The Midseason Report for South Carolina is up over at Team Speed Kills, but that's the "no homerism version."

South Carolina now stands at the midpoint of the season, and it has gotten to a 4-2 record in a roundabout way. The Gamecocks lost to Vanderbilt, but beat a resurgent Ole Miss. South Carolina defeated N.C. State 38-0, but didn't look dominant doing it. They lost to Georgia 14-7 just 10 days after falling to the 'Dores. And both the Wofford game and the UAB game were closer than they should have been.

Tommy Beecher was the starter for N.C. State, and Stephen Garcia has looked good so far -- but Chris Smelley is your quarterback. The defense is improved but, in a twist of irony, had a bad game against Ole Miss, whose defensive coordinator is Tyrone Nix.

And after that whiplash-inducing start, the goal should remain the same: Progress means winning eight games. And it's still possible, though maybe slightly differently than I first imagined.

	Original Call	Current Call
at KENTUCKY	LIKELY WIN	TOSS UP
LSU	PROBABLE LOSS	LIKELY LOSS
TENNESSEE	PROBABLE WIN	PROBABLE WIN
ARKANSAS	LIKELY WIN	LIKELY WIN
at FLORIDA	LIKELY LOSS	LIKELY LOSS
at TEAM FROM THE UPSTATE	POSSIBLE WIN	POSSIBLE WIN

The original call on the Team from the Upstate was probably a bit optimistic. This one might be a bit pessimistic -- but no reason to take any chances, right? The Tiggers look eminently vulnerable this year and might be looking for a new head coach by the time the Gamecocks visit. They might also be looking for their dignity, though, so the rivalry set-up could make them dangerous.

Kentucky looks harder, no doubt. Who knew they had a defense? But Tennessee looks just as bad as your humble correspondent thought they would be, and maybe worse. LSU looks stronger; I'm still not sold one way or the other on Florida.

So cheer up. The season can still be a success. But it has to start with a win against Kentucky.

1. Not good, not as bad as it looked. Watching college football on a laptop monitor with a more "important" game (Alabama at Georgia) on a big-screen TV in the background can do funny things to your perception of a game. (It can also make you thankful for the technology that allows one to watch UAB vs. South Carolina at an Alabama-Georgia viewing party.) My initial thought about the game -- that it was a thoroughly mediocre effort -- was true to an extent. Even an offense as catatonic as the Gamecocks' should be able to pick up more than 353 yards against UAB's defense.

On the other hand, the South Carolina defense largely stifled an offense that might be as good as the one that took the field whenever the Gamecocks defense was done. UAB picked up just 207 yards and QB Joe Webb was largely contained (140 yards passing, 22 yards rushing). The only touchdown came as the final seconds ticked away.

The margin was close in part because the Gamecocks decided to run the ball. And run the ball. And run the ball. In fact, the play calling was heavily tilted to ground game: 45 rushes, 33 pass attempts. Part of this was the presence of Stephen Garcia, who rushed 18 times. South Carolina ended the game with a nearly 10-minute edge in time of possession and were far better on third down than UAB. Again, that's not a great measuring stick, but it's something.

2. Stephen Garcia did well. I know I'm parting with Gamecock Man here, but I thought THE SAVIOR OF THE PROGRAM performed pretty well both on the ground and through the air. He was unquestionably better than Chris Smelley or Tommy Beecher -- again, "compared to ... " -- and the throws I saw tended to be far more accurate than what we've grown accustomed to seeing from the signal-callers up until now.

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His rushing average was better than any other Gamecock save Bobby Wallace, who might have made a case for more starting time by running six times for 51 yards. And, among the three quarterbacks, he won the passer rating battle with a 126.52, compared to 52.18 for Smelley and 92.00 for Beecher, despite facing the Blazers when whatever defense they have was likely at its strongest.

Plus, he can fly!!!

Give him time to learn the offense and get adjusted to the SEC, and Garcia could be a pretty good quarterback, though it remains to be seen if he can become everything his supporters expect him to be. Does he give us the best chance to win against Ole Miss? Probably; neither Smelley nor Beecher have shown us nothing that would lead me to believe they do.

