turner providing a few explosive plays alongside a few current backs.
For the season, USC is averaging 24.1 points per game, 100th nationally, and fewer than 20 points per game against FBS opponents. The Gamecocks have score 15 and six points in the past two games and has to keep up with a Clemson squad averaging better than 45 points.
Veteran center Donell Stanley has seen three head coaches and three offensive coordinators in his time at USC, and he sees the conversation around McClendon as a case of “everyone has an opinion.”
“Our administration, they’re great,” Stanley said. “They’re going to do what’s right. Like I said ... right now, coach Muschamp is my head coach and BMac is my OC.”
There was also a sentiment the player appreciated the way McClendon carries himself and approaches things.
“We do have great faith in coach McClendon,” running back Tavien Feaster said. “And you know what he brings every week. He gets up, good or bad, whatever mood he’s in, he comes into the building, he handles his business and I really appreciate him for it.”
McClendon spent two years as primarily the wide receiver coach, bringing a slew of four-star receivers to Columbia and seeing them produce early. Since he was elevated to replace Kurt Roper, the team has not gotten near as much production from the past few receiving classes.
Dowdle said the game plans from coaches are sound, but it’s a matter of winning battles and getting it right on the field.
How do the Gamecocks fix those issues? The small things, the details and a little something else.
“We’ve just got to go out there and have fun,” wide receiver Chavis Dawkins said. “Everybody’s got to execute, everybody’s got to call everything right.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 1:15 PM with the headline "As South Carolina’s offense struggles, its players stand strongly with Bryan McClendon."
