S. C. State at South Carolina Topics for Discussion

Georgia loses. Tennessee loses. USC wins. Great day.

1. I don’t think SC State is a bad team – but with that being said we waited way too long to put it together. It doesn’t really worry me though because as long as we put it together eventually it really doesn’t matter, and that 3rd quarter took care of that. We won by a comfortable margin and got the backups some PT in the process.

2. I sure hope so. I don’t have that much faith in him – but I was excited on that pitch and catch with him and Alshon.

3. Didn’t really see much of the Kentucky game today – but I expect to win. We can’t lose games like this at home if we want to have a successful season.

I’ll add a 4th thought – lol Clemson

It was our first true breather of the year. Even FAU won a bowl last year and is led by an NFL prospect at QB. College players aren’t going to get up for every game, but they responded at halftime and put the game away in the third quarter. There are probably 40 teams in BCS conferences that cannot say that, and either muddled through the entire game (VT vs Duke, Iowa x2), or actually lost to an inferior opponent (Michigan State, the ACC).

We came out without any major injuries, which was my primary concern.

I haven’t seen enough of McCollum to have a strong opinion, but I doubt he is ready for any secondary remaining on our schedule other than possibly Arkansas.

I’m cautiously optimistic about UK. We get them in Columbia, and under Spurrier, we rarely actually lose to inferior teams. The talent gap isn’t severe, but it is significant enough to matter. Though the Wildcats have shown more life than I expected against both Alabama and Florida, I think we will be much more focused from the start. If we play to our potential, I think we win by 7-14.

so its not the 2007 game when we lost Peppers.

lots of teams have struggled in the first half to put away pesky I-AA (FCS) teams …. plus its our history. Be that as it may: (a) at least we won convincingly and (b) at least we won.

Placing it in further perspective …. a slow start off against a good SCSU team (that will challenge for the MEAC crown) is much, much, much less problematic for us than our Clemson must be feeling after dropping a division game to a woeful Maryland squad.

Perhaps Dabo will tell the boys they’re “just a play away” …

always a mystery to me that we “down to a opponent” as evidenced in the SCSU game and FAU this year (plus too many to name in year’s gone by). We let lesser teams hang around and I just can not understand it either. I am not sure if it is the SC team or the opposing team but whatever it is I plead this sunday for no more. There is a “new carolina” attitude and with this attitude let’s develop a killer attitude. Let’s go into games like the SCSU expecting not only to win but to drop 50 pts on them. That is one element to the “new carolina” attitude that needs to evolve.

2. I think Reid can do the job of back-up. Not sold that he is ready for prime time yet. Thus I hope to never see Garcia hurt. I think Garcia will continue to be #1 until he graduates then new recruit Conner Shaw will take over. Just the way I see it now as I think Shaw is better than Reid and new recruit Dylan Thompson.

3. Expect more of the same from UK. A decent team that can win games but should not be able to match up to USC. BUT if USC allows UK to linger plus SC makes mistakes then UK could give SC a scare on Saturday.

It really isn’t unusual to see FCS teams hang with FBS teams for one half of a football game. I would say that often times the score stays relatively close until the defense gets worn down and it becomes apparent that the FBS team is stronger. I wouldn’t put much relevance on the first half score. Also, we have had a history of close games with some FCS schools. The game against SC State was not one of them. We finished strong and I continue to be impressed with how the Gamecocks are closing games this year. ROCK ON!!