3. Missing McKinley. There is something to be said for spreading the ball around, and the Gamecocks certainly did that in the passing game. Nine players caught the 18 completed passes, and no one had more than three.

But there are downside to that approach, too. There was no "go-to" receiver, and it's hard for the quarterback to get into a rhythm when there's not one person he can depend on. Notable: Jason Barnes with 3 catches, 46 yards.

Perhaps the biggest place where the team is missing Kenny McKinley is in the lack of a vertical game. The longest pass Saturday was a 23-yarder. It was one of two passes that went for more than 20 yards. This team needs McKinley back -- and quickly -- unless this is a lost season and he wants to redshirt and come back next year. (Unlikely, I know.)

And, after writing that, I look at GoGamecocks and see that I'm not the only one thinking that way.

Spurrier said he might approach All-SEC receiver Kenny McKinley about the possibility of a medical redshirt if McKinley’s right hamstring continues to bother him. McKinley, a senior who is in range of all of USC’s major receiving records, has missed the past three games and is doubtful for Ole Miss, according to Spurrier.

This would actually be in everyone's interest: McKinley's value will go down in the draft the longer he can't play -- no one wants to put a lot of guaranteed money into someone who's been hurt for much of the season prior to the draft. And, of course, it would give the Gamecocks one more season of McKinley, improving the depth of next year's team tremendously.

4. Succop's night. If there was one Gamecock who answered the call Saturday night, it was Ryan Succop. He hit a career-high four FGs and had 14 total points. Had it not been for Succop, the Gamecocks' margin could have been as low as 14-13, truly pathetic, instead of the uninspiring two-score edge.

Don't forget Spencer Lanning. He had a pretty good night as well, averaging 44.0 yards on his two punts. As for other special teams performers: Chris Culliver did an average to above-average job on kick returns, taking four back for 24.5 yards per, and Captain Munnerlyn was nothing special with punt returns, averaging 13.3 yards.

5. Finishing. Yes, this is to an extent an ESPN, coach-speak phrase, but it contains a kernel of truth. And it also points to a problem that could become something worse as the season advances. The Gamecocks seem to have trouble completing drives and putting away opponents.

It's not that UAB was ever truly close after South Carolina took a 10-3 lead with 44 seconds left in the fourth quarter; they weren't. But after being up by 14 at the half, South Carolina slowed down and scored just six more points in the second half and finished the game with a margin of 13.

That was in part because of two drives that ended up inside the Blazers 10 -- and ended up with field goals. Two more second-half possessions that found their way into UAB territory ended in interceptions. That's fine against UAB, but it will get you killed in the SEC.

Not that anyone's looking for a trip to Atlanta this year -- at least, I hope not -- but the only remaining nonconference game this year is the showdown with the Team from the Upstate. A successful year, however one defines it (unless you consider a four-win season a success) will involve beating some SEC teams. If the Gamecocks can't finish, the season is finished.

GRADE: C
The Garcia experiment starts on the right foot, and the Gamecocks avoid disaster. The defense remains stout; even if the Blazers defense is horrid, the offense is competent, and UAB was largely unable to move the ball. But the South Carolina offense has to, has to, has to do better soon. Otherwise, even dreaming of Shreveport might be optimistic.

Poll

Grade the Gamecocks.

0%

A

0 votes

10%

B

2 votes

65%

C

13 votes

25%

D

5 votes

0%

F

0 votes

20 votes | Poll has closed

The information here is pretty sparse, but intriguing nonetheless. I would guess that this means that Chris will be starting, but Spurrier has been saying that he might play two QBs, and with Beecher's shoulder still hurting and Garcia taking Beecher's practice snaps, is it possible that we're going to finally see the fabled savior of the program play a bit? Spurrier said earlier this week that Garcia is not part of the equation, so I still have my doubts. On the other hand, I think all of us are expecting coach to pull out all the stops this week to beat the hated Dawgs. Maybe throwing Garcia in here and there to shake things up a bit is part of his plan.

Lots of interesting stuff from Coach Spurrier here.

Probably the most important question to Gamecocks fans going into this game is, who will start at QB? As usual, Spurrier is playing coy with question, saying that there is a good chance that both will play.

