Georgia Bulldogs Vs USC - KOD
- Thread starter THE KOD
- Start date
Watched the USC game against Miss St and also followed the Bulldogs rumble over Western Kentucky.
USC struggled with Miss St even though they shut them out. Miss St offense is the worst of the worst. Once the starting QB went down it was pathetic display after that.
Their defense was adequate but damn did South Carolina play poorly on offense or what.
Mitchell hurts his leg and runs off the field and the Freshman comes in and holds his own, but did not do much to impress me. .
This game is in South Carolina with the 80,000 screaming fans. Georgia can handle large stadiums
and have the experience to get by stadium noise.
South Carolina is going to see a defense in Georgia that is 2 or 3 times what Miss St showed them.
With Georgia beating Western Kentucky handily, it sets up Tereshinski to start and maintain. If he struggles and can't move the offense expect to see Stafford in the game. I really think that Tereshinski can handle this pressure and will step up and win the game. If Stafford comes in it will not be a drop off at the QB position. He throws lasers.
Georgia is absolutely loaded at running back.
Thomas Brown . Danny Ware and Kregg Lumpkin. Any of these three is capable of being a featured back and should mean lots of running in this game.
Georgia struggled with dropped passes in the first game. This game Dogs to hang on to the ball and get it done.
South Carolina just cannot match the talent this Georgia team has overall.
It seems simple enough.
USC struggled with Miss St even though they shut them out. Miss St offense is the worst of the worst. Once the starting QB went down it was pathetic display after that.
Their defense was adequate but damn did South Carolina play poorly on offense or what.
Mitchell hurts his leg and runs off the field and the Freshman comes in and holds his own, but did not do much to impress me. .
This game is in South Carolina with the 80,000 screaming fans. Georgia can handle large stadiums
and have the experience to get by stadium noise.
South Carolina is going to see a defense in Georgia that is 2 or 3 times what Miss St showed them.
With Georgia beating Western Kentucky handily, it sets up Tereshinski to start and maintain. If he struggles and can't move the offense expect to see Stafford in the game. I really think that Tereshinski can handle this pressure and will step up and win the game. If Stafford comes in it will not be a drop off at the QB position. He throws lasers.
Georgia is absolutely loaded at running back.
Thomas Brown . Danny Ware and Kregg Lumpkin. Any of these three is capable of being a featured back and should mean lots of running in this game.
Georgia struggled with dropped passes in the first game. This game Dogs to hang on to the ball and get it done.
South Carolina just cannot match the talent this Georgia team has overall.
It seems simple enough.
My initial instinct told me to play South Carolina and the points.
If you remember last year the Dogs covered their first game handily and South Carolina came into Athens as a +16 point underdog. I won that game with South Carolina and the points.
These two teams have a rivalry dating way back and always, and I mean always play close.
When the line came out -2.5 Georgia, I changed my mind about how to play this. This line should have been higher points to USC.
Bulldogs hunker down and get dirty with the cocks.
Beat the Cocks ! Beat the Cocks ! Beat the Cocks !
If you remember last year the Dogs covered their first game handily and South Carolina came into Athens as a +16 point underdog. I won that game with South Carolina and the points.
These two teams have a rivalry dating way back and always, and I mean always play close.
When the line came out -2.5 Georgia, I changed my mind about how to play this. This line should have been higher points to USC.
Bulldogs hunker down and get dirty with the cocks.
Beat the Cocks ! Beat the Cocks ! Beat the Cocks !
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1. Jump on them early
The Gamecocks didn't score their first touchdown of the night until early in the fourth quarter to go with two earlier field goals from Ryan Succop. Of course, when your defense plays like the Gamecocks did Thursday night, jumping on your opponent with early scores becomes less important. Grade - C
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2. Tough up front
While the offensive line played better in the second half than they did in the first, the left side of the line struggled mightily most of the night. Generally speaking, the line play must improve considerably to have any chance of beating Georgia next week.Grade - D
3. No costly mistakes
Quarterback Blake Mitchell threw what could have been a very costly interception on the opening play of the game, but he was rescued by the Gamecock defense, who held the Bulldogs to a failed field goal. The offense didn't turn the ball over the rest of the night. The young players on defense made a few mistakes, as expected, but they did a great job of avoiding the big mistakes that led to Mississippi State points. Grade - A
4. Force third and long
South Carolina's defense, led by middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley, did a great job of defending the run on first and second down, which forced the Bulldogs into a lot more obvious passing situations than they would have liked. Grade - A
5. Balanced offense
Steve Spurrier called 29 running plays and 27 passing plays, so the offense was very balanced. However, the play calling did not lead to the kind of success many would have expected, primarily due to the struggles along the offensive front and inconsistent play at quarterback. Grade - A
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I smell money and it smells green !
