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TFP - Flying in the face of fashion.
Gamecock Football
Spartanburg Herald-Journal: SEC names USC's Lattimore Offensive Player of Week. Hopefully just the first of many honors this season.
SI.com: I'm not upset with how we've landed in the latest A.P. poll. Or the ESPN/USA Today poll, for that matter.
Athlon: SEC Post-Week 1 Power Rankings. Athlon doesn't punish us as much as others for our meh outing in Nashville. Marcus and Jadeveon also get good notices.
CBS Sports: Larry Harstein files his SEC Power Ranking: Alabama leads the way. No complaints here either.
The State: The Negative Guy says Resting Shaw would benefit Gamecocks. I agree.
Greenville News: Spurrier still unsure if Shaw will face East Carolina. It may be a moot question, anyway; Connor might not be able to go no matter what.
Aiken Standard: Darryl Slater writes that Shaw's running a blessing, curse:
This much is clear: Even with tailback Marcus Lattimore, a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, the Gamecocks likely will struggle mightily to win without Shaw, a junior whose knack for running zone read option plays dates to his high school days and has often atoned for USC's passing shortcomings. But this is clearer still: Football is a violent sport, in which injuries often can't be guarded against, even when a shifty and, by all accounts, intelligent quarterback like Shaw does everything he's coached to do in order to protect himself while running.
By the way, Spurrier thinks that Kellen Williams' knee-shot to Connor's back wasn't dirty. OK. As I've said before, however, I don't think it was entirely clean, either. Watch the video if you think I'm just being a homer about it. (h/t Connor Tapp for the video).
An avalanche of links awaits after The Jump!
Spur of the Moment: Spurrier says he won't play Shaw if he's in pain, CB Jimmy Legree will test his tackling improvements vs. ECU's offense.
Sports Talk Radio: K-Mac says that Steve Spurrier won’t change the offense if Connor Shaw can’t play. If that's the case, then we need a playmaker/dual-threat Quarterback. No joking - it needs to be Bruce Ellington.
Cocky Country: Katie asks Is It Time To Freak Out About Our QB Situation?.
Bleacher Report: Alex Roberts does a East Carolina vs. South Carolina: Complete Week 2 Game Preview. He also writes Updating the Storylines to Watch After the Vandy Win and What We Learned from the Week 1 Game vs. Vanderbilt.
Greenville (NC) Daily Reflector: Spurrier wary of ECU. But are the players taking the Pirates seriously?
CBS Sports: Strategy And Personnel for USC-ECU.
Gamecock Anthem: Another excellent Practice Report by David Porter. You might think Devin had a quiet game, but David reports that Coach Lawing graded him number one out of all the DL.
Leftover Hotdog: Billy examines Lorenzo Ward's New Gamecock Defense.
O'Burg Times & Democrat: Spurrier focuses on South Carolina victory by Pete Iacobelli.
NBC: Ex-South Carolina safety officially with Rutgers. Sheldon Royster has formally become a Scarlet Knight. FIve will get you ten that Rutgers tampered, But - hey. It's Rutgers. Who cares? Good luck in Jersey, kid.
247: We seem to be holding our own so far in 2013 Recruiting Rankings - though Georgia, