The Kentucky Wildcats are ranked in the top 25 and they head to South Carolina as a road underdog against a team that is reeling. Head coach Shane Beamer is on a scorching hot seat, and Beamer has really flipped this rivalry as the Gamecocks are currently on a four game winning streak. It is year three of quarterback LaNorris Sellers, and despite his immense talent, it has not looked great under new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles. Let's take a look at the South Carolina offense and how Jay Bateman can slow this unit down on the road.
South Carolina has raised the floor of their offense this season under Kendal Briles. The run game has improved from last season, and the offensive line is not a complete liability. However, this scheme change
has not been kind to the quarterback. LaNorris Sellers is completing just 62% of his passes on the season and throwing a career-low 7.4 yards per pass attempt. Sellers has thrown six touchdown passes in four games and he has four interceptions through the first month of the season.
We have seen Sellers play at a high level, but it has been awhile since that has been the case. Sellers has always had the talent but has been extremely inconsistent over his career. The biggest weakness of the South Carolina offense is the wide receivers, they have been waiting for Nyck Harbor to breakout and it seems unlikely to happen as Harbor is a senior. This team lacks difference makers who can create separation, which is why their running back Matt Fuller leads the team with 13 receptions on the season.
Speaking of Matt Fuller, he has been the bright spot of the South Carolina offense. Fuller ranks fourth in the SEC with 384 rushing yards on the year and an average of 94 rushing yards per game. Fuller is averaging north of six yards per carry and has four touchdowns on the season. He is large part why the Gamecocks have any hope offensively, and is also the main reason they have found some success on early downs this season.
South Carolina ranked 44th in the country on early downs EPA/play on offense this season. However, this has been a strength of Kentucky's defense, as the Wildcats rank 16th in the country defensive on early down EPA/play. Kentucky has been good at getting offenses to third downs, but they have struggled to get opponents off the field. The Wildcats have a great chance to flip that this weekend, as South Carolina has converted just nine of 32 third downs over the last two weeks against Alabama and Mississippi State, so they are just converting 28% on third downs against SEC teams.
This is the key, Kentucky needs to continue their early down success but actually get off the field on third down. Kentucky likes to play man coverage with pressure in these scenarios, and South Carolina does not have the weapons to exploit that man coverage. Kentucky has already faced two elite wide receivers in Alabama's Ryan Coleman-Williams and Texas A&M's Mario Craver; the Gamecocks do not have a wide receiver near that talent level on the roster. Kentucky has to dominate the line of scrimmage once again for this to play out.
South Carolina has allowed 28 pressures on the season, which ranks ninth in the SEC. Kentucky has a deep defensive line rotation that can get after the quarterback. You saw Keelon Russell and Marcel Reed both rattled when facing the Wildcats defense, and they need to do the same to Sellers. Kentucky has been opportunistic at creating havoc plays and turnovers this season.
Kentucky has the advantage at the line of scrimmage in this matchup. They have to get South Carolina to third and long, the Wildcats defense ranks 15th in the FBS in EPA/dropback allowed. This should be a similar gameplan to what we saw in Kentucky's first road trip of the season. Kentucky has to contain Sellers and force him to beat them with his arm on Saturday, all they have to do is replicate what they did against Texas A&M.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: South Carolina offense preview: Kentucky needs to win third down
