Changing Course

COLUMBIA -- After months of talking about playing close to the vest and limiting mistakes, it at least sounds as if Steve Spurrier is changing course in terms of his offensive philosophy for South Carolina.

Even in a win, a seven-point showing for the Gamecocks was enough to make him rethink some things.

"It was a little too conservative at times there," Spurrier said Tuesday in his weekly news conference. "Hopefully we can get the ball moving around a little bit better this game. ... We've got to do a better job getting some good plays out there and going from there."

South Carolina (1-0) travels to play No. 21 Georgia (0-1) on Saturday night in Athens, Ga. It's a 7 p.m. kickoff on ESPN2.

Spurrier was left frustrated after the Gamecocks gained an SEC-low 256 total yards against what he considers a vulnerable North Carolina State defense.

Coaches have told the offense to expect a bigger challenge this week against the Bulldogs.

"Going against Georgia is going to be different than going against N.C. State," right guard T.J. Johnson said. "It's going to be a step up."

Even more than the yardage, Spurrier was miffed at USC managing just a touchdown -- one that was set up by a fumble recovery deep in N.C. State territory.

"When you score seven points," Spurrier said, "you're not dead set on anything."

So what do you do to change it, without changing yourself entirely?

For one, more input from Spurrier. He said Saturday he planned to "coach his butt off" to get the offense going. So much that he worked an extra 45 minutes Saturday with the unit. And that's just what reporters have seen.

After watching Georgia's offense against Oklahoma State, Spurrier surmised he's not the only one wanting to see more productivity.

The Bulldogs picked up one more yard (257) than USC. And that was against a Cowboys defense that was ranked in the 90s last season among FBS teams.

Georgia went straight down the field for a touchdown on its first drive, but never really got anything going thereafter.

"I imagine the Georgia coach will probably tell you the same thing," Spurrier said. "He'll probably feel a little like we do right now because they had some problems last game."

Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said after the game that the offense was close to success, but that the passing game was farther away than the running offense.

As far as the Gamecocks, Spurrier says he's not talking about becoming Hawaii circa 2007 or even his Florida teams from the 1990s.

"There's a fine line there between playing wide open and smart," he said.

The Gamecocks, who ran 42 times and threw 22 times against the Wolfpack, are looking for balance. And how to take more shots at big plays in just about the same number of throws.

"Do we have confidence we can throw it 50 times? No, we can't," Spurrier said. "We're not a 50-throw team right now. But we should be able to throw 25, 30 times. We should. So we're working at it. We'll see how it goes this week."

South Carolina's longest pass play against the Wolfpack was a 33-yard throw to Moe Brown. It came on Stephen Garcia's final pass attempt. Tight end Weslye Saunders caught a 30-yarder earlier in the game.

A lot of Spurrier's decisions, he said, are personnel-driven.

He looks at the height of his receiving corps -- with 6-4 players in Jason Barnes and Alshon Jeffery and 6-5 Tori Gurley -- and sees big-play potential.

Having a possession-type receiver in Dion LeCorn would help. Spurrier said again Tuesday that LeCorn, who broke his leg in the spring game, should be available Saturday against Georgia.

He also said Jeffery, the highly considered freshman from St. Matthews, would get a longer look this week. He had one catch for 5 yards last week.

The running game of course will not be abandoned this week. Spurrier said freshman Jarvis Giles should receive more carries. He ran five times for 13 yards last week. A couple of negative-yardage plays scared the coaches from giving him more handoffs, Spurrier has said.

Spurrier said Kenny Miles was scheduled to run against N.C. State, but he only played on special teams.

"We need to get all those guys out there this week, let them play," Spurrier said. "They deserve to play. Hopefully we get more players on the field."

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