Zeb Noland, adjusting to fame, now tasked with guiding USC toward bowl eligibility

South Carolina is simplifying.

The Gamecocks aren’t exactly dumbing things down, per se. “Adjusting” is perhaps the word.

But with Luke Doty out for the season after aggravating his previously injured left foot, Zeb Noland will be handed the reins to the USC offense once more.

Gone is the bouncing between quarterbacks or sticking Noland in for a couple games as a stop-gap. With five games to play and needing two wins to get to bowl eligibility, South Carolina and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield are shifting their focus to the former-graduate-assistant-turned-signal-caller.

“I have 100% confidence in Zeb,” Satterfield said Wednesday. “He has a great understanding of not just our offense, but the game of football, how to play quarterback. He knows what his strengths and weaknesses are. I think he knows how to utilize those and protect the team, protect the ball and allow us to be productive based on those.”

That Noland has gotten another shot isn’t exactly scripted. With Doty down for the first two games, South Carolina slotted the former Iowa State and North Dakota State quarterback into the starting spot as an in-between while Doty got healthy.

Five weeks, another injury and one game-winning drive later, Noland is again QB1 in Columbia.

Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Noland quipped he hasn’t been able to get back to all those who have reached out to him in recent days since marching USC 75 yards for the go-ahead score against Vanderbilt. At least two former teammates have heard from Noland: Allen Lazard from Iowa State and now with the Green Bay Packers and Trey Lance, the former NDSU quarterback and first round pick of the San Francicso 49ers.

Zeb-fever, too, has gripped those around town. The now famous Col. Zebuliah Noland Twitter account has taken off — it fires off notes modeled after a Civil War soldier version of South Carolina’s quarterback and is a knock-off of the original account made for former Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck. Noland even said Col. Zebuliah shirts are in the works.

“If anybody’s had an issue texting or calling, I’m sorry,” Noland said through a wry smile.

Fame aside, South Carolina now needs Noland to guide what’s been a largely ineffective offense as it hunts for a pair of wins in a final five-game stretch not lacking for stiff competition.

Satterfield said Wednesday that Noland had been repping as the No. 1 quarterback somewhere around 40% of the time when Doty was healthy. That should soon shift upward, if it hasn’t already.

Stifled by a hand injury that forced him out of a homecoming at then-No. 2 Georgia, Noland received special gloves to help keep his hand from getting infected post-injury. Satterfield added that he got back to practicing around 10 days after the initial gash.

Lacking the elite-level mobility Doty possesses, South Carolina’s offense should look somewhat different when it takes the field Saturday against No. 17 Texas A&M. The Gamecocks could employ more pistol and under-center sets given that no one is preparing for Noland to scamper 50 yards for a score in a designed quarterback run scheme.

“He can move well enough to protect himself,” Satterfield explained of the differences between Noland and Doty. “It’s gonna be less work in practice on quarterback runs and just working on finding ways to let Zeb utilize his athletic ability, whether it be throwing the ball or just extending the play.”

Whatever shape the USC offense does take, South Carolina can’t afford the four turnovers it gifted Vanderbilt in a near-disaster last week. It can’t convert on less than 50% of its third-down conversions as it has in five of seven games this season. The Gamecocks especially can’t fail to take advantage of short fields when its defense affords them.

Saturday, bragging rights are on the line. There’s the little-known Bonham Trophy that’s up for grabs. Satterfield will face off against a former co-worker in Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mike Elko — who he worked with at Richmond and UT-Chattanooga.

Finally, it’s a chance for an added layer to Noland’s evolving story.

Few expect South Carolina to pull off the upset in College Station. The Gamecocks enter the game as three-touchdown underdogs. But a strong showing Saturday ought to give South Carolina hope it can steal a couple wins down the stretch and slug its way into postseason contention on the arm of its converted coach at quarterback.

South Carolina football 2021 remaining schedule

• Saturday: at Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network)

• Nov. 6: vs. Florida

• Nov. 13: at Missouri

• Nov. 20: vs. Auburn

• Nov. 27: at Clemson