Any football coach will tell you a good running game comes down to balance.

And lately for the University of Tennessee backfield, it's become a balancing act, too.

For the Vols to be successful Saturday against No. 15 South Carolina, both must be better.

Tennessee ran the ball just 19 times in a 41-14 loss to Alabama last Saturday, despite averaging 5.4 yards as a team.

Those 19 carries mark the third time in UT coach Phillip Fulmer's tenure that the Vols have recorded fewer than 20 rushing attempts in a game.

Starting tailback Arian Foster averaged 7.0 yards per carry - but got the ball 13 times, only five of which came after halftime.

Foster would have taken more carries Saturday against the Crimson Tide - but only because he'd love more carries every week.

"Everybody in the nation wants to get the ball more, it's just natural being a competitor," Foster said. "But when you sign your letter of intent to the University of Tennessee, you put your trust in the coaches that they're going to put you in a position to get wins."

Offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe said he was pleased with UT's balance until the score made it harder to run the ball.

"The score dictated that," Cutcliffe said. "At nine minutes to go, the game became a different game. That's the only time we abandoned the run."

Yet despite trailing at halftime by just seven points, the Vols ran five times in 16 third-quarter plays.

Foster carried twice on UT's opening possession of the second half, picking up 25 yards.

"When we went into the two-minute drill when the score got to be so bad, we had thrown 26 passes and run 19 times," Cutcliffe said. "That's good distribution."

Good distribution maybe, but the Vols needed points.

"What we didn't do was score, because we stopped ourselves," Cutcliffe said. "We were playing extremely well. Playing well, they don't give you any points for that. That's the bottom line. We didn't get in the end zone."

And Montario Hardesty didn't get on the field.

Carries are always tough to come by, especially with Foster and LaMarcus Coker in the backfield as well.

True freshman Lennon Creer earned playing time in practice as well, which is why he was on the field for a third-and-1 in the second quarter.

"We had put a package together to try to get Lennon more involved because he works hard," running backs coach Kurt Roper said. "When you come to practice and watch him work, he works hard. And he runs hard, runs physical. So we were trying to use that package just to get him involved."

Still, Hardesty expressed his displeasure following the game and missed practice Sunday night with a fever, although coaches were unsure of his whereabouts for a time that night.

According to UT, Hardesty had taken medication and gone to sleep after leaving a voicemail message with Roper, who did not check his messages until after practice.

Roper acknowledges some frustration on Hardesty's part, and said that Hardesty's lack of playing was not related to any other issue with the tailback.

"Is Montario really happy about not playing? No," Roper said. "I'm OK with him being unhappy. What he has to do now is go back to work, work hard - and that's his mentality. If you know Montario, he's a hard worker and a team-first guy."

Against South Carolina, the Vols would like to be a run-first team.

The Gamecocks' pass defense ranks No. 1 in the country with an average of 145.8 yards a game.

They've also picked off 11 passes this season and average two sacks a game.

"I think the run game is important every week," Foster said. "It sounds cliche, but you can't run if you can't pass. You've got to do both to be successful."

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.