Wonder What Brittany Was Doing Last Night?

In a day where Saban got out coached, Oklahoma State needed all 60 minutes to beat Kansas State, I screwed up remembering one of the most iconic plays of the last ten years, UCLA took control of the Pac-12 South, and Mark Richt called a timeout right before the half to score a sixth touchdown of the quarter, there was nothing like than seeing South Carolina's pact with the Devil expire.

Yeah, they've played good defense, but when teams just give you defensive and special teams points on a platter, that isn't hard.  It also isn't hard to lose when that is a feature of your scoring plan.

Now, it is up to the Dawgs to TCB.
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Wooooooo, Pig! Soooooie!

Just to get your fired up for tonight.

TD

Garcia Kicked off South Carolina's Team

Really.  They mean it this time.

#genesmithassurances

South Carolina: 3 Questions

What I am thinking headed down the Atlanta Highway:

1. Can we unbog the nohuddlehuddle offense?  For those that complain that the no huddle doesn't give the defense time to recover, I say it wasn't like we were really pushing the tempo.  Our time of possession wasn't appreciably different than when we ran the pro set.  If the no huddle is to work, at least the way Bobo envisions it, that has to change. Give Murray some options. Or even more provocatively, call a couple of plays from the same set/personnel groupings and see what magic will happen.
2. Can the offensive get more dynamic?  We might have gone to the shotgun spread, but we are running the same basic plays.  The advantage in giving up the FB is creating mismatches due to the number of potential receivers on any play. We didn't use that advantage, at all, against Boise.  Either we have to do that or find a way to get the FB involved again, if for no other reason than blocking.
3. Can the defense effectively pressure whichever SC QB is in to make them rely on Lattimore? Based on what we saw against Boise, I feel like our rushing D is much, much better than it was last year.  How much of that is gone with Ogletree gone, I don't know.  We held a team that rushed for 200+ypg last season with the same personnel to 129 yards.  Martin averaged 6.3ypc last year and only 2.4 in the Dome.  I didn't think I'd be typing this three weeks ago, but if we can force them to beat us with the run, I like our chances.* 

I honestly think playing competently, making plays when they present themselves, keeping Murray upright, and bringing pressure gives us a legit chance to win. Play like we just got into town and are wowed by pretty jerseys, then it could be ugly early.

TD

*I reserve the right to change that answer on Sunday.  That is how crazy I think that statement is.  Still, I keep thinking about the Boise game and watching SC try to run against ECU and this is what I come up with.

South Carolina Preview

I guess I have to stop ignoring South Carolina and actually look at the game.  Earlier in the week, I alluded to the not awesome performance the Cocks had in Charlotte.  Yes, they scored a bunch of points, but they got no pressure on East Carolina's QB, allowed a ton of points and turned the ball over several times.  They needed three Gifts from God to win.

The OBC just flinched.

Suffice it to say, Spurrier's post game presser wasn't as pleasant as some coaches'.  I can say without hesitation that if the Georgia team that played in the Dome shows up and the South Carolina team that played in Charlotte shows up, Georgia wins. That is how big the gap is between Boise and East Carolina.  But.  There is always a but.  This is South Carolina.  It never seems to matter how 'good' one team is, this game is always close.  Add in Spurrier's nearly 50 year hate affair with the Dawgs and you have a tougher opponent than ECU faced. 

So, what will we see?  Putting on my best homer hat, I can see the D corralling Lattimore, the same way we did Boise State's Martin.  Well, not the same, but much better than we did last year (37/182/2TDs).  My biggest concern with Lattimore isn't his rushing, it is his 3 catches last week out of the backfield.  I'll get to Jeffrey in a minute, but if we don't figure a way to stop that underneath pass stuff, Lattimore will eat our lunch.  In the speed department, Lattimore is a Lotus Elise to the Boise State TEs' rickshaw.

So, Jeffrey.  He'll get his.  Yes, he is much more of a receiver than he was last year.  We have to be concerned about Spurrier using him as a decoy, since he caught half of the Gamecocks passes last week and was the target on over half of them.  I look for them to use some trickeration to get Jeffrey looks, as well.

