Wisely rejecting "Dr. Lou's" suggestion that the Gamecocks go with a two-QB system, Spurrier has named Smelley the starter for Vanderbilt.

"He played well and he deserves to start, probably if Tommy wasn't injured," Spurrier said. "But Tommy is injured, so we don't have to worry about this, that or the other. So it appears Chris is going to be our starter right now unless something happens between now and Thursday night."

Spurrier said redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia would be the No. 2 quarterback if Beecher is not 100 percent by game time.

C&F suspects that the "Tommy is injured" line is a way to save a bit of face for Beecher. Maybe, maybe not. In any case, it looks like HBC might have acted a bit hastily in tapping Beecher for the starting job over the summer -- and is ready to correct that mistake.

That said, this won't solve all the offensive problems from Thursday night. There's still a lot to be done. If the offensive line can't block and the running game doesn't warm up until the second half, the only improvement between Smelley and Beecher might be that South Carolina won't give the ball to Vanderbilt as much.

Emphasis on might.