Gamecocks' offensive line coach goes on the defensive

COLUMBIA -- His players in the very crosshairs of public ridicule and criticism, South Carolina's first-year offensive line coach could not have been in a better mood Monday.

He opened and closed his seven minutes with reporters with jokes. He mixed in one or two during the Q and A, as well.

What gives?

The numbers against his guys are glaring -- rushing offense, sacks and penalties -- but Eric Wolford says to disregard the numbers.

"The only time I look at stats is when people try to attack what we're trying to do," Wolford said. "At the end of the day, I know we're better than we have been."

The line will get a chance to show it Saturday against No. 1 Florida (3:30 p.m., WCSC-TV). The Gators returned their entire two-deep on defense from last season.

This week was one of those times when Wolford felt the need to defend his linemen in relation to statistics.

Wolford tried to soften the blow of South Carolina being last in the SEC in sacks allowed by suggesting the statistic be adjusted to become sacks per pass attempt.

He's right. It helps -- a little.

If you divide the Gamecocks' SEC-high 347 pass attempts by the 27 sacks you'll see that they allow a sack every 12.9 pass attempts.

That turns out to be 10th in the league if you do the math for the other teams.

Florida has given up 22 sacks in 207 passes (9.4 pass attempts per sack). LSU has allowed 26 sacks and thrown only 228 times (league-low 8.8 throws for every sack).

And, of course, some sacks wind up being the quarterback's fault for holding the ball too long, and that muddles the math even more.

Point is, South Carolina isn't where it wants to be. But it's not overwhelmingly worse than the rest of the league.

The median throws-per-sack in the SEC is about 18.5.

"Yes, we have a bunch of sacks, and it's not good enough, but I don't see us turning guys scot-free," Wolford said. "I don't see our quarterback getting blindsided. I don't see us whiffing on people. We might be getting beat, but it's not a schematic problem."

Fifth-year senior center Lem Jeanpierre, who moved to the offensive line from the D-line two seasons ago, sees progress that isn't meted out in numbers.

"We watch tape and you see how things have changed this way or that way when things break down," Jeanpierre said. "What I see a lot more of is aggressiveness. You see guys hitting people and playing with more aggression."

Additionally, Wolford pointed out that even though the Gamecocks are again last in rushing offense (121.6 yards a game), South Carolina has two regular runners averaging more than 5 yards a carry.

"When's the last time that happened around here?" Wolford said.

Kenny Miles has gained 488 yards on 94 carries (5.2 yards per carry). Jarvis Giles has rushed 52 times for 277 yards (5.3).

Devil's advocacy would counter with this, though. Giles hasn't been used a whole lot, especially in the SEC season.

He has only 25 carries for 77 yards in seven SEC games. That's a more modest 3.1 yards a carry, in a very limited number of handoffs.

Meanwhile, Miles has 79 carries for 372 yards in SEC games. That's 4.7 yards a carry.

"That's decent, but it's nowhere near where we want it to be," said Wolford, whose title also includes run game coordinator. "That's decent, and that's progress."

Wolford will go with close to the same lineup as last week at Arkansas.

Walk-on Garrett Chisolm, from West Ashley, will start at left guard. Jeanpierre, a Florida native, will start at center. Redshirt freshman T.J. Johnson will start at right guard. Hutch Eckerson will start at right tackle.

Either North Charleston's Jarriel King or Kyle Nunn will start at left tackle, but it'll likely be King.

"I'm not looking back too much or regretting it," King said of the first 10 games. "We've still got two or three games left. We've got to put everything we've got together."

Extra points

DE Cliff Matthews (shoulder) is likely out for Saturday's game. DE ... LB Eric Norwood was named one of eight semifinalists for the Lott Trophy, along with the likes of Tennessee's Eric Berry, Nebraska's Ndaumkong Suh and TCU's Jerry Hughes.

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com and check out the South Carolina blog at www.postandcourier.com/blogs/gamecocks.