I just hope they don't run too many QB keepers, as Garcia was very effective running last week.  Strangely, they didn't pull that in obvious situations (2nd and long, for example).  That concerns me, considering our continuing propensity for not covering the middle on pass plays.  Oh, SC didn't do that great on pass protection either. Gave up a sack and five QB hurries on a 10 for 25 performance. 

On defense, they allowed two receivers to catch more than 10 balls each (ECU's Davis had 37 completions).  We are going with the no huddle.  Hopefully, we can continue to grow into the scheme and work the WRs and TEs long and short, peppered with smart running plays.  It was good to see Coach Richt admit the line isn't where he thought they were.  Now, find ways to mitigate that and go with it.

So how do we win?  Show competence at catching the ball.  Find opportunities for Crowell to get the ball in space.  Orson on quick outs. Mitchell long. Orson long. Involve the FBs more in blocking.  Blitz from the second we step on the field.  Swarm defensively like we did early in the Dome.  And throw Orson the ball.

By the way, I don't look for this to be like last year's bore fest.  There will be points scored.  If we play D like we did early against Boise, we win. If not, well, it is likely a shootout or worse.

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Garcia Through the Years

The State.com did a poll on the walking sex that is Stephen Garcia.  You can vote here for your favorite Garcia. 

I have put together a handy voting guide.  All pictures are from the State.com website.  I assume they took them from the upcoming Playgirl pictorial "The Men of Northern Hillsborough".

Year: Actor to portray him	Motto	Drink of Choice	Stats
2007: Played by Billy Ray Cyrus	Where are all the high school chicks?	Mickeys	Redshirt, but did hook up with a several cougars at Gervais & Vine.
2008: Played by Vincent D'Onofrio, circa 1988	Love is like an earthquake, you just ride up and down, hanging on for dear life.  In the morning, you call a cab.	Black Hole shots, Grolsch chaser	Was a hit with art students and punk girls. Oh, and definitely the townies. Decent season on the field.
2009: Played by Tom Welling	Like, Cold Play just moves me.	Mojitos, Cutty and water	Really came into his own on the field (239/432, 2862 yds).  Really grew into the big man on campus, so to speak, with the sorority crowd.
2010: Played by Scott Stapp post Creed	Hos before Bros.	Natty Lite, PBR chaser	Awesome season, culminating with a five star night in Atlanta, yah know what I mean boyz.
2011: Played by Ashton Kutcher	Yes, that is a foot...ball in my pants.	Jack Daniels, neat.	Set a new record for suspensions.  Living much cleaner, meaning he always at least gets a name and number first.

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(h/t @EDSBS)

South Carolina's Season

I don't know about you, but I completely missed the Gamecocks being down by 17-0 early to East Carolina.  I know they ended up winning fairly big, but they did allow 37 points to the Pirates. Arrrgh!

What went well for South Carolina?  Well, they came back, for one.  For two, they generated turnovers that turned into TDs.  Three of them in the first five minutes of the second half that turned a 10 point ECU led into an 11 point deficit that only got wider.  Lattimore, Shaw and Garcia all ran the ball well.  Jeffrey had 92 of South Carolina's 131 receiving yards.  Lattimore had 33 more.

What didn't go well? They had four fumbles.  The passing game is lost outside of Jeffrey and Lattimore's receiving.  The passing game didn't stretch the field.  They had no sacks against a team that threw the ball 56 times.  They only hurried the QB 5 times.

A couple of thoughts I'll expand on later:

• If...IF we find a way to stop the underneath pass play, we'll be good.
• If we turn the ball over, we are toast.
• The passing D for Usc isn't spectacular.  Pressure isn't their thing.  There is room to exploit that.  Shotgun formation draw plays is not what I have in mind when I type that.

Any things about their game stand out that I missed?

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Spurrier to Start Shaw

What does that dude have up his sleve?  Connor Shaw will start over Garcia. Shaw will play the first quarter, with Garcia coming in for the second quarter.  I smell a gin and juice party coming on this weekend for Garcia.

Wow.

Must Win?

Just thinking about the Boise State game vs. South Carolina game: Which is more important?

