A lot of the news out of camp this week regards our running game situation. As we all know, we've been completely ineffective on the ground this year. Georgia was a particularly bad game; we only gained 18 yards. The main problem is our line, which hasn't opened a whole lot of holes.

Still, I think a lot of us are curious about some of our younger running backs. Our coaches will sate that curiosity over the next two weeks. Brian Maddox and Eric Baker look to see more downs as we hopefully handle Wofford with ease, and they'll have to see more time against UAB, because Mike Davis will be out on suspension..

Davis, Maddox, and Baker each bring different things to the table. Davis, who we all know well, is a power back--a short, downfield runner who can catch the screen pass and is effective in pass blocking. Baker is a speedster--we'll see him hit the perimeter more than Davis, and he's a solid downfield receiver.  Maddox is somewhere in between; probably a bit faster than Davis, and a bit stronger than Baker.

Who would be the most useful for us right now? Despite the criticism towards Mike, I still think he's our best option. I'm not sure he's our best runner, but Spurrier's offense is a passing offense, and Mike is a good blocker and offers a good safety hatch option as a receiver. His blocking skills are especially important. I've seen him pick up a few blitzes over the last couple of games that would have resulted in sacks if not for his opportune moves.

Still, I think Spurrier would be wise to rotate the other two in, and not just against our upcoming cupcakes. These games should serve as an opportunity for Spurrier to figure out ways to find a more balanced offense. Developing packages to use Maddox and Baker in would be a good start.

C&F has so far eschewed homerism in Theorems and Stratagems, in part on the idea that he would cover South Carolina-related items in his Gamecock roundups and in part on the idea that Spurrier has actually been a pretty good gameday coach at South Carolina.

However, everyone has bad days. Spurrier had a bad day at the end of an otherwise entertaining game against Georgia, and C&F neglected to touch on a couple of critical mistakes during his post-game analyses.

The situation: 4th quarter, about three minutes left, South Carolina down 14-7. The Gamecocks drive to the Georgia 32 and have a second-and-2 to extend the drive and give themselves a key chance to tie the game and send it to overtime.

The Gamecocks have plenty of time to go those last 32 yards. So, of course, they throw the ball three straight times. Chris Smelley throws incomplete to Freddie Brown. Well, that Brown didn't work, so Smelley went to Moe Brown. Incomplete.

Spurrier then calls on freshman C.C. Whitlock to run a wheel route. Whitlock does fine -- until he forgets to run the second half of the route and the ball drops to the ground right where an open Whitlock should be standing.

Now, C&F realizes that Mike Davis ended the game having averaged just 1.8 ypc. And he realizes that Davis had already fumbled away one chance to tie the game. But when you have a second-and-2, you give a runner with an ability to pound the ball and get first downs at least one chance to get the first down. Throwing three times in a row was a stubborn and foolish way to lose a key opportunity to pull the upset.

Not once?

Tony Franklin: I don't need no stinkin' playbook. There has been plenty of blog-ink spilled over the question of Auburn's offense, which averaged 105 yards a point in its attempt to play football against Mississippi State. Technically, Auburn won the agame, though C&F is of the belief that the two teams should be forced to play the game again until someone deserves to win.

Regardless, there are calls to get the ball to Mario Fannin more, pleas to use Kodi Burns more, etc. But, never fear, Auburn fans: Tony Franklin has it figured out.

He needs to get rid of the playbook. Not for a new playbook. He needs to just get rid of playbooks altogether and wing it.

He's going pro-active by not going by the book, or at least some fancy scripted playbook, which never seemed to be his style, anyway.

"I need to do a better job of going back to my feel and my instinct versus probably more game-planning," Franklin said.

"I've done more game-planning here. I'm going to go back to feel and instinct.

"I've called more stuff off a script in the red zone than I ever have before. I don't need to do it." (HT: ATVS)

Well, since Auburn is playing one of the most talented defenses outside of Los Angeles this week, improvisation seems to be the way to go. Who needs these "gameplans"?

Quick calls. Nebraska's faithful are apparently focused on attire, notably the famed "blackshirts." They're still waiting for the coaches to make some decisions here. Huskers, other fan bases wish they had your coaching issues ... Texas Tech called two dozen running plays Saturday! For 180 yards! This has to be some sort of record for the Leach Era ...

Let's be honest: this one hurts as much as any of the close losses of the Spurrier era. We played our best ball against a hated rival and yet somehow managed to crap the game away. Memories of 06 Florida or 07 Tennessee come to mind as similar games  where we managed to lose despite a great effort. Our defense seriously deserves to be commended for having to endure loss after such a stellar performance.

That said, there are some positives to take away here. First of all, as cocknfire said, the team and the coaches didn't mail it in following the Vanderbilt loss. Now, the key is to continue to believe we can improve. I was only the third game, and there's no reason to believe we can't win eight games and play in a decent bowl this season if we continue to play like we did yesterday.

Now for the specifics: despite the final score, the offense made serious strides yesterday. Chris Smelley was 23/39 and threw for 271 yards. Did anyone think we would see Chris play like that after Vandy? This is a player who can lead us to some victories if he continues to play consistently. Remember, before the game I said that our defense would put us in position to win as long as Chris didn't make mistakes that could lead to a short field for UGA. I was right, and the key for Chris at this point is to continue to play smart. The big plays will come as his young crew of targets matures.

I also thought the Spurrier made some nice schematic adjustments. We finally saw the two tight end set we had been waiting for. We saw good usage of our depth at WR. Moe Brown, after playing the goat against Vandy, stepped up big time. And don't forget: Kenny should be back in time for an important matchup against Ole Miss on 10/4. That's another weapon. We've got two cupcake games coming up, so there should be time to work out the rest of the kinks before Ole Miss.

