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TFP: So I said I'm on the road, so I need a car
As we get ready to watch the Gamecocks take on the Kentucky Wildcats tomorrow on ESPN2 at 7:00 PM Eastern, here are some links and goings-on from around the internetz.
The Big Spur: Tony Morrell gives us Five Keys To Victory and I agree with all of them. But I will go one further. Just improve overall as a team. That doesn't mean Connor has to complete 25 out of 25 passes for 400 yards. It just means that I want to see the offense continue to advance the ball, move the chains and put some points on the board. I want to see the Defense continue to play good assignment football. If D.J. Swearinger makes a big hit or forces a turnover, great, but it's more important to play well and get ready for Georgia. I don't mean the team should overlook Kentucky. If they take this game seriously and do their jobs, then this game will take care of itself. Don't get too fancy and act careless when you get an opportunity to try to strut. Just win.
Team Speed Kills: TSK has taken a look at all the undefeated teams in the SEC after week four. In this piece CocknFire looks at how USC got here (4-0), what's gone right, what's gone wrong and then looks at the schedule ahead. It's a good read, and there are stories available for Miss State, Georgia, Florida, LSU and Alabama, as well. Note, after reading the Georgia piece, I'm hopeful that we'll be able to have some success against their defense. Interesting match of strength on strength. Our better defense vs their better offense.
The State: Ron Morris. Well. Ron? This was a well-written apology. And, I'm sorry to all the readers that I missed the comment that Ron made to make this necessary. Yes, Ron, I remember reading both articles you wrote recently. One about Spurrier's inevitable 200th victory and the one about not believing Shaw would be healthy enough to start. Like you, I had to eat some crow on the matter of doubting Number 14. But this last one is a real head-scratcher. What in the world would make you think it was ok to compare any institution right now to Penn State? Unless you were on Tosh.0 or some other kind of shock humor.
At the end of Ron's well-written article, here's the apology:
My comment on radio that connected USC’s public-relations issue with the Penn State scandal was only to suggest that college administrators have to be on high alert when it comes to coaches exerting too much influence over athletics department and university policy. That clearly was the case at Penn State.
In hindsight, any link to what happened at Penn State was inappropriate, and I apologize.
Anderson Independent: Good work, Chaz! This article details Chaz Sutton and his hard work during the offseason. I am glad that he has worked this hard. We need a guy to help keep Devin and Jadeveon rested, and he might even be pushing them so that they work hard enough to keep their own reps!
SB Nation: Bill C. gives us his 10 front-runners in the Heisman Horse Race. See which South Carolina Gamecock makes the list and where he is on the list.
Capital One: Don't forget to vote for Cocky! I'm sure all of us are aware that Cocky has again made it into the Capital One Mascot Challenge, but I'll be honest I don't vote every single day. But I sure vote when the link is in front of me!
A Sea of Blue: A good article from Kentucky as they inspect their coaching situation and look at how South Carolina got things turned around. A pretty good read. I would say that Lou Holtz really acted kinda like a fresh coat of paint. It looked nice and new, but it didn't really fix any of the fundamental problems. It really took Spurrier daring Carolina fans to dream big (ironically that is the way they described Paul Deitzel, whom we just inducted into our Hall of Fame) and Eric Hyman's go-getter attitude to upgrade our facilities. From the original article, here is a word of caution for any Missouri fans:
In the 2000s, South Carolina has fully turned the tables on UK, going 11-1 head-to-head against the Cats. Since 2000, the Gamecocks are 92-61 overall and have a winning record in the brutal SEC (50-48). Kentucky is 62-87 overall since 2000 and 24-73 in the league. (Emphasis Mine).
In what is probably our 10 years of football ever, we barely have a winning record in the SEC.
Loose Feed:
Team Speed Kills: Year2 speculates on if Oregon could become the 2012 version of Auburn circa 2004. And, he's right. It's very possible to end up with an undefeated SEC team, Oregon and FSU. There's a few others that could be thrown in there but it's early, yet. Notre Dame and Kansas State have a while to go. Just something to think about.
Team Speed Kills: An interesting fan post comparing the offensive and defensive yards per play and the ratio for each team. check it out.