South Carolina hit a low point Saturday night, and one of the so-called offseason solutions for the program in its seemingly weekly dance with the .500 mark has reached a crossroads.

The coaching staff has hit the reset button at quarterback following another dismal performance from starter Collin Hill, who had the double whammy break of dealing with overthrows and dropped passes. The drubbing at the hands of Texas A&M was worse than the previous disappointing effort at LSU, but this time Hill deserved more of the blame.

A week after a bye week where rumors swirled about the coaching staff benching Hill, they appear to have done it this week. Although, Hill could seemingly win the job again during mid-week practices.

Quarterback competition will go through the entire week, Will Muschamp admitted that by Sunday night on a media teleconference, and there was no clear-cut starter.

“All three of those guys are going to have an opportunity to play this weekend,” Muschamp said of Hill, Ryan Hilinski and Luke Doty, per SportsTalkSC. “Whoever practices the best, is the most productive person, is going to help us win football games will have that opportunity.”

South Carolina faces an Ole Miss defense that is among the worst in the country. Muschamp wasn’t interested in the Rebels’ issues.

Muschamp said the focus is on the Gamecocks and fixing their mistakes.

“We need to do something to be more productive than we were (Saturday),” Muschamp said.

While Doty and Hilinski each played Saturday, Doty only attempted 1 pass. Hilinski finished 4-for-6 for 34 yards and was the quarterback during the field goal drive, although the game was completely out of hand by then.

Hill has started all 6 games this season, but against the Aggies, he completed just 8-of-21 21 passes for 66 yards. He had 2 interceptions, bumping his season total to 5.

In the immediate postgame, Muschamp said QB issues were a combination of not making catches and Hill missing throws.

“If we make some catches early in the game, it’s a different complexion of the game,” Muschamp said. “We had some huge ones down the field we have to catch. We missed a screen that was open and had blocked well. He needs to be more accurate with the football.”

On the one hand, there was no reason for the Aggies to have their starting defense on the field playing at full speed against Hilinski. On the other hand, Hilinski twice converted 4th-down plays on a 13-play scoring drive that resulted in a field goal where he started 3-for-3 passing.

“We need a spark and that position is just so critical,” Muschamp said. “We need a spark. We need to change some things up and look at what we’re carrying into each game and those are the things. We’ve got to find a spark somewhere and that’s a position we certainly can change some things up and provide a spark for our team.”

Hilinski at times is a microcosm of the South Carolina program. He has shown promise and ability to live up to his recruiting hype. On the other hand, he has struggled in areas where it seemed he was primed to make the next step. After all, he didn’t win the competition in the summer, although Hill obviously had an advantage with the playbook.

Muschamp said offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has challenged Hilinski with some areas to improve his fundamentals. Hilinski has accepted that Bobo puts a lot on the quarterback at the line of scrimmage, and being able to change things like running plays and protections.

“I think that he’s grown in all those areas,” Muschamp said.

The fan base has rallied around Hilinski, and even figuring in that the most popular player of any team’s struggling offense is the backup quarterback, this may well be Hilinski’s time. Against a shoddy Ole Miss defense, this could be an ideal time to give him the keys again. He has experience with playing in the SEC, he’s very talented and he’s had the time to learn the new offense under Bobo.