PFF Trends Against Arkansas
South Carolina's loss against Arkansas shed light on their current situation. While they aren't a legitimate threat to win an SEC crown, they can play against any team in the conference.
Part of their performance can be attributed to team culture. The Gamecocks fought until the final whistle, making plays on the ball and executing a tempo passing game. Head coach Shane Beamer has this group prepared to compete with anyone, a critical step in their program development.
PFF released their charting grades for the game; while there were some disappointing stats, several numbers jumped off the page. These trends may continue or could be flashes in the pan. Nonetheless, they are worth paying attention to moving forward.
Offensive Line Improvements
To say the offensive line's performance in week one was disappointing would be an understatement. Quarterback Spencer Rattler was under duress all night, as he had just 2.9 seconds to throw on average.
They had one starter grade as above average in left tackle Jaylen Nichols. Nichols excelled in pass protection, but even he had lapses when run blocking. Most of South Carolina's line graded poorly, allowing Georgia State to stay competitive.
Week two was an entirely different story. Several players took significant leaps forward, especially in pass protection. Rattler had an average of 3.2 seconds to throw, an impressive uptick with just a one-week difference. The difference in PFF grading was astounding, contributing to a cleaner offensive performance.
Jaylen Nichols, LT: -31.6 overall, -42.1 pass blocking, -12.9 run blocking
Vershon Lee, LG: +12.1 overall, +23.0 pass blocking, +11.3 run blocking
Eric Douglas, C: +23.2 overall, +6.8 pass blocking, +25.5 run blocking
Jovaughn Gwyn, RG: +8.8 overall, +31.2 pass blocking, +2.1 run blocking
Dylan Wonnum, RT: +8.1 overall, +18.9 pass blocking, +2.7 run blocking
They have a tall task ahead of them, as they will take on the national champion Georgia Bulldogs next weekend. Georgia boasts one of the country's most talented, well-coached front sevens, meaning South Carolina needs to stack positive weeks to keep Rattler clean.
Tackling Issues
Arkansas's power-run approach caused South Carolina problems all day. The Gamecocks didn't help themselves, as they missed twenty-one tackles on the afternoon.
Granted, the Razorbacks varied their approach and are incredibly shifty in the open field. Quarterback KJ Jefferson is built like an ox, typically requiring two defenders before he goes down.
However, South Carolina had multiple opportunities to halt drives on second and third down but missed an open-field tackle. According to PFF, five Gamecock defenders missed multiple tackles, with two players missing three tackles.
This issue can be detrimental to a team's seasons; wrapping up is entirely mental, and over time enough poor performances can affect a defense's morale. They did play hard on Saturday, which is an encouraging sign, but this problem needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Spencer Rattler Struggles
Rattler's stat line looks relatively clean at face value. He threw for 376 yards and one touchdown against one interception. However, the advanced stats tell a different story.
PFF graded five Rattler throws as "turnover-worthy," making 8.8% of his passes interceptable. Rattler was sacked five times and scrambled from the pocket six times.
He had zero big-time throws, which PFF defines as a pass that "is on the highest end of both difficulty and value." That is slightly less concerning as Rattler pushed the ball downfield quite often, averaging 9.5 yards of depth per target.
The issue is that Rattler isn't trusting his pockets. We already established the offensive line held up well in pass protection, meaning he had time to work through his progressions. Rattler missed several downfield throws because he didn't have his footing, leaving multiple touchdowns on the board.
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