Personally, I have no problem with both playing, but only if both playing means that Chris Smelley is the starter and gets most of the snaps while Tommy Beecher comes in occasionally to throw Georgia off by providing a more mobile QB threat. Spurrier said last spring that he was going to design more plays to take advantage of Stephen Garcia's mobility, so I see no reason why he can't do so for Beecher. However, I haven't seen any reason to believe that Beecher is capable of leading us to a major win as our full-time QB, so I believe Smelley should start.

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be what Spurrier has in mind. He says that he's going to give either guy a chance to go the distance, which indicates that, yet again, this is going to be some sort of in-game tryout for the starting spot. I really don't think this is a good idea; a game against the number two team in the nation is no time to hold a tryout. He said the same thing last year before we played Vandy. Remember what happened then?

I still have faith in Spurrier, but this week he really has me scratching my head.

Stay tuned for more on UGA and this week's SEC other SEC matchups.

Poll

Who should start against UGA?

42%

Tommy Beecher

21 votes

58%

Chris Smelley

29 votes

50 votes | Poll has closed

C&F hit the major points. Horrible special teams play, poor pass protection late in the game and horrendous run blocking throughout the game, Munnerlyn losing his head when he most needed it: these are the things that led to another loss to Vandy. The protection problems I expected to some degree, and I actually thought the line played better for most of the game than they did against NC State. However, the other two problems were major surprises. Weren't we supposed to get better special teams play this year? Wasn't our secondary supposed to be one of the best in the SEC? The answer to both questions after the pathetic effort we got in the second half: I guess not.

A couple of things to add:

1. I hope we don't hear any talk about Tommy Beecher starting this coming week. Chris Smelley's second interception was a pretty bad pass, and he overthrew his receivers a couple of other times, but overall I thought he threw the ball much better than Beecher did. Beecher was almost completely unable to throw a vertical downfield pass; Smelley may not be the next Peyton Manning, but the long ball is at least a threat with him in the game. Smelley could put up some numbers if he could get some protection.

2. Kenny McKinley, please get well soon. Some of your teammates can't catch the ball.

Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to playing Georgia this coming week. Unless this team makes some major strides over the next few weeks, it will struggle to win six games and will be embarrassed by the elite teams.

Welcome to our first edition of "Theorems and Stratagems of the Game," a weekly look at the, ahem, most original calls of the college football weekend. Or at least the one's I'm aware of.

They're just the best tailback tandem in the nation. They can wait. Oh, the buffet of choices offered by the coaching genius that is Tommy Bowden. But the most obvious one is the decision to give James Davis and C.J. Spiller eight rushes for 20 yards. That's right -- a huge, nationally-televised, nonconference game, and you give the best two players on your team eight carries.

Ah, but you say, the game had gotten away after the second quarter and the Tigers had to throw. But DaviSpiller got only five carries in the first half. In part because, um, someone else had to get the first carry.

"Does he always give a freshman a play like that?" Spurrier said, referring to Clemson Coach Tommy Bowden’s decision to give the ball to freshman Jamie Harper on the Tigers’ first possession.

It was Clemson’s second offensive play, after Alabama had driven and scored a field goal on its first drive despite having to overcome three offensive penalties.

Harper was hit at the line, fumbled, and Alabama converted the gift possession into a field goal a few minutes later.

... in his own Sunday news conference looking back on the Saturday Night Disaster, Bowden admitted he promised the first carry to Harper, and he said he’ll do it again.

Congratulations, Tommy Bowden. You win the Jorvorskie Lane/Miami Memorial Trophy.

Greg Robinson might well be an idiot. I can put it no better than Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician, so read their take. I'll wait ...

Okay, it's not just that Robinson decided to punt. That's bad enough, but excusable; any hopes of winning were slim to none. But your reasoning is you want to let your defense handle it? Pretend for a moment that they hadn't given up the 30 points; it still comes down to whether you have a better chance to score 20 points with 5:30 on the clock or 3:30 on the clock. Unless Northwestern takes complete leave of their senses and tries a low-percentage pass.

