The most difficult part of judging a play-caller in football is the gap between process and outcome.
Play-calling is about process and approach, and while it’s linked to outcome, execution and talent carry a heavy weight. This is to say, as South Carolina’s offense was struggling early in an eventual Outback Bowl win against Michigan, interim offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon wasn’t necessarily calling plays poorly.
He said he didn’t simply empty the playbook that day, and now that he’s been promoted to run the offense full-time, it’s worth looking back at some of the tweaks and flourishes he deployed both early on and during the comeback.