I'd say South Carolina. I'd also say Boise State is a more dangerous opponent than South Carolina.  What if we lose a close game (say, like what VaTech did with a last second thing) to Boise State, then whip South Carolina?  What if we get blown out by Boise, then whip South Carolina?  What if the reverse happens?

I know how I'd feel about each of those, but how would that go down with the fan base?

TD

The SEC East

Last month, PWD laid out his case for how the SEC East might be won.  In essence, you don't have to be the fastest person in your group to survive a bear attack, you just have to not be the slowest.  Better known as the answer to the rhetorical: "How in the hell did South Carolina win the SEC East?". 

I prefer to look at it like a big election shocker.  Last year, the typical candidates were doing their own thing. Not paying attention to the little things that had gotten them to their elected positions in the first place. A lightly funded, sprightly upstart comes along and bam!  Upheaval.  Despite finishing in the bottom half of the conference in offense and defense, they win the East.

What happens now?  Well, it looks like Georgia and Florida have taken steps to change. I've been watching Florida with my typical condescension and disdain, but Weis is a much better Offensive Coordinator for their current offensive talent than whatever puppet St. Urban had there.  Their defense will probably take a step back due to the number of guys that are gone, but it was pretty solid, so it'll probably still be above average. 

Georgia.  Well, Georgia.  Georgia played one of the least inspired games offensively of the year against South Carolina.  In my opinion, we panicked after finding out we wouldn't have AJ and didn't change the game plan to reflect that.  Georgia's D held South Carolina to their lowest point total of the season.  I'm trending bullish on Georgia's offense and am very confident in the ability of the defense to improve in the key places it needs to, namely big pass play and run shut down.  Can we play with fire and determination?  Remains to be seen.

At this point, the polls are open and turnout can change things.  South Carolina needs a career year from Garcia (and him not getting into any public trouble).  They need Jeffrey to replicate his last season and to stay healthy.  They need the offensive line to be as good as they were to make room for Lattimore and give time to Garcia to find Jeffrey (insert your own joke here).  Their defense has some work to do.  Georgia is young at WR and RB, so how much will having the best TE in the nation mean?  On defense, there are question marks, but 3-4 2.0 will yield dividends.  Florida changed coaches, and schemes.  Will they have enough talent to overcome the change?

I say all of this to say the East is a toss up.  By my reckoning, it might not be decided until Florida goes to Columbia in November. I'm not ready to say Georgia will win the East.  I am certainly not ready to make the forgone conclusion they won't. 

TD
 

Satire? NY Post Picks Gamecocks to Win it All

The NY Post is well know for their news, sports, politics and financial news coverage.  And their tabloid style and approach.

Either this is the most fascinating and subtle piece of humor I have ever seen or...yeah, it must be that.  His entire analysis of why South Carolina will win the National Championship is Steve Spurrier is the coach and he now has exactly the same athletes he had last year. Oh, and South Carolina is the 11th most profitable football program in the country.  Seriously. 

By the way, 11th in the country puts them 4th in the division and 7th in the conference.

TD

(h/t Matt Hinton @DrSaturday)

Playing the Role of Terrence Cody will be Alshon Jeffrey

I know a fat man when I see one.  I see 1.

It is a three weeks until we take on South Carolina in Athens, so a lot can change, but if Jeffrey is playing up around my weight, I don't care how good his hands are, we can send an end out to cover him.  Unless this is some weird Spurrieresque plan that involves moving Jeffrey to Hback/Full Back to get Garcia another option to dump the ball off to so his passing stats stay up, thereby keeping him off the sauce.

He looks like Jamarcus Russell right before Al Davis mumbled incoherently at him about aliens and stuff.

TD

Yeah, Right

If Stephen Garcia really contemplated transferring after his 5th suspension, I believe that would qualify him for the Mike Price Career Mismanagement Award.  I mean, where else is he going to have a head coach that is as tolerant as Spurrier and a position coach that understands how hard it is to be brotastic in Columbia?

Honestly, he was forced to miss a week of spring workouts.  That is like being sent home from work for not coming to work.  Transfer to where?  As far as I know, Houston Nutt is done taking fliers on QBs transfering in for their last year.