KOD
The Gamecocks didn't score their first touchdown of the night until early in the fourth quarter to go with two earlier field goals from Ryan Succop. Of course, when your defense plays like the Gamecocks did Thursday night, jumping on your opponent with early scores becomes less important. Grade - C
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2. Tough up front
While the offensive line played better in the second half than they did in the first, the left side of the line struggled mightily most of the night. Generally speaking, the line play must improve considerably to have any chance of beating Georgia next week.Grade - D
3. No costly mistakes
Quarterback Blake Mitchell threw what could have been a very costly interception on the opening play of the game, but he was rescued by the Gamecock defense, who held the Bulldogs to a failed field goal. The offense didn't turn the ball over the rest of the night. The young players on defense made a few mistakes, as expected, but they did a great job of avoiding the big mistakes that led to Mississippi State points. Grade - A
4. Force third and long
South Carolina's defense, led by middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley, did a great job of defending the run on first and second down, which forced the Bulldogs into a lot more obvious passing situations than they would have liked. Grade - A
5. Balanced offense
Steve Spurrier called 29 running plays and 27 passing plays, so the offense was very balanced. However, the play calling did not lead to the kind of success many would have expected, primarily due to the struggles along the offensive front and inconsistent play at quarterback. Grade - A
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I smell money and it smells green !
KOD
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11-1
Spurrier's record against Georgia while coaching Florida. Average margin of victory in those games: a whopping 25.7 points.
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This is another thing that all Georgia fans never forget about Spurrier. He never let up and would run the score up to embarress teams.
Its especially sweet to beat him no matter what
team he is coaching now.
Go Dogs !
Spurrier's record against Georgia while coaching Florida. Average margin of victory in those games: a whopping 25.7 points.
..........................................................
This is another thing that all Georgia fans never forget about Spurrier. He never let up and would run the score up to embarress teams.
Its especially sweet to beat him no matter what
team he is coaching now.
Go Dogs !
Kiper: Stafford will be No. 1 in NFL draft
Here is what NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. had to say about Georgia's freshman quarterback on ESPN Radio: "Matthew Stafford eventually will be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. Write that down."
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:scared :scared :scared
Here is what NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. had to say about Georgia's freshman quarterback on ESPN Radio: "Matthew Stafford eventually will be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. Write that down."
.................................................
:scared :scared :scared
I agree
I agree
I agree with most of your post with the exception that their are not many defenses in the SEC much better than Mississippi State much less 2 to 3 times better.
I agree
I agree with most of your post with the exception that their are not many defenses in the SEC much better than Mississippi State much less 2 to 3 times better.
Have to disagree about Miss St defense. Maybe last year they were stout. With the offense they have the defense is going to work hard every game.
Lets see how they fair against Auburn this weekend. Doubt they can hold them under 40.
And a good defense would do that.
Lets see how they fair against Auburn this weekend. Doubt they can hold them under 40.
And a good defense would do that.
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USC Offense
? The Gamecock offense will always be a threat as long as the visored one is manning the helm. Spurrier is as well regarded an offensive mind as there is in the game. They lost a lot from an OL unit that wasn?t very good last year, but they have some really good skill players to make this an intriguing game. Spurrier alone makes for good TV, so this should be an interesting matchup.
? Blake Mitchell returns for his 2nd year as starter at QB. The lanky junior completed almost 60% of his passes last year despite tailing considerably towards the end of the season. He completed only 12 of 22 in the opener against MSU including an INT, but that was partly because he didn?t have much time?more on that later. He?s not overly mobile. Look for former QB (now WR) Syvelle Newton to get at least a few touches as either a single wing type of offense or (as he did last week) in a designed play where he gets a lateral or pitch from Mitchell and sends it downfield. Mitchell got banged up last week and had to sit for a few series but came back to finish the game. Barring injury or trickery, he?ll see all the snaps. Freshman Chris Smelley is the future at that position for them and didn?t look bad at all last week although he?s quick to call a TO.
? At RB, SC has some good talent and depth. Sophomore TB Mike Davis is listed as the starter but wasn?t nearly as effective in week 1 as his backup. His backup, Cory Boyd, is ?back?back like cooked crack? after a suspension for the entirety of the 2005 season. Those were his words last week after he scored on a long pass. I can?t make that up. Don?t believe me? Go to youtube.com and search for Cory Boyd. He has since apologized. Davis is a solid runner who really emerged late in the year last season to carry the offense, going for over 100 yards in the team?s final 2 games. He struggled to get going in the opener, gaining only 6 yards on 7 carries against a stingy MSU defense. Boyd returned with a bang (or is that crack), showing off his skills as both a rusher (12 carries for 93 yards) and receiver (4 catches for 67 yards).
? At WR, SC sports one of the top talents in the country in All-SEC WR Sydney Rice. In his freshman year he racked up 1,143 yards receiving, enough to set the school record. At 6-4, 200 pounds, he?s big enough to cause problems with his size, he?s plenty fast and can jump too. Oh yeah, he?s got great hands too. He?s pretty much exactly what every coach in America is looking for in a WR. He?ll be a tough matchup for whoever gets the task of covering him. He can stretch the field and he?s extremely dangerous in the redzone. Fellow sophomore Kenny McKinley gets the nod at the opposite WR spot. He?s a smaller, shiftier receiver than Rice. Syvelle Newton is a guy that will get some touches catching, running and throwing the ball. He?s one to keep your eye on. The starting TE caught 2 passes last year?and he?s Canadian.
? The USC OL is going to be the focus for this game. This unit lost 3 starters last year and they are as thin as we are along the line right now. Many thought this OL would be better than last year?s simply because that one was (surprisingly) so bad. The early results weren?t good. MSU caused havoc all across the Gamecock OL, which was delivered a blow when a starting guard was suspended for 4 games the week of the opener. As of now, the unit consists of a solid center, Sr. Chris White (who is banged up and saw limited contact this week), a Sr walk-on (who just got a scholarship this fall) at one guard, the replacement for the suspended guy at the other guard (he?s a junior), and two sophomores at the tackles. The replacement for the suspended player (William Brown) only tips the scales at 265. The two tackles (especially Gurminder Thind?also Canadian) struggled mightily against what is a pretty good MSU DL. Moses, Johnson, Owens and the gang are better. SC will likely struggle along the line of scrimmage as they did against MSU. The struggling OL caused the QB to get banged around and the running attack to sputter. Their depth at this point is made up of true freshmen who saw some time on the kick team against MSU. Yesterday they moved a sophomore DL over to OG and Spurrier intimated that he might get some playing time because he?s got a little more ?punch? than the other guys. Sounds like a desperate situation, but we?re not far from that. Luckily our starting unit is pretty solid.
? Bottom Line: USC looked bad on offense in the opener. Granted, MSU has a pretty good defense, but UGA sports a pretty solid unit of its own. Our edge rush is going to be a real problem for their young tackles. Look for Spurrier to find ways to slow our rush, draws, screens, etc. They?ll try and exploit whoever?s matched up against Rice, but MSU?s pass rush pretty much negated anything they tried to do with him and he only ended up with 2 catches. I don?t think they were holding part of the offense for this week, as that game was too close. We should get pressure early and often and Mitchell could get rattled. Boyd could be the difference maker for them. He?s tough to bring down in the open field and if they can get him the ball in space, he can certainly cause trouble.
? Key Matchup to watch when they have the ball: Watch our DEs against heir OTs. They?re going to have to figure out a way to help their tackles. Hopefully the officials will be paying attention to this matchup also. They should have a good day. If our interior DL can get a push since the DEs will likely be facing double teams, it could be a long night for the Gamecock OL.
USC Defense
? Gone is John Thompson from the Co-DC spot he operated last year. Gone with him is the minnow-bucket D that saw folks standing up and moving around at the snap. While that might have flustered our passing game to some extent last year, it didn?t effect our running game much, as we rattled off 238 yards on the ground including a career high 138 from Thomas Brown. Tyrone Nix takes over the reigns at DC and brings a much more traditional approach to the defense. Instead of weird alignments and crazy movement, they line up in a traditional 4-3 alignment and play tough, hard-nosed football. If you watched the MSU game, you know these guys fly to the ball and hit hard. Unfortunately for them, there was a massive turnover in personnel on defense and they?re left with only 1 returning starter on D. Something like the top 8 tacklers from last year?s defense will not be playing (on defense) for them Saturday. I say that because 1 of that large group is suspended and 1 moved over to WR. It?s pretty much a whole new group we?ll be facing and that?s always tough to break in although they looked really good in their first outing.
? The Gamecock DL pretty much sees a complete turnover from last year. There are a few guys with starting experience that aren?t listed as starters. The starting DEs are the smaller rush types with Casper Brinkley weighing in at 250 and Ryan Brown going at 258. Brown is just 6? tall and is a converted LB. Brinkley (whose twin brother starts at MLB) is a JUCO transfer who was seeing his first career action last week. On the interior of the DL, DT Marque Hall is the team?s best DL. At 6-3, 295, he?s active and can be tough to move. He?s paired opposite converted DE Nathan Pepper (6-1, 285). Reserve DT Stanley Daughty is a force but is kind of a Darius Swain type in that he can?t keep his weight and health in check and thus isn?t even on their 2-deep. This unit held a bad MSU offense to very few rushing yards, especially early.
? At LB, SC has a newcomer that?s already making some noise. MLB Jasper Brinkley (oh, I see, Jasper and Casper?got it?cause they?re twins?cute) is a load at 6-2, 250 and he knows how to move it around, racking up 11 tackles last week including a sack. He was all over the field. OLB Marvin Sapp was impressive last week as well, making 7 tackles (two for a loss). At 5-11, 215, he?s not the physical presence Brinkley is. Cody Wells starts at the other OLB spot and is also listed at a slightish 5-11, 212. He also logged a tackle for a loss, so that should tell you how close the LBs were playing to the line in the MSU game. Keep in mind that SC knocked out the MSU starting QB in the first half, so they were able to load the box up at will (not that MSU was throwing it anything close to well before that).
? The Gamecock secondary is home to the one returning starter on the team, and he?s a good one. CB Fred Bennett is an all-SEC CB that is very aggressive and continues the recent line of excellent Gamecock DBs. At 6-1, 200 pounds, he?s got the size and speed to stay with better receivers. He?s got 8 INTs for his career. The other CB is manned by Carlos Thomas who spent most of his time at WR last year but did manage to pull in an INT last year on defense?against UGA of course. True freshman Emanuel Cook starts at the Rover spot and was third on the team in tackles in the opener. He?s backed up by another true freshman. FS Chris Hampton is a Tra Battle sized safety at 5-11, 184. Gone are Ko Simpson and Jonathan Joseph who, along with Bennett, helped form one of the SEC?s better secondaries. This unit hasn?t been tested at all and while I?m not sure we?ve got the personnel in place just yet to really strain it, it?s going to be interesting to see how well they cover a team more capable offensively than MSU (who, if you can?t tell, looked horrid).
