Monday, September 19, 2011

College Football Weekend Quick Hits

   LattimorevsNavy                                

USC goes to 3-0 with a 24-21 victory over Navy. Running Back Marcus Lattimore rushed for a career high 246 yards and three touchdowns.

       This past weekend in College Football definitely did not disappoint with a wide array of things happening on and off the field. Here are a few quick stories that caught my eye.

 Calm Down Dabo Swinney

    Okay, you did what no other team could do over the past 17 games and beat the defending National Champions. Congratulations. But it’ll happen at least three more times this year. This Auburn team is nowhere near the caliber of talent they were last year, so to act like you won the BCS National Championship after you defeat the number 21 team in the country at home….it’s a little childish. I think everyone who watched Swinney’s postgame interview and antics felt a little uncomfortable. Act like you’ve been there before, act like you expect to win. For anyone who missed it, here is a portion of Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s postgame reaction.

The Triple Option is Scary

    As any fan of a team who has faced a triple option offense knows, it’s a chore to defend against. Originally an offense reserved for the Academies and non-BCS schools, the triple option is making its presence felt in the BCS. When Paul Johnson brought his offense with him to Georgia Tech three seasons ago, many felt it wouldn’t work. What did he do? Win an ACC championship in his second season in Atlanta. Once again he has the Yellow Jackets clicking on all cylinders.

    Through three games (against sub-par football programs I will say), Tech is averaging an NCAA leading 427 rushing yards a game, as well as an NCAA leading 59 points a game. Three straight games Tech’s first snap from scrimmage has gone for six points.  Through three games Johnson’s offense is averaging another NCAA best, 10.2 yards per play. That’s an average of a first down per play. Impressive, I don’t care who those numbers are against.

    That also brings me to South Carolina’s game against Navy this past Saturday. If that didn’t scare Gamecock fans then I don’t know what will. The option offense just chews up the clock, making every offensive possession for the opposing team a must score. South Carolina’s own lethal rushing attack was the difference in this one. The good news for Carolina fans: you won’t have to see that offense for the rest of the season. Fans should be happy with the win, no matter how ugly it might have looked.

The ACC is Making Moves

    With all this conference realignment talk it appeared that the ACC might be in jeopardy of being swept under the rug, that was until this weekend. The ACC has announced that it will add Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the conference, making the league 14 teams deep. As far as football goes, this is not a major increase in talent—but rather it is a proactive statement. This move tells the college football world that the ACC has no intentions of splitting up or becoming forgotten and irrelevant. With 14 teams, and talks of possibly going to 16, the ACC is poising itself to become one of the “Super Conferences” of the future. College Football as we know it is changing.

    The way I see it, in five years the BCS will move from eleven conferences to four “Super Conferences.”  Very shortly we will see schools hastily searching for a spot in the SEC, ACC, Pac 12, or Big 10. Everyone else will be left out to dry. Tradition in college football will be destroyed for the most part. The only possible good I see coming out of this is that it will kill the BCS. Bye bye BCS, hello playoff. The conference championship games will give the winning team a birth in a four team playoff for the National Title.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Five Things We’ve Learned About The Gamecocks

South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney sacks Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray during second-quarter action in Athens, Ga. on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011. (Photo by Travis Bell/Sideline Carolina)            South Carolina's Marcus Lattimore breaks away from Georgia's Sanders Commings during late, fourth-quarter action in Athens, Ga. on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011. (Photo by Travis Bell/Sideline Carolina)

1) Marcus Lattimore shows no signs of a sophomore slump.

So much for the sophomore slump. Running Back Marcus Lattimore has proven that last year’s stellar performance was not the peak, but merely the beginning of a great college career. Offseason reports for Heisman candidate were nothing but positive. Coaches said he bulked up, gaining as much as 12 pounds of muscle, as well as improving his knowledge and understanding of the game. It shows.

Against East Carolina, Lattimore tied a career high with three rushing touchdowns, while compiling 112 yards on 23 carries. To follow that up he grinded out 176 yards at 6.5 yards per carry against UGA, including a vital go-ahead touchdown with 3:28 left in the 4th quarter.

The most impressive thing thus far about Lattimore is his vision. Gamecock fans have grown used to his tackle-breaking abilities, but they better start getting acquainted with his vision at the line. Countless times against UGA Lattimore took what would have been a minimal gain between the tackles and bounced it outside for a 10-15 yard gain. The 79 yard go-ahead drive at the end of the game featured multiple of these runs.

