Through two games, South Carolina is about 43/57 in favor of the passing game. I look for Saturday night to be closer to 55/45 in the first half favoring the running game and then maybe evening out closer to 50/50 by the end of the game. The last thing Spurrier wants is third and long situations where Leonard Floyd and Jordan Jenkins can pin their ears back and go.
Looking at the Clemson film surely gave the Gamecock offensive coaches enough to go on as the Tigers were running very well up the middle for the entire first half. That also happens to be something South Carolina does well:
If you saw SEC Now last night on the Network then you will recall Greg McElroy pointing out that the offensive line, in particular the center who goes off the wrong foot, blocked poorly on that play. And yet Davis makes the read as he approaches the line of scrimmage and cuts back off tackle. They'll have this corrected for Saturday knowing they're going up against Georgia's front seven.
The Gamecocks don't want to rely on Dylan Thompson to move the chains. Their gameplan will be to run it right at the Dawgs' front and then take their shots when ready.
So what will Pruitt do to stop them? Probably a lot of what we saw him do in the second half of the Clemson game - pressure up the middle to force runs outside the tackle box. He'll want a lot of hats on the ball whenever Davis carries it.
Although #28 is one of the better tailbacks we'll see all season, it's as yet unclear if he can carry the offense on his legs.