? Bottom Line: While there?s certainly not much you can take away from playing a 1AA team like WKU, MSU isn?t much better. Lee Corso said it was the worst offense he?d seen in 20 years. They were bad and it in turn made USC?s D look that much better. Look for them to stack the box with 8 or more until we can prove we can pass the ball. If we thought we were having some trouble running the ball consistently against WKU, wait until USC loads up the box and just dares us to try and throw it. There will be some serious pressure on JoeT to make the right reads, make them quickly and get the ball to the correct receiver ASAP. I don?t know that they have anyone who can provide a consistent pass rush without blitzing. If that?s the case, hopefully all those years JoeT spent in the classroom with Greene and Shockley will come through and he?ll make some solid decisions.
? Key matchup to watch when we have the ball: OK, let?s try something different since watching the OL or QB is too obvious. Pay attention to the FB, whoever that may be. In the running game, Southerland and Williams will be a big key to opening holes. In pass protection they?ll have to stand up some of those blitzers, allowing the RBs to leak out and be a safety valve.
The USC Game Overall
On paper, we?re a much better football team than SC. We all know what that means. We?ve been a better team than them for as long as I can remember, even in this their glory years of football, but it hasn?t done us much good in terms of transferring it to the field, especially over there. These games are always close, hard fought ones that we?ve won more than our share of, but any UGA fan with half a memory knows not to expect a romp in Columbia. Why is that? Who knows, maybe it?s the fact we play them early in the season while their massive expectations have yet to be shot down by a couple of rough outings. Maybe it?s the fact that next to Clemson, they hate us more than any other team on their schedule and for us, they?re a ways down the list. Spurrier did a lot for getting SC on the UGA radar for the fans, but the players were awfully young when Spurrier was terrorizing UGA (and the whole SEC for that matter).
As with any game that?s going to be close, one huge key is to limit the mental mistakes. Penalties and turnovers need to be limited obviously. Week 1 only saw us whistled for 2 penalties and neither one of the 2 turnovers we had really hurt us, but we don?t really have the offense (as of yet) to handle two turnovers. The strength of this team is its defense (although the potential is there for a very good ground attack once we get Inman back) and we need to play into that strength. Luckily we have a great punter who should help us with field position and coupled with our D, should give our offense a nice advantage in field position. That was among the many things that doomed WKU from the start. We flipped the field on the opening possession and they were never able to establish decent field position until the end of the half. I don?t think they even crossed their own 30 until the last possession of the half.
OK, we?ve got mental mistakes covered, what next? If you watched the USC-MSU game, you know it was awfully close until SC busted that long trick play of Newton to Boyd. The past few years have seen at least one big play from the SC offense against us and with field position being such a big factor in this game (to me anyway), our D is going to have to be on its toes because the gimmick play is coming. Spurrier doesn?t run a gimmick offense by any means, but he loves slipping one in. Will we be ready for it?
Unfortunately for us, the biggest plays of this game the last 2 years have been made by the SC defense. They?ve scored a defensive TD in each of the last two matchups. Hopefully we can end that streak this year, as a defensive score could be devastating. Their crowd would come completely unglued.
Watching Johnson and Moses get held regularly last week reminded me of what Pollack fought through in 2002 in Columbia. He was held early and often but (like an umpire?s strike zone) the officials determine early what they?re going to allow and that pretty well sets the tone. Hopefully they don?t take the same approach they did against WKU where it almost seemed like they acknowledged the OL was outmatched so they let them get away with more than usual. If they call it by the book, Moses and Johnson should get their share of calls. If that?s the case, SC will likely have to keep a back or TE in at all times to help block and that starts to impinge on Spurrier?s flexibility and the more that happens the better (for us anyway).
The last time we went to Columbia, it was a tight game that was marked by pretty sloppy play on both sides of the ball. We didn?t have much of a ground game that week after Ware went down with an injury although Cooper made some really nice runs (seems like so much longer ago). In the end, Greene stepped up and hit Reggie Brown on one of those patented (beautiful) play-action passes that seemed to stay in the air forever. The pass was nearly identical to the Shockley to McClendon pass that sealed the GT game last year in ATL. Both of those WRs were seniors playing a big game on the road. Who steps up this week? With Raley getting bumped to first team, maybe this is the week he brings his game to another level and makes the clutch catch. We can only hope.
? The Gamecock offense will always be a threat as long as the visored one is manning the helm. Spurrier is as well regarded an offensive mind as there is in the game. They lost a lot from an OL unit that wasn?t very good last year, but they have some really good skill players to make this an intriguing game. Spurrier alone makes for good TV, so this should be an interesting matchup.
? Blake Mitchell returns for his 2nd year as starter at QB. The lanky junior completed almost 60% of his passes last year despite tailing considerably towards the end of the season. He completed only 12 of 22 in the opener against MSU including an INT, but that was partly because he didn?t have much time?more on that later. He?s not overly mobile. Look for former QB (now WR) Syvelle Newton to get at least a few touches as either a single wing type of offense or (as he did last week) in a designed play where he gets a lateral or pitch from Mitchell and sends it downfield. Mitchell got banged up last week and had to sit for a few series but came back to finish the game. Barring injury or trickery, he?ll see all the snaps. Freshman Chris Smelley is the future at that position for them and didn?t look bad at all last week although he?s quick to call a TO.
? At RB, SC has some good talent and depth. Sophomore TB Mike Davis is listed as the starter but wasn?t nearly as effective in week 1 as his backup. His backup, Cory Boyd, is ?back?back like cooked crack? after a suspension for the entirety of the 2005 season. Those were his words last week after he scored on a long pass. I can?t make that up. Don?t believe me? Go to youtube.com and search for Cory Boyd. He has since apologized. Davis is a solid runner who really emerged late in the year last season to carry the offense, going for over 100 yards in the team?s final 2 games. He struggled to get going in the opener, gaining only 6 yards on 7 carries against a stingy MSU defense. Boyd returned with a bang (or is that crack), showing off his skills as both a rusher (12 carries for 93 yards) and receiver (4 catches for 67 yards).
? At WR, SC sports one of the top talents in the country in All-SEC WR Sydney Rice. In his freshman year he racked up 1,143 yards receiving, enough to set the school record. At 6-4, 200 pounds, he?s big enough to cause problems with his size, he?s plenty fast and can jump too. Oh yeah, he?s got great hands too. He?s pretty much exactly what every coach in America is looking for in a WR. He?ll be a tough matchup for whoever gets the task of covering him. He can stretch the field and he?s extremely dangerous in the redzone. Fellow sophomore Kenny McKinley gets the nod at the opposite WR spot. He?s a smaller, shiftier receiver than Rice. Syvelle Newton is a guy that will get some touches catching, running and throwing the ball. He?s one to keep your eye on. The starting TE caught 2 passes last year?and he?s Canadian.
? The USC OL is going to be the focus for this game. This unit lost 3 starters last year and they are as thin as we are along the line right now. Many thought this OL would be better than last year?s simply because that one was (surprisingly) so bad. The early results weren?t good. MSU caused havoc all across the Gamecock OL, which was delivered a blow when a starting guard was suspended for 4 games the week of the opener. As of now, the unit consists of a solid center, Sr. Chris White (who is banged up and saw limited contact this week), a Sr walk-on (who just got a scholarship this fall) at one guard, the replacement for the suspended guy at the other guard (he?s a junior), and two sophomores at the tackles. The replacement for the suspended player (William Brown) only tips the scales at 265. The two tackles (especially Gurminder Thind?also Canadian) struggled mightily against what is a pretty good MSU DL. Moses, Johnson, Owens and the gang are better. SC will likely struggle along the line of scrimmage as they did against MSU. The struggling OL caused the QB to get banged around and the running attack to sputter. Their depth at this point is made up of true freshmen who saw some time on the kick team against MSU. Yesterday they moved a sophomore DL over to OG and Spurrier intimated that he might get some playing time because he?s got a little more ?punch? than the other guys. Sounds like a desperate situation, but we?re not far from that. Luckily our starting unit is pretty solid.
? Bottom Line: USC looked bad on offense in the opener. Granted, MSU has a pretty good defense, but UGA sports a pretty solid unit of its own. Our edge rush is going to be a real problem for their young tackles. Look for Spurrier to find ways to slow our rush, draws, screens, etc. They?ll try and exploit whoever?s matched up against Rice, but MSU?s pass rush pretty much negated anything they tried to do with him and he only ended up with 2 catches. I don?t think they were holding part of the offense for this week, as that game was too close. We should get pressure early and often and Mitchell could get rattled. Boyd could be the difference maker for them. He?s tough to bring down in the open field and if they can get him the ball in space, he can certainly cause trouble.
? Key Matchup to watch when they have the ball: Watch our DEs against heir OTs. They?re going to have to figure out a way to help their tackles. Hopefully the officials will be paying attention to this matchup also. They should have a good day. If our interior DL can get a push since the DEs will likely be facing double teams, it could be a long night for the Gamecock OL.
USC Defense
? Gone is John Thompson from the Co-DC spot he operated last year. Gone with him is the minnow-bucket D that saw folks standing up and moving around at the snap. While that might have flustered our passing game to some extent last year, it didn?t effect our running game much, as we rattled off 238 yards on the ground including a career high 138 from Thomas Brown. Tyrone Nix takes over the reigns at DC and brings a much more traditional approach to the defense. Instead of weird alignments and crazy movement, they line up in a traditional 4-3 alignment and play tough, hard-nosed football. If you watched the MSU game, you know these guys fly to the ball and hit hard. Unfortunately for them, there was a massive turnover in personnel on defense and they?re left with only 1 returning starter on D. Something like the top 8 tacklers from last year?s defense will not be playing (on defense) for them Saturday. I say that because 1 of that large group is suspended and 1 moved over to WR. It?s pretty much a whole new group we?ll be facing and that?s always tough to break in although they looked really good in their first outing.
? The Gamecock DL pretty much sees a complete turnover from last year. There are a few guys with starting experience that aren?t listed as starters. The starting DEs are the smaller rush types with Casper Brinkley weighing in at 250 and Ryan Brown going at 258. Brown is just 6? tall and is a converted LB. Brinkley (whose twin brother starts at MLB) is a JUCO transfer who was seeing his first career action last week. On the interior of the DL, DT Marque Hall is the team?s best DL. At 6-3, 295, he?s active and can be tough to move. He?s paired opposite converted DE Nathan Pepper (6-1, 285). Reserve DT Stanley Daughty is a force but is kind of a Darius Swain type in that he can?t keep his weight and health in check and thus isn?t even on their 2-deep. This unit held a bad MSU offense to very few rushing yards, especially early.