If there was any doubt going into the season that Lattimore would be able to replicate his numbers from last year, doubt-be-gone. In fact, fans should start expecting him to break last season’s records if he keeps running the ball the way he his. Nothing should be out of reach for this young man, not even that piece of bronze hardware given out in December.

2) Stephen Garcia is the quarterback, period.

All offseason the conversation revolving around South Carolina Football was centered on Stephen Garcia and his place on the team. Anytime South Carolina was mentioned by national or local media it seemed Stephen Garcia’s off-field troubles overshadowed positives like Heisman Trophy candidate Marcus Lattimore, All-American wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, and star recruit Jadeveon Clowney.

The drama only intensified when 48 hours before the season kicked off head coach Steve Spurrier announced the 5th year senior would sit the first quarter behind unproven sophomore Connor Shaw. Spurrier backed up his decision by saying Shaw performed better in practice, something everyone (even Garcia himself) agreed with. Give credit to Spurrier for being a man of his word, as he publicly stated all offseason that the quarterback position would go to the man who performed best in practice, but the decision was very questionable.

The problem is that practice and game time are two completely different things. We quickly found this out after one quarter of football in Charlotte, against a subpar defense at best. The rest could be Gamecock history. Stephen Garcia enters in the second quarter with his team trailing 17-0, puts together a fierce drive in which he both barrels over a linebacker for a first down, and takes another run 32 yards for the Gamecocks first score of the season. South Carolina wouldn’t look back on its way to a 56-37 opening victory.

The second game of the season didn’t start well either, but Garcia proved once again he can win on the road in the SEC. He may not have looked pretty doing it (not much looked pretty in this win for the Gamecocks), but the point is that he got the job done. He did what was necessary to win. South Carolina has other playmakers, they don’t need Garcia to be the savior, they need him to do what it takes to win big games—and right now number 5 is doing just that.

Through seven quarters of play Garcia is 18-40 for 252 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. He has also rushed for 3 TD.

3) The defense has three very capable defensive ends.

The combination of Devin Taylor, Melvin Ingram, and Jadeveon Clowney is the best threesome of defensive ends in the country, bar none.

Just how deep is the DE position? Melvin Ingram didn’t even get the start versus UGA and he still finished with 2 TD’s. Clowney, a true freshman in his first SEC road game, recorded two sacks and a forced fumble. And then there’s All-SEC Devin Taylor.

These boys can play, and they have only just begun making opposing quarterbacks miserable.

4) Special teams are no longer a weakness.

It looks as if the days of South Carolina finishing at the back of the pack in the SEC for special teams may be over. The hiring of new Special Teams Coordinator John Butler is turning out to be a genius move. It also doesn’t hurt that high school standout Bruce Ellington decided to play football again.

For the first time in a while South Carolina has legitimate threats in the punt and kickoff return game. Both Ellington and sophomore Ace Sanders have shown an ability to make some good runs. Sanders took a punt return for 68 yards to pay-dirt, recording the first punt return for a touchdown for South Carolina since 2001, in the opening game against ECU. Ellington has proven to have some very shifty moves himself, almost breaking free on multiple occasions. In fact ECU began kicking the ball away from Ellington. When’s the last time an opposing team kicked away from a Gamecock return man?

It’s been a while.

It also appears that the Gamecocks have found a place kicker. In his first attempt in a Gamecock uniform, Jay Wooten nailed a 49 yard field goal against UGA. Granted it’s the only field goal of the year, but it was quite an impressive kick. Title caliber teams most always posses a lethal field goal threat, so it’ll be interesting to see how Wooten pans out over the next few weeks.

5) The zone read needs work.

Plain and simple. The zone read between Garcia and Lattimore is not working. Either the play needs a lot of work, or it needs to see a lot less time in future game plans. It seems that the zone read is called 10-15 times a game, and its results are minimal at best. The reads are horrible. Lattimore will take the ball and get smashed up the middle, or Garcia will hang on to it and meet a linebacker around the end. When a zone read works, it’s beautiful, but this one ain’t working. Scrap it. Run it 5 times a game, not 15. When you’ve got a weapon like Lattimore just let him lineup in the I-formation and pound the ball. In fact I’d like to see a lot more sweeps, they—unlike the zone read—have actually shown some positive gain.