Garcia Reinstated

With the news that Stephen Garcia has been given his fifth last chance fully reinstated, does anyone in the forest care anymore?

More importantly, what time does the partay at Magnus' house start?

TD

Lord, please let us beat South Carolina

I don't actively engage in smack talk until I have had a couple of drinks.  For one, I am the type that doesn't get rolling unless I've had my mind freed from things like manners and convention. I think of the funny one liners, but my self-muzzle won't let me say them.  For two, I'm a funny dude when I've had a drink or two. Just ask my ex-wife.

Another thing about smack talk, it is hard to feel be entitled to the smack talk perch after a 6-7 season.  Call me old school, but by my view, smack talk by those that aren't winning is usually only seen from NBA and Tech fans. As a rule, I keep a low profile unless Georgia is winning, or I've had a few drinks. 

However, I am about to break my rule, since I read the most awesomely hyperbolicly awesome thing ever about South Carolina's upcoming football season (h/t Blutarski). Apparently, back to back beatdowns in the Georgia Dome does nothing to curb the enthusiasm of the Gamecock faithful. South Carolina talks about winning four championships a season: the state championship (against Clemson), the SEC East, the SEC, and the National Championship.  For those keeping score at home, they are 39 of 108 in the state championship, 1 for 18 at SEC East titles and 0 for everything else at the other two.  In fact, in South Carolina's two 'championship' seasons, the 1969 ACC title year and 2010, they were a three loss team headed into the post season. They are 0-3 in the post season in those 'championship' years.

There is no doubt South Carolina is a favorite to win the SEC East, but if it does, it'll be as much because of the suckitude of the rest of the division as it will be due to the 'Cocks having the "scariest offense in the nation."

Dude. Really?

When South Carolina accomplishes more than beating Georgia and Florida in the same season, then it might be time to crow.  Until then, winning the state championship and SEC East might make you hungry, but it won't make you accustomed to championships.  Perhaps Gamecock fans should hope the standard being raised is winning a game, any game, in Atlanta before dreaming of more.

TD

Georgia Kickoff Times Announced

The SEC has set the kickoff times for a few TV games.  Dates that will impact Georgia:

Boise State - 8pm at the Georgia Dome on ESPN

South Carolina - 4:30pm in Athens on ESPN

Florida - 3:30pm in Jacksonville on CBS

Another interesting tidbit is CBS's doubleheader days: October 1st for the 3:30/8pm doubleheader and November 12th for the noon/3:30 doubleheader.  I'll look more deeply at the schedule, but the odds of Georgia getting in on the October 1st date are low.  We take on Mississippi State in Athens and there are a ton of intriguing match-ups on that date ('Bama at Florida, Texas A&M vs. Arkansas at Jerry Jones' football palace, South Carolina at Auburn, Buffalo at Tennessee). I look for us to be in the 3:30 game against Auburn on November 12, unless we are both terrible.

A couple of quick thoughts about the schedule so far.  The Boise State kickoff time isn't a revelation.  That game has been etched in stone as a 7:30-8pm kickoff since Truett Cathy invented the chicken sandwich.  Likewise, the 3:30 kickoff for Georgia-Florida isn't that surprising either, since we've kicked off around then every year since the '02 night game, as best as I can remember.

The 4:30 kickoff against South Carolina, however, gives an early test of the new tailgating rules.  I was scared this game, following what we saw last season, was going to be a 1pm (or 12:21) kickoff.  Glad we are getting back to some decent tailgating time. 

Now that the SEC has started scheduling games, I'll try to breakdown the season and project some start times in the next week.  If the conference office holds to their past pattern, they won't do too much more with the TV schedule until mid-July.

TD

Random Thoughts from SC

I've finally passed my cooling off period, and I can post this without being a full bore rant.

Preseason, I thought this team would go 9-3 or 10-2. I also felt that the South Carolina game was one of the biggest hurdles on the schedule due to timing, and I still feel like it's a 9 or 10 win team.

What bothers me isn't the loss. Realistically, the quality of the tackling doesn't bother me that much either because I didn't think that would be totally fixed yet anyway. What bothers me is the cause of the loss. We didn't drop this one because a freshman QB nutted up in a hostile place.