? At LB, SC has a newcomer that?s already making some noise. MLB Jasper Brinkley (oh, I see, Jasper and Casper?got it?cause they?re twins?cute) is a load at 6-2, 250 and he knows how to move it around, racking up 11 tackles last week including a sack. He was all over the field. OLB Marvin Sapp was impressive last week as well, making 7 tackles (two for a loss). At 5-11, 215, he?s not the physical presence Brinkley is. Cody Wells starts at the other OLB spot and is also listed at a slightish 5-11, 212. He also logged a tackle for a loss, so that should tell you how close the LBs were playing to the line in the MSU game. Keep in mind that SC knocked out the MSU starting QB in the first half, so they were able to load the box up at will (not that MSU was throwing it anything close to well before that).
? The Gamecock secondary is home to the one returning starter on the team, and he?s a good one. CB Fred Bennett is an all-SEC CB that is very aggressive and continues the recent line of excellent Gamecock DBs. At 6-1, 200 pounds, he?s got the size and speed to stay with better receivers. He?s got 8 INTs for his career. The other CB is manned by Carlos Thomas who spent most of his time at WR last year but did manage to pull in an INT last year on defense?against UGA of course. True freshman Emanuel Cook starts at the Rover spot and was third on the team in tackles in the opener. He?s backed up by another true freshman. FS Chris Hampton is a Tra Battle sized safety at 5-11, 184. Gone are Ko Simpson and Jonathan Joseph who, along with Bennett, helped form one of the SEC?s better secondaries. This unit hasn?t been tested at all and while I?m not sure we?ve got the personnel in place just yet to really strain it, it?s going to be interesting to see how well they cover a team more capable offensively than MSU (who, if you can?t tell, looked horrid).
? Bottom Line: While there?s certainly not much you can take away from playing a 1AA team like WKU, MSU isn?t much better. Lee Corso said it was the worst offense he?d seen in 20 years. They were bad and it in turn made USC?s D look that much better. Look for them to stack the box with 8 or more until we can prove we can pass the ball. If we thought we were having some trouble running the ball consistently against WKU, wait until USC loads up the box and just dares us to try and throw it. There will be some serious pressure on JoeT to make the right reads, make them quickly and get the ball to the correct receiver ASAP. I don?t know that they have anyone who can provide a consistent pass rush without blitzing. If that?s the case, hopefully all those years JoeT spent in the classroom with Greene and Shockley will come through and he?ll make some solid decisions.
? Key matchup to watch when we have the ball: OK, let?s try something different since watching the OL or QB is too obvious. Pay attention to the FB, whoever that may be. In the running game, Southerland and Williams will be a big key to opening holes. In pass protection they?ll have to stand up some of those blitzers, allowing the RBs to leak out and be a safety valve.
The USC Game Overall
On paper, we?re a much better football team than SC. We all know what that means. We?ve been a better team than them for as long as I can remember, even in this their glory years of football, but it hasn?t done us much good in terms of transferring it to the field, especially over there. These games are always close, hard fought ones that we?ve won more than our share of, but any UGA fan with half a memory knows not to expect a romp in Columbia. Why is that? Who knows, maybe it?s the fact we play them early in the season while their massive expectations have yet to be shot down by a couple of rough outings. Maybe it?s the fact that next to Clemson, they hate us more than any other team on their schedule and for us, they?re a ways down the list. Spurrier did a lot for getting SC on the UGA radar for the fans, but the players were awfully young when Spurrier was terrorizing UGA (and the whole SEC for that matter).
As with any game that?s going to be close, one huge key is to limit the mental mistakes. Penalties and turnovers need to be limited obviously. Week 1 only saw us whistled for 2 penalties and neither one of the 2 turnovers we had really hurt us, but we don?t really have the offense (as of yet) to handle two turnovers. The strength of this team is its defense (although the potential is there for a very good ground attack once we get Inman back) and we need to play into that strength. Luckily we have a great punter who should help us with field position and coupled with our D, should give our offense a nice advantage in field position. That was among the many things that doomed WKU from the start. We flipped the field on the opening possession and they were never able to establish decent field position until the end of the half. I don?t think they even crossed their own 30 until the last possession of the half.
OK, we?ve got mental mistakes covered, what next? If you watched the USC-MSU game, you know it was awfully close until SC busted that long trick play of Newton to Boyd. The past few years have seen at least one big play from the SC offense against us and with field position being such a big factor in this game (to me anyway), our D is going to have to be on its toes because the gimmick play is coming. Spurrier doesn?t run a gimmick offense by any means, but he loves slipping one in. Will we be ready for it?
Unfortunately for us, the biggest plays of this game the last 2 years have been made by the SC defense. They?ve scored a defensive TD in each of the last two matchups. Hopefully we can end that streak this year, as a defensive score could be devastating. Their crowd would come completely unglued.
Watching Johnson and Moses get held regularly last week reminded me of what Pollack fought through in 2002 in Columbia. He was held early and often but (like an umpire?s strike zone) the officials determine early what they?re going to allow and that pretty well sets the tone. Hopefully they don?t take the same approach they did against WKU where it almost seemed like they acknowledged the OL was outmatched so they let them get away with more than usual. If they call it by the book, Moses and Johnson should get their share of calls. If that?s the case, SC will likely have to keep a back or TE in at all times to help block and that starts to impinge on Spurrier?s flexibility and the more that happens the better (for us anyway).
The last time we went to Columbia, it was a tight game that was marked by pretty sloppy play on both sides of the ball. We didn?t have much of a ground game that week after Ware went down with an injury although Cooper made some really nice runs (seems like so much longer ago). In the end, Greene stepped up and hit Reggie Brown on one of those patented (beautiful) play-action passes that seemed to stay in the air forever. The pass was nearly identical to the Shockley to McClendon pass that sealed the GT game last year in ATL. Both of those WRs were seniors playing a big game on the road. Who steps up this week? With Raley getting bumped to first team, maybe this is the week he brings his game to another level and makes the clutch catch. We can only hope.