There's only one problem with that. Greg Robinson is coaching Syracuse, not Northwestern.

I don't know why I'm yelling at you, but I'm yelling, got it?

Wardrobe malfunction. As halftime approached in the Tennessee-UCLA game, a report came from Holly Rowe that I literally could not believe: The Vols assistant coaches were scrambling to make sure that all the players were wearing identical wristbands.

Now, one could question why a team goes on the road with more than one set of wristbands. And one could wonder why the coaches didn't check to make sure that the wristbands were identical, you know, before the game started.

In any case, no sooner had Rowe made her report than disaster ensued. Jonathan Crompton ran into Arian Foster and fell down.

Of all the nearly comical coaching mistakes that doomed the Vols, this was the worst.

Quarterback decisions. Sure, there were plenty of questionable decisions when it came to the signal-caller position this week. Why stick with Tommy Beecher after pick No. 3, Steve Spurrier? Why choose a QB and then play to something that is not his supposed strength (if in fact it's a strength at all), Rich Rodriguez?

But, and I do hate to agree with Dr. Lou, but ... why, oh why, did Frank Beamer even entertain the idea of redshirting Tyrod Taylor? You lose your top four WRs from a passing attack that was far from overwhelming to begin with, and you redshirt the QB who can run? This at Virginia Tech, which is famous -- infamous -- for Vicks, not Mannings.

Take heart, Hokie fans. Beamer has reversed course. Good luck getting back your reputation.

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.

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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.

C&F covered the major points, but I do want to weigh in on a few things, so here goes. First the bad, then the good.

The QB Situation

I'm not sure if Smelley is really as good as he looked last night. The Wolfpack weren't bringing as much pressure as they brought to Beecher and they seemed to be laying off our receivers. Hard to tell how much of it was us playing better or them playing worse. However, Smelley's throws were for most part very accurate. That's much more than we can say for Beecher. Some of those interception balls were thrown when he had a receiver but just made a horrible throw. I really didn't see him make any good throws in the vertical game. He was being pressured quite a bit, but that's no excuse, especially considering that the team we play in two weeks will be bringing much more.

In sum: like C&F, I don't see any reason to believe Beecher can lead us to victory against top-flight SEC opponents. His defense bailed him out last night, but NC State is hardly the toughest offense we'll play all year. We'll need more offensive production against the better teams, and my thinking right now is that Smelley is the guy to bring it. Spurrier has a lot of thinking to do about who is going to be the QB by the time of the Georgia game. Heck, after what happened last year, he'd better figure everything out before Vandy, who, by the way, played well last night against Miami, OH. I know that he's said he's behind Beecher, but unless last night proves to be a complete aberration, he'd better pull the plug when the time is right. It'll be interesting to see what he has to say about all this over the coming week; right now he's playing coy.

Offensive Line

Some may want to pin the blame on Beecher, but the line looked horrible in the first half, and Spurrier noticed and hints that he may make some changes. I expected this to some degree, as we knew that State has some nice players on their defensive front, but I was still disappointed at the lack of improvement from last year. They did play better in the second half, and played great when Smelley came in, but again, had State thrown in the towel by that point? It's hard to say.

One good thing: Jamon Meredith will be back in time for Georgia. Another good thing: when Spurrier chose to go for it a couple of times on fourth down, the line stepped up to the challenge and paved the way for us to get the yards we needed. Unfortunately, the first time this happened Beecher immediately threw an interception. The other time Mike Davis ran in a TD.

Defense

This defense is definitely legit. NC State was hardly one of the toughest tests we'll face, and the injury to Wilson derailed any hope of great offensive production for them, but shutting them out when we gave them a short field several times is really, really impressive. All in all, we held them to under 200 yards and they never got closer than the missed FG. Not bad.

And the defense created some turnovers. One thing this defense seemed to lack last year was a killer instinct on the ball. That seems to have changed, if this game is any indication.

Overall Impression

With all the problems, after watching the game I feel OK about this team's future. After all, it was the first game, we won 34-0, and improvements are hopefully on the way. Spurrier definitely has his work cut out for him with his QBs and offensive line, but if he can make some adjustments that will at least lead to a decent, low-turnover offense, we could turn some heads this year and compete for a decent bowl. This defense is good enough to beat any team in the SEC; all we need now is a little bit more from the offense.