We lost because we didn't want it as badly as they did. Richt can say there wasn't an effort issue on Saturday. I disagree. However, it sounds like we do agree (as do several of UGA's players) that there was an issue with intensity, timidity, toughness, and GATA-itude. And I can't comprehend that.

How do you come out flat for a game this important? There were a variety of players who genuinely looked as if they had zero interest being in the stadium, playing football or wearing a G on their helmet. I don't get it, and it's not the first time.

Grantham was billed as the injection of whoop ass into the program that would bring the violence, tempo and expectations back to our pre-2005 levels. What's so frustrating to me is that the defense was just a pancake flat (or more so) than the rest of the team. In fact, I sincerely believe that had we brought the intensity (on both sides of the ball) of the ULL game to Columbia, we wouldn't won.

Having said all of that, it's not all bad news. Some broader thoughts:

The Bad:

-- Defensive GATA-itude. Already discussed.

-- The Offensive Game Plan. I am a card carrying registered Mike Bobo Apologist(TM). The guy takes entirely too much heat, but I can't back him on Saturday. I challenge anyone to watch what we did and articulate the plan. I talked to a buddy who said he believes the plan was the same as the Georgia Tech 2009 plan. The flaw being that SC's defense isn't as craptacular as Tech's. Maybe.

-- The complete unwillingness for leaders to step up. At some point, you have to say "This is bullshit." You can't watch what's happening around you and let things continue to slide. And you can't just TALK about leadership or making plays. You actually have to step up and make the plays. Several of our offensive players basically spit the bit on Saturday. Their number was called, and they wanted no part of putting the program on their back. That has to be resolved against Arkansas.

-- The Belly Button Rule(TM). If you have a skill player who can comfortably hide in your biggest lineman's navel, you shouldn't run him up the middle unless he has Olympic Speed (See Demps, J.). Additionally, if the player wears green shoes, make delicous buttery cookies and lives in a tree, you shouldn't run him up the middle. Get those guys the ball on the edge...not up the gut.

-- The Run Defense. As I mentioned earlier before ULL, having Ben Jones and Cordy Glenn miss almost the entire fall camp with injuries and illness would hurt the unit's cohesion and conditioning. However, at some point having more combined starts than probably any other OL in the country should matter. This group is wildly under performing.

-- Trusting Your Talent. Blutarsky has been pounding this theme for a few years, and he's dead on. You have to trust your talent. There's no reason on earth to send a 5 star alpha-QB with two full spring practices under his belt into his second game armed with the Joe Tereshinski Florida '05 Plan of Fail(TM). You can either play or you can't. Plan accordingly.

The Good:

-- We lost 4 or 5 players to the NFL draft from last year's defense while the Gamecocks returned virtually everyone offensively and added a workhorse elite running back. Yet, the D allowed 20 fewer points this year. That's progress. We can b*tch about a lot of things from Saturday, but that is unmistakeably better production.

-- The defense was in the right place to make a tackle more often than not. Approximately 140 of Lattimore's 180+ yards rushing came after contact. The players were in a position to make the play. Think back to 2009 in Neyland. Our guys were absolutely baffled against Kiffin's Vols. This is a more correctable situation than that.

-- Pass Blocking. Murray had enough time to make some plays.

-- Pass Defense/Pass Rush. Our guys looked dramatically better than last year.

-- Richt has said the right things in the aftermath. He spent much of the past several years in public denial. He has admitted the timidity issue, and he acknowledged the need to bench players who are under performing. We'll see if that actually happens, but that was NOT the case last year as we saw with Bryan Evans. If we're bringing a meritocracy back to Athens, it will do wonders for turning the program around. That and taking the training wheels off our talent.

It's not as bleak as it looks:
From UT '06 to UT '07, the Bulldogs lost 6 straight games to SEC East opponents. It took a near miracle stop in Nashville to avoid a seventh loss in a row. Yet...as bad as things looked after that Vandy win (and it was looking very bleak), we still went to Jacksonville and beat the Gators senseless. Things are never as good or bad as they look.

Most of our issues are fixable. Obviously it shouldn't be a recurring theme that we need to GATA more. But it is. If we Get After Their Ass (GATA) against the Hawgs, we'll be fine. And...well..getting AJ back wouldn't hurt either.