The Bulldogs have alot more overall athletic talant than does South Carolina.
80 % of the time, in a game like this, the Bulldogs should win. It may be close but get them tired in the second half put them away.
If Joe T does not come out of the box moving the team down the field, here comes Stafford.
You know it, I know it.
This guy is the next Hershal Walker for the Bulldogs.
Sun Tsu and alot of people were pissed to lose this guy out of the state of Texas.
Stafford will play in this game.
Georgia didnt redshirt him, that means he is ready.
I want him to play.
I honestly hope we dont see him because that means Joe T will be playing very very well.
The time is now.
80 % of the time, in a game like this, the Bulldogs should win. It may be close but get them tired in the second half put them away.
If Joe T does not come out of the box moving the team down the field, here comes Stafford.
You know it, I know it.
This guy is the next Hershal Walker for the Bulldogs.
Sun Tsu and alot of people were pissed to lose this guy out of the state of Texas.
Stafford will play in this game.
Georgia didnt redshirt him, that means he is ready.
I want him to play.
I honestly hope we dont see him because that means Joe T will be playing very very well.
The time is now.
KING OF THE DOGS
BARK LIKE ONLY YOU CAN!
IT HAS, IT HAS......................................... THE LOOKS THAT KILL !
MOTLEY
BARK LIKE ONLY YOU CAN!
IT HAS, IT HAS......................................... THE LOOKS THAT KILL !
MOTLEY
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Georgia Offense vs. South Carolina Defense
"Georgia runs a multiple-formation offense and it will frequently spread the field with multiple-receiver sets. Despite all the flashy formations this offense is predicated on the run -- and for good reason. The Bulldogs have excellent depth and talent in the backfield, as Thomas Brown, Danny Ware and Kregg Lumpkin get carries. Brown, who is diminutive but tough and shifty, has emerged as the premier member of this impressive trio. It's also worth noting that Ware and Lumpkin are big backs capable of wearing a defense down. While offensive coordinator Neil Callaway will stay dedicated to the ground attack, don't expect Georgia's backs to have their best day. First off, the offensive line is fielding three new starters this year and that number becomes four when taking TT Daniel Inman serving a two-game suspension into account. Though the front five looked good last week, they face a much tougher run defense this week and they face it on the road. Secondly, South Carolina is deep at defensive tackle and it rotates its players there so it's less likely to wear down over the course of the game. Thirdly, MLB Jasper Brinkley possesses a rare blend of power and speed. He does an excellent job of clogging up the middleGeorgia runs a multiple-formation offense and it will frequently spread the field with multiple-receiver sets. Despite all the flashy formations this offense is predicated on the run -- and for good reason. The Bulldogs have excellent depth and talent in the backfield, as Thomas Brown, Danny Ware and Kregg Lumpkin get carries. Brown, who is diminutive but tough and shifty, has emerged as the premier member of this impressive trio. It's also worth noting that Ware and Lumpkin are big backs capable of wearing a defense down. While offensive coordinator Neil Callaway will stay dedicated to the ground attack, don't expect Georgia's backs to have their best day. First off, the offensive line is fielding three new starters this year and that number becomes four when taking TT Daniel Inman serving a two-game suspension into account. Though the front five looked good last week, they face a much tougher run defense this week and they face it on the road. Secondly, South Carolina is deep at defensive tackle and it rotates its players there so it's less likely to wear down over the course of the game. Thirdly, MLB Jasper Brinkley possesses a rare blend of power and speed. He does an excellent job of clogging up the middle."
......................................................
:scared :scared
Its not the defense that is going to lose the game for South Carolina. Its the offense. Sorry old ball coach. Not enough gas in the gamecocks tannks yet. Anymore than one interception of Blake Mitchell and this play wins.
Georgia to protect the ball . with fewer mistakes this week.
Georgia defense is capable of winning this game by itself with turnovers and special teams play.
"Georgia runs a multiple-formation offense and it will frequently spread the field with multiple-receiver sets. Despite all the flashy formations this offense is predicated on the run -- and for good reason. The Bulldogs have excellent depth and talent in the backfield, as Thomas Brown, Danny Ware and Kregg Lumpkin get carries. Brown, who is diminutive but tough and shifty, has emerged as the premier member of this impressive trio. It's also worth noting that Ware and Lumpkin are big backs capable of wearing a defense down. While offensive coordinator Neil Callaway will stay dedicated to the ground attack, don't expect Georgia's backs to have their best day. First off, the offensive line is fielding three new starters this year and that number becomes four when taking TT Daniel Inman serving a two-game suspension into account. Though the front five looked good last week, they face a much tougher run defense this week and they face it on the road. Secondly, South Carolina is deep at defensive tackle and it rotates its players there so it's less likely to wear down over the course of the game. Thirdly, MLB Jasper Brinkley possesses a rare blend of power and speed. He does an excellent job of clogging up the middleGeorgia runs a multiple-formation offense and it will frequently spread the field with multiple-receiver sets. Despite all the flashy formations this offense is predicated on the run -- and for good reason. The Bulldogs have excellent depth and talent in the backfield, as Thomas Brown, Danny Ware and Kregg Lumpkin get carries. Brown, who is diminutive but tough and shifty, has emerged as the premier member of this impressive trio. It's also worth noting that Ware and Lumpkin are big backs capable of wearing a defense down. While offensive coordinator Neil Callaway will stay dedicated to the ground attack, don't expect Georgia's backs to have their best day. First off, the offensive line is fielding three new starters this year and that number becomes four when taking TT Daniel Inman serving a two-game suspension into account. Though the front five looked good last week, they face a much tougher run defense this week and they face it on the road. Secondly, South Carolina is deep at defensive tackle and it rotates its players there so it's less likely to wear down over the course of the game. Thirdly, MLB Jasper Brinkley possesses a rare blend of power and speed. He does an excellent job of clogging up the middle."
