By By David Cloninger

Copyright postandcourier

How much is the offense struggling and how much is it Bennett? Answers were non-conclusive.

“I just told our players after practice, ‘The people that are going to be out there on Saturdays are the ones that give us the best chance to win.’ If you’re from South Carolina or from North Carolina, scholarship, walk-on, senior, freshman, transfer portal, fresh out of high school, the guys that give us the best chance to win out there are the ones who are going to be out there,’” Beamer said. “And we got a lot of confidence and high expectations for (Jared Brown), for Mazeo, for all those receivers. And there’s only one ball to go around.”

There’s also only one line, which continued to allow free rushers and not provide protection or open holes for runners much of the Vanderbilt game. Runners can’t get yards, quarterbacks’ timing with receivers is off, the entire house of cards comes down.

“The difference is little. The things that aren’t going the way we want them to go, it’s just minor things that are very easily fixable,” quarterback Luke Doty said. “Technique, having our eyes in the right spot, just doing what we’re coached to do.”

The overall offensive struggles have sapped everyone’s production so it’s not a case of intentionally ignoring Bennett or anyone else. Coordinator Mike Shula spoke with the tone of one who knows it will click someday, but the patience in waiting for it can be difficult.

“When things are going well, we feel like we’re all doing a good job. If they’re not going well, we feel like we’ve all got to do a better job,” he said. “We need to lean on each other and work harder. And that’s what our guys do.”

So Bennett and everybody else just has to wait for it to pay off as they keep working hard to make it.

“I’ve told our guys all along … there may be a game where Mazeo catches 10 balls, and there may be a game where Mazeo doesn’t catch any. There may be a game where Nyck Harbor catches five, and maybe the next game he catches 15 or Jordan Dingle or Brady Hunt,” Beamer said. “We got to stay on the field offensively on third down, and defense gets off on third down. And then when you do that and you’re able to sustain drives, that presents more opportunities for everyone.”