PWD

Some Initial Thoughts

I'm going to try to be measured here after a frustrating 17-6 loss in Columbia.  Some first impressions:

• Marcus Lattimore is deserving of his hype.  He's the next great SEC tailback.  That guy's powerful, he runs hard, and is difficult to wrap up.  SC is going to be able to do a lot of things on offense with a strong runner they can rely on to bail them out.  He looked like Cecil Collins today.
• Despite that, we still haven't learned to tackle.  I'll give Lattimore credit for breaking some tackles, but there were several critical plays where we didn't even make attempts to wrap him up with arms.  Instead we tried to knock him down, not take him down.  He's too good a back for that crap.  Can someone teach our defense the fundamentals of tackling?  
• Despite those problems, the defense played better than it feels like they played.  They were physically overpowered much of the day, but only gave up 17 points.  In the third and fourth quarters, they had some really nice defensive series and made Garcia look confused  and tentative.  The thing is, you just kept expecting SC to start feeding Lattimore and grind the game out and that's exactly what they did late in the fourth to ice it.   
• Our offensive line is way overrated.  Carolina has a good defensive front, but our running game was nonexistent after the first drive. Without a strong running game, our offense doesn't work.  It's that simple.  Searles has some work to do.  Chapas's injury hurt, but our best second half rush was for five yards.  We have to do better.
• Bacarri Rambo.  Ouch, buddy.  Flush this whole game and get ready for Petrino's passing schemes. 

The season isn't necessarily over with regards to the SEC Championship, but it's now teetering.  I expect both SC and Florida to lose at least one conference game.  Both have to play Bama and they have to play each other.  We can still get to Atlanta.  After today's performance, though, it's just too difficult to really conceive of this team playing for a championship.

Quinton

Weather for Saturday

This Saturday marks my 20th consecutive game between Georgia and South Carolina attended in person. To no one's surprise, the forecast for Saturday is the same as it is every single time we play them in The Newark of the South.

Tarzan hot.



The various forecasts have the game time temperature pegged for 85-90 degrees at kickoff and rising through the game topping at 90-95 degrees with oppressive humidity. On the bright side, you'll lose a few pounds of sweat. So you'll exit either drunker or thinner due to the lost tonnage.

The two hottest games I've ever attended were at Alabama (2002) and at Clemson (2003). After that I'd wager that the next 5 hottest games I've attended were all in Columbia, and I've attended well over 200 home and away games in person.

Nobody enjoys playing in that kind of heat, but it does favor the deeper team which is clearly the Bulldogs. Overall, my prediction for Saturday is pretty simple. If the Net Turnover margin is -2 or better in our favor, I think we win. If we waltz into the Chicken Coop and turn it over 4-5 times like we did in 2000 and 1996, we're going to lose.

We're more talented. Period. And the only way we're losing on Saturday is to blow ourselves up.

What are the hottest games you've attended in person?

PWD

Four Game Suspension? Say What?

I must have missed something in the NCAA's report. When A.J. Green sold his jersey for $1,000 did he leave a live a baby in it or a dead hooker? Or maybe he sold the jersey to Myles Brand's zombie corpse?

Why the hell is he getting suspended for four games? Clay Travis had a great comment on this via Twitter:

On A.J., if he'd stolen ten jerseys, he probably misses a game. Sell one he owns, four games. Felonies count less than making money in NCAA.

What Clay didn't mention is...you beat up an cop in Knoxville and it's zero games on the suspension.

I also agree with Orson Swindle in that it's a very random punishment. I think the punishment will be reduced by a game or two, but who knows. This is as arbitrary a punishment as I've seen in a while by the NCAA.

By the way...I know Dean Legge is taking a ton of crap for his "AJ will play on Saturday announcement." I also know that in that profession you need to be right 100% of the time. But it's not like other media sources covering the Dawgs haven't been wrong about this exact sort of thing. It happens. You whiff, admit you were wrong, apologize and move on.

What a weird couple of months. I think we beat SC and Mississippi State with or without AJ Green. Arkansas on the other hand...that's going to be tricky.

PWD