Stay tuned this week for more on Vandy. Again, they looked solid last night as they thrashed a Miami, OH team that was favored to beat them. Next Thursday will be no walk in the park.

1. The Tommy Beecher Experiment: Pull the plug.
Sure, it's easier to come in when the opposing defense is worn down and put up the points. But consider this: With Beecher at quarterback, the Gamecocks' longest two drives were 34 yards each, and South Carolina scored 13 points. With Smelley under center, the Gamecocks had scoring drives of 60, 69 and 74 yards and scored 21 points. And it's not just that Smelley (5-of-5, 92 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs) was measurably better than Beecher (12-of-22, 106 yards, 0 TDs, 4 INTs). The entire offense seemed to kick it up a notch with Smelley. Mike Davis with Beecher: 7 rushes, 11 yards. Mike Davis with Smelley: 7 rushes, 90 yards. Beecher could be a fit for a running quarterback, situational role. But nothing he showed me Thursday indicated he can start in the SEC.

2. Balancing McKinley
No one necessarily emerged as a consistent No. 2 receiver Thursday. But several players contributed to a balanced passing attack that could free up Kenny McKinley by forcing the defense to look everywhere else. McKinley had six of the team's 17 receptions, or a little more than a third. But also chipping in were Moe Brown (2), Dion LeCorn (2), Freddie Brown (2), Jared Cook (2) and Jason Barnes (1). Mike Davis also caught a pair of passes. And the yardage leader was Moe Brown (47). Sure, there needs to be a true No. 2 eventually. But a consistent backup cast could do the job for now.

3. The offensive line
This was still a problem spot. But, again, they almost unquestionably played better after Smelley got in. This could have had more to do with the N.C. State defense tiring. It wasn't that they got dominated; my count on the play-by-play comes up with four sacks, three in the first half. All of them were taken by Beecher. But they got beaten more than they should have, and some of the trouble in getting the run started came more from what the front was doing than from what the backs were doing. And there were far too many false-start penalties.

4. The defense's day
There's not much bad you can say about a shutout. If there was one saving grace of the first half, it was the defense. On the game, they forced four turnovers and allowed N.C. State only 138 yards. They dominated the Wolfpack's offense line, particularly early on. They frustrated the N.C. State quarterbacks with constant pressure. Yards per rush? 2.4 -- I think Ellis Johnson improved things a bit. Sure, there was room for improvement here and there, but this was a great start.

Welcome to Columbia.

5. Mike Davis redeemed
Last year, Mike Davis had one 100-yard the entire year. Granted, he was a backup. And, granted, he was playing against one of the worst run defenses in the ACC on Thursday. But he already has as many century-mark efforts this season as he did all of last year. It was everything we've come to expect from him: the somersault into the end zone and a burst when he got into space. He also ran tough.

GRADE: B-
The second half saves what was an abysmal start to the game. The defense played well throughout, even if they began to tire in the second quarter as the offense put them on short field after short field. But they never allowed the Wolfpack to score; indeed, a failed 49-yard FG was as close as N.C. State ever got. The 34-0 score is deceptive, but this was the first game of the year. With a bit of improvement, this team could evolve into a solid team. We did not see greatness Thursday night, but we saw something better than last year's first effort.

Poll

How would you grade the Gamecocks in the N.C. State game?

0%

A

0 votes

24%

B

21 votes

56%

C

49 votes

12%

D

11 votes

6%

F

6 votes

87 votes | Poll has closed

Be sure to join the Open Thread posted by Gamecock Man during the game.

1. Steve Spurrier. I'm keeping the tradition of putting him here until he loses all his mojo. Which, in the midst of his longest losing streak ever, could be sooner rather than later. Spurrier is currently coaching the only team that's ever beaten him in a season opener.

2. Jasper Brinkley. Even hurt, Brinkley might be the best linebacker in the SEC when healthy. He's at least "in the conversation," as they say. Even the emotional boost of having back on the field should be worth something to a defense that collapsed down the stretch last year.

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