The Daily Gamecock

Dowdle thrives in limited role against Tennessee

The moment redshirt junior Ty’son Williams' name graced the Williams-Brice Stadium scoreboard on Oct. 27 as part of the starting lineup, it was apparent head football coach Will Muschamp had decided to switch things up offensively. 

Junior running back Rico Dowdle had been starting for the Gamecocks all season long, but the coaches thought that Williams had earned the right to start over Dowdle. During his post-game press conference, Coach Muschamp praised Williams for his performance in practice, which led him to playing in the win against Tennessee.  

“So much for us goes into how you practice," said Muschamp. "You're normally gonna play like you practice.” 

Even though Dowdle did not get as many snaps against the Volunteers on Saturday, Muschamp still did not want to take anything away from Dowdle's performance, even if he had to come off the bench. The decision to start Williams was solely based on both of the running backs' performances in practices leading up to the Tennessee game. 

"That's not a knock on Rico [Dowdle] at all. He works hard," said Muschamp. 

After the game, Dowdle understood the decision to start Williams and that all of the running backs are capable of producing big plays, but the coaches are going to put in the player that puts the team in the best position to win. 

"I didn't feel it as an insult at all ... All of us as running backs, we have the ability to start," Rico said after the game. "Coaches felt like he needed to start this week ... coach went with that choice and that's his decision, but I thought we did great." 

Junior quarterback Jake Bentley agreed with Dowdle and Muschamp that even though Dowdle didn't start, it is no indication that he is incapable of making plays at crucial moments in the game. 

"[Dowdle and Williams] are best friends ... it really doesn't matter who starts," said Bentley. "Rico was running like how I know he can run." 

While Williams may have had a better week of practice than Dowdle, that was not the case come game time. Dowdle racked up 140 yards on 14 carries including a touchdown as opposed to Williams who only amassed 38 rushing yards on his 13 attempts as well as a one yard touchdown. 

Dowdle said postgame that he felt as though practicing in the way that they do during the week helped the run game have the best performance of the season by being able to break tackles from the Tennessee defense. 

"Running your feet through contact," said Dowdle. "It's been a big thing all year ... getting tackled by one guy is something that shouldn't happen to a running back ... we wrote it on the board before the game break tackles and that's what we needed to do." 

Muschamp echoed praise for the running backs as well as for being able to break tackles throughout the game, which is something that the running backs have struggled with in the past. 

"I thought we ran the ball really effectively," said Muschamp after the game. "I thought for the first time in a league game you saw our backs making guys miss."  

Dowdle showed his mental toughness by being able to come out and have a great bounce-back performance and lead the Gamecock offense to a decisive victory over SEC East rival Tennessee, despite not having his usual place in the starting lineup. 

However, Dowdle and the rest of the Gamecocks still have at least four more games to play, including road games at Ole Miss, Florida and Clemson. 

Dowdle knows not to become complacent even after a win against a SEC East rival and that keeping the same mindset every week is important. 

“We gotta come out and do it again the next week," said Dowdle. "We gotta come out with the same mindset next week, and just get the job done again." 


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