......................................................
:scared :scared
Its not the defense that is going to lose the game for South Carolina. Its the offense. Sorry old ball coach. Not enough gas in the gamecocks tannks yet. Anymore than one interception of Blake Mitchell and this play wins.
Georgia to protect the ball . with fewer mistakes this week.
Georgia defense is capable of winning this game by itself with turnovers and special teams play.
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Nice writeup Dawg. Just few comments...
(1) watch out for our D, because like you said, if they get a couple of huge plays, the Brice is going to be swayin and I think UGA could be in for a long day (think Q Carter's 5 ints in Cola a few years back). Not a homer statement by any means either...notice I said "if" they get those big plays.
(2) forget about the cannuck starting atTE. He starts in title only. Remember the name Jared Cook (6"4 RS FR that's really a big WR playing TE) , you should hear his name called a good bit tomorrow.
(3) I expect Blake, Syvelle and Sir Sidney to have big games tomorrow. Blake's not hurt, he just had a few stitches put in his leg.
(4) Keep a very close eye on MLB Jasper Brinkley. He'll be one and done in Columbia, as he'll be playing in the league next year. They guy is an absolute BEAST.
(5) If USC's O line doesn't play 300 times better, than it will be a long long long day for our offense. I've never seen such poor left sided line play as I did last week...especially by our LT, the Grinder. If it counts for anything, Spurrier has assured the local media here all week that the O line WILL play better this week...but then again...that's not saying much.
My final thought is this...I've NEVER let emotions get in the way of making money, so I'm not going to get on a soapbox and scream how bad USC's gonna beat UGA. However, look how close they came last year...in Athens...in Spurrier's first year...with much less talent (except for Ko & JJ). Add everything up and it should lead to a very interesting game tomorrrow.
For those of you that watch the game on ESPN, I hope you can get a sense of how absolutley deafening it will be at the Brice. I also hope they show some of these fine young Southern women for the rest of the Country to see.
Good luck
(1) watch out for our D, because like you said, if they get a couple of huge plays, the Brice is going to be swayin and I think UGA could be in for a long day (think Q Carter's 5 ints in Cola a few years back). Not a homer statement by any means either...notice I said "if" they get those big plays.
(2) forget about the cannuck starting atTE. He starts in title only. Remember the name Jared Cook (6"4 RS FR that's really a big WR playing TE) , you should hear his name called a good bit tomorrow.
(3) I expect Blake, Syvelle and Sir Sidney to have big games tomorrow. Blake's not hurt, he just had a few stitches put in his leg.
(4) Keep a very close eye on MLB Jasper Brinkley. He'll be one and done in Columbia, as he'll be playing in the league next year. They guy is an absolute BEAST.
(5) If USC's O line doesn't play 300 times better, than it will be a long long long day for our offense. I've never seen such poor left sided line play as I did last week...especially by our LT, the Grinder. If it counts for anything, Spurrier has assured the local media here all week that the O line WILL play better this week...but then again...that's not saying much.
My final thought is this...I've NEVER let emotions get in the way of making money, so I'm not going to get on a soapbox and scream how bad USC's gonna beat UGA. However, look how close they came last year...in Athens...in Spurrier's first year...with much less talent (except for Ko & JJ). Add everything up and it should lead to a very interesting game tomorrrow.
For those of you that watch the game on ESPN, I hope you can get a sense of how absolutley deafening it will be at the Brice. I also hope they show some of these fine young Southern women for the rest of the Country to see.
Good luck
................................................
I think your emotions are interfering with your
ability to think clearly on this game.
famous last words of a homer. what exactly is a
gamecock anyways.
I will think about you when the bulldogs defense is swarming in the left offensive side and crushing Blake Mitchells helmet.
Its raining Sugar ! Its raining Sugar !
yeh I agree the stadium is impressively loud, but
if Bulldogs can handle Tenn stadium and win,
gamecocks are flocked.
if Bulldogs can handle Tenn stadium and win,
gamecocks are flocked.
Just a question?
Didn't georgia's "O" struggle last week? I swear I remember espn saying how bad they llooked? I could be wrong just asking?
SoCo didn't look good either last week............that trick play was their only highlight...........and I agree with deezledog spurrier still doesn't have all the players he needs for his sysytem but their getting there.
Tough game to call...........but don't ever count the visored one out of a game.
Didn't georgia's "O" struggle last week? I swear I remember espn saying how bad they llooked? I could be wrong just asking?
SoCo didn't look good either last week............that trick play was their only highlight...........and I agree with deezledog spurrier still doesn't have all the players he needs for his sysytem but their getting there.
Tough game to call...........but don't ever count the visored one out of a game.
