FIVE POINTS: Louisiana-Lafayette

1. What the title means. For anyone who's never been in Columbia, the most popular, ahem, watering hole for South Carolina students is Five Points. (Unless you're preppy and go to the Vista, but that's another matter entirely.) So that's where the name comes from. This will be the postgame wrapup, except for the Orange Crush, which gets different treatment.

2. Don't panic. There is legitimate reason for concern -- or at least calling the team "average stiffs" when a game like the just-completed opener happens. But it was the first game. Weird things happen in the first game. (Does anybody actually think Appalachian State is better than Michigan?) That said...

3. The offensive line didn't implode. Even with the loss of a starter. In the part of the limited replay I saw on CSS, there was only one bad breakdown. I also saw the line open up a huge hole on one play. But it was Louisiana Lafayette. South Carolina should have manhandled them.

4. The QBs were okay. I apparently missed an early interception by Chris Smelley, but he seemed to be timid about throwing the ball any real distance after that. Tommy Beecher was solid. Neither should start against Georgia, despite all the reservations I have about Blake.

5. It was a spread-optionish attack. The Gamecocks seem to struggle with those. This isn't something we're going to see a lot of this year, with one notable exception -- hello, Urban Meyer -- and the near-loss to Wofford last year wasn't a prelude to disaster. But letting La-La run all over us is still a warning.

OVERALL GRADE: C-. This really wasn't an acceptable outing.