Furman at USC Post-Game: Questions / Topics for Discussion

I guess some traditions from the Bowden era die hard.

1. Clemson has legit D-L and O-L play. Legit not great.

2. The “new storm” of Ellington and Harper is not at the Spiller/Davis level, but is going to win Clemson a lot of ACC games.

3. I’ve never rooted for a Clemson quarterback in my life, and Ive dutifully rooted for the conference over an ACC opponent – that is until tonight – the sheer courage shown by Kyle Parker tonight was really something to behold. If you didn’t see it, words can’t do it justice.

4. Clemson showed us that if you stop the run, you can rattle not only the veteran AU O Line but their young backfield. I’m not sure if Auburn bought the notion that any top SEC team will automatically trounce an ACC team. Either way, Auburn got punched in the mouth.

5. I suppose it’s the best possible scenario for USC. Clemson physically hurt Auburn, and Auburn physically hurt Clemson, with the SEC team winning. Now Auburn has us coming to town with just as good if not better RB play and better defense, and maybe sensing some weakness in the Plains. Malzahn’s schemes looked gimmicky tonight.

6. Regardless, we wont win unless Garcia gets his head screwed on right … or Connor starts and plays lights-out. We must have at *least B+ quarterback play. The question is will we have it?

those dots speak louder than any words i can type…

1. All this game did was remind me we are Carolina, and we can and often do play up or down to our competition.

2. I doubt that Shaw sees as much play time in any upcoming games as he saw tonight, only reason Spurrier pulled Garcia for as long as he did when he did was to send a message going into the meat grinder of our schedule.

3. I noticed Maddox playing alot, which i tallied up to be just because we didnt wanna use up Latti’s legs before the meat grinder… but if we did indeed use 2nd stringers throughout the field of players that eases my mind on the game a little bit, but still, our 2nd stringers shouldnt perform so poorly against an FCS team.

4. I liked our chances against Auburn before this game last night, but now I feel pretty confident in our chances. Clemson was able to run through Auburns defense, so I am excited to see what Latti can do (keep in mind he had 50 yards in USM before he bursted open against UGA).

As I said this game did nothing to boost my confidence in this team. But on the bright side, if this is indeed a “New Carolina” I would like to think this is the spark that lights a fire under em and they never play an uninspired snap the rest of this season. We will know how they respond next saturday… if we can win that game by 10 points or more, we are sittin fancy.

but a W is a W I suppose. Could have been a lot closer. There were times I thought we could have pulled away and made the point differential more substantial but what are you gonna’ do?

1. Not so worried. IMO I think a FCS team will generally prepare “better” for their “big game” against the D-1 school. Running the off blitzes, the trick plays, etc.

2. I don’t know if we have a QB controversy but I do believe Shaw sees more snaps than originally planned for. I think you still have to give Garcia the big down situations regardless.

3. I think we were playing as if the game was in the bag WAY too early. Should have kept the starters in through the early part of the 4th. Carolina should NOT have let up whatsoever until it was officially in the bag. Honestly I’m disappointed we didn’t put up over 40.

4. We can beat Auburn. It will be a close one no doubt but I feel as good about grabbing the W from Auburn as I did against the Dawgs.

No worries fellow Carolinians, we still got this fo ’sho.

Go Cocks

In the second half, AU seemed to find the solution to CU’s running attack with the possible exception of Clemson’s last drive of the fourth, which resulted in no points.

I think our running game is going to be huge, dont get me wrong. But the real difference is going to be Cam Newton is going to be seeing a better top-to-bottom defense, esp in the secondary.

secsports.com may also put it up on their website. They post full games sometimes.

1. “Worried” isn’t really the word I’d use; “disappointed” is more like it. On one hand, I’m glad we came away with a comfortable win when we would have likely lost the game or barely escaped in the past. On the other, I’m not so glad that we played like we have in the past. I thought we were beyond this, but I guess not.

2. I don’t think there’s a QB controversy brewing, or at least I hope not. I think Spurrier just wanted to give Shaw some meaningful minutes, which is hard to argue with against an FCS opponent. I think his willingness to keep Garcia in after that second pick shows that Garcia is still #1.

(Of course, do I think Spurrier wishes he had a better option? You bet.)

3. The substitution baffled me too. Again, FCS opponents are a great opportunity to get backups significant playing time, but usually that comes much later in the game and after it is well in hand. We had a decent lead when they came in, but IMO it was not comfortable enough. I don’t know if we can say for sure that it contributed to Furman’s success, but it very well might have. It was a curious decision, no doubt.

4. I think Clemson exposed Auburn quite a bit. From what I’ve watched, Auburn’s defense is among the worst in the SEC and their offense is highly dependent on what Cam Newton can create on the fly. If you shut him down or even limit him the way Clemson did in the first half, you’re in business.

That said, I’m still very nervous about this game and do not at all consider it a guaranteed W. I doubt Auburn will come out flat two weeks in a row at home and we just seem to have bad luck with these guys. Beating them on the road would be a HUGE step forward for both this team and the program itself.