What to Look Forward to Against Furman
I'll have some scouting reports up on Furman over the course of the week, but let's be honest--although we should all keep in mind that this is a football team we're playing and hope our guys will take the Paladins a bit more seriously than some of the other teams around the country have taken their FCS opponents, we should probably get ready to enjoy another blowout. That said, it's good to look for progress in these games, and there are a few things I think we should look for. They include:
Accuracy, rhythm, and a quick release from Stephen Garcia. Garcia didn't have a great game against Georgia. He managed the game fairly effectively, but he also coughed it up once, took some ugly sacks, and whiffed on a couple of throws. It would be good to see him get his mojo back this weekend, just in time to take it with him to Auburn. I'd first of all like to see him connect on a long TD pass. He's connected on some nice balls, but he seems to be a little off when he's throwing for six, Brian Maddox's drop notwithstanding. I would also like to see him avoid getting sacked. He did a good job of that against Southern Miss., but after taking a couple of tough hits against UGA, he seemed to lose his cool a bit. He needs to get it back.
Kenny Miles. I have no problem with giving the ball to Marcus Lattimore 37 times in a game where you know you're going to need every little yard. However, we're not going to be able to do that each week. Lattimore took a lot of hits against Georgia, and he'll need to rest his legs a bit this time around. There's no reason, though, that that should be a problem when we have a guy that ran for 5.0+ ypc last year. Miles is a perfectly capable SEC back, and I would like to see him on the field a bit more to spell Lattimore.
Spreading the Ball Around a Bit. Similarly, while I love Alshon Jeffery, I was to see us use some of our other targets. Jeffery is clearly our best receiver, but Tori Gurley, D.L. Moore, Jason Barnes, Ace Sanders, and Patrick DiMarco are also viable targets. It seemed that Garcia was oftentimes focused on trying to get the ball to Jeffery somehow in the second half. There's no need for us to take that kind of shortsighted approach when we have this kind of talent.
A Pass Rush. Ellis Johnson has said that he really wants to find a pass rush, and it's been pretty obvious that we're missing not having Eric Norwood or Shaq Wilson on the field right now. Devin Taylor had a nice game against UGA, but Cliff Matthews hasn't been quite as dominant as we hoped, and we're not getting a great rush from the Will LB. I'm not sure how many blitz packages Johnson will show us this week, as he's probably going to want to save some tricks to try to get in Cameron Newton's grill, but I would like to at least see Matthews run over somebody.
Tweet
6 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Yeah, I agree with all that pretty much.
If the front four can’t get a pass rush against these guys, there are some major problems that may cripple the whole season. I don’t care if they routed Colgate or not, the front four should dominate. It’s the third game. The rust should be off now. They have a total of two offensive linemen 300+ pounds, one of which is an even 300. I don’t even know if they’re starters. No excuses. These guys were 6-5 last year without playing a ranked team. It should be a cupcake massacre. Frosting and cherries will litter the stadium. I hate it’s pay per view. I guess I’ll have to rely on the radio and articles to get any sense of what happened.
stuff 'bout stuff.
by silver82blade on Sep 13, 2025 5:41 PM EDT reply actions
I'm sure tickets are still available :-)
Dum spiro spero - "While I breathe, I hope"
State motto of South Carolina
by The Feathered Warrior on Sep 13, 2025 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions
agreed we need to work Kenny in
You need at least two feature backs in this league - and you need to spread the touches a bit … Kenny has got a lot of upside.
I feel like Kenny (and the D) got a bit of a raw deal in the Southern Miss game because had we handed off to Kenny in the fourth, he would have driven the length of the field Instead, we threw up a duck interception and allowed a trash-time TD.
In the UGA game, I think Kenny could have contributed - of course its hard to argue with Lattimore’s 2 TD’s and came within a whisker of a 3rd after carrying the team on his back for the 4th quarter scoring drive that was the nail in the coffin.
With Maddox on the field as FB, I hope we’ll see Kenny get more carries in the Furman, Aub and Bama games - not to mention a steady dose of # 21. If we’ve established the run so completely by Bama (knock on wood), then we’ll force Saban to leave mismatches with his young (but still very, very good) secondary with our young (but also very, very, very good) receiving corps.
Does anyone miss a certain TE from Raleigh NC?
by tryptic67 on Sep 13, 2025 9:56 PM EDT reply actions
I keep wondering if we might see him at some point this year, and if so, when.
But no, we seem to be doing OK without him.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Sep 13, 2025 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions
I honeslty have given Wesley Saunders very little thought since the UGA win.
Not that we couldn’t use him. But their may yet be hope without him.
Dum spiro spero - "While I breathe, I hope"
State motto of South Carolina
by The Feathered Warrior on Sep 13, 2025 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions
You know, it strikes me that we had a better offense with Andy Boyd at TE in 2006 than we did in 2007-09...
with Cook and Saunders. Considering the way that we’ve been playing with Cunningham and DiMarco, maybe it’s better to have a blocking TE.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Sep 13, 2025 10:43 PM EDT up reply actions

by Gamecock Man on 