And the offensive line played well blocking the pass. Chris is a decent QB when he has time, and he had it for most of yesterday's game. Hats go off to John Hunt for fixing the assignment issues.

And then there's the defense. We held UGA to around 250 total yards. Not bad. My only complaint is that we didn't manage to get the game-changing turnover I was hoping for. I'm still scratching my head as to how we didn't recover that fumble Munnerlyn forced against Stafford. That could've been a huge play; it would've taken away the FG UGA tacked on at the end of the half, and we would've gotten a chance to score more points to follow up on our one TD drive.

The bad? Well, the running game is still a big question mark. We have a senior RB who should be able help us, but we're just not getting good run blocking. And I'm just not going to talk about the fumble.

All in all, I feel good about this team as we go forward. I read an interesting comment on an UGA blog earlier. The commenter asked why we can't play all year the way we play each year against UGA. That comment should be a challenge to this team. If they can maintain yesterday's intensity for the rest of the year, we could do something. Don't forget; UGA is the second ranked team in the country, and we had them on their heels. If we can play like that against Ole Miss, the Vols, etc., we can win some games. On the other hand, if what we saw yesterday was a one-time thing, we could be in trouble. Let's hope these guys keep it up.

Also, I think it's worth mentioning that Vandy is now 3-0 and just won a game going away against a decent Rice team. I'm thinking that by the end of the year that loss won't seem quite so embarrassing.

1. Inexcusable. There's no excuse for what we saw tonight. There just isn't. Don't even start this "Vanderbilt is a good team" crap. Don't even start making excuses. Don't even begin to try to explain this away.

We lost. To Vanderbilt. Deal with it.

Where does the season go from here? I have no idea. But next week just went from a possibly close-fought loss to a blowout. I'll be watching, but only to see just how truly bad this team is. Because this is a bad team.

Mental mistakes were the reason that this one got away. But good teams don't make mental mistakes. They certainly don't make mental mistakes that cost them the ball game.

2. How's that special team coach working out for you? Remember, the one we hired that hadn't had a kick blocked in seven years? So much for that streak. The one who was going to keep us from making incredibly stupid mistakes, like not getting out of the way of the fricking ball? So much for that.

Special teams cost us this game. Period. There's no way around it. Two disastrous special team mistakes gave the Commodores the lead, and from that point on it was almost a formality. The sense of impending doom was almost palpable. The game was not going to turn around.

3. Bench Captain Munnerlyn. The special teams might have cost the Gamecocks a win, but they got a big hand from Munnerlyn -- South Carolina's answer to DeAngelo Hall.

Of the 68 yards that led to what would be the game-winning TD for Vanderbilt, 16 came from penalties by Munnerlyn, a pass interference flag and a holding call. Both of them came on third down. Both of them extended the drive for the Commodores. Both of them were stupid penalties that betrayed a lack of focus and composure.

And both of them were unforgivable. Bench him now, before he can destroy the team again.

4. The offensive line. Pitiful. Just pitiful. Aside from some tough runs by Mike Davis, who only averaged 4.4 ypc because he was willing to get a concussion before he went down, the ground game was a disaster, and a good deal of the blame lies with the offensive line.

Chris Smelley was sacked four times, twice in a row on the critical drive of the game. He threw several balls under immense pressure and turned what should have been yet another sack into a 24-yard run.

On top of all that, there were the penalties. Three false starts. This in one of the quietest, least intimidating stadiums in the conference. (Though, to their credit, Vandy fans did a good job tonight.)

5. Jared Cook. If there was a bright spot in this abomination of a game, it was Jared Cook. Asked to step up in the wake of Kenny McKinley's injury, he did just that: 8 catches, 111 yards. As bad as Thursday night was, it would have been a lot worse for the Gamecocks if Cook hadn't been there.

What happens if McKinley's out for an extended period of time? Well, then, go ahead and turn out the lights on the season. If you haven't already extinguished them.

GRADE: F. I really shouldn't have to explain this.

As usual, visit the Open Thread during the game.

1. It's Vanderbilt. They never win. Never mind.

2. Chris Smelley. Truth be told, I feel better going into this game with Smelley under center than Beecher. Aside from what happened last week, Smelley has more experience and has actually started in the SEC -- something necessary for a conference road game, even one in Nashville. He goes up against a team that allowed 244 yards passing against a MAC team last week.

Continue reading this post »

Well, we almost got to the first game without too much drama aside from the Stephen Garcia situation, but now this happened. Why can't our senior team leaders set better examples?

You don't want to emulate this guy's off-field behavior.

A few notes about this week.

C&F is going to do his best to get through most or all of the "Gamecocks 2008" previews so he can start on the opponent previews over the weekend. That includes a look at the wide receivers/tight ends and a couple of defensive previews. Might take a look at special teams, too, but that would be brief.

Wednesday through Friday will be consumed with SEC Media Days, which C&F is scheduled to attend in person. The plan for now is to liveblog the coach's press conferences and, later in the day, do quick recaps of each team presented on each of the three days. C&F will post a complete schedule tomorrow. (Just to let you know, South Carolina takes the stage Friday.)

Because of that schedule, other posts will likely be minimal.

As, likely, will be the carries of Bobby Wallace:

Mike Davis is a clear choice as the starter at tailback, Spurrier said. Brian Maddux is making strides, but Eric Baker has some work to do.

As for Bobby Wallace: “He’s still here,” Spurrier said.

Again, honesty is never a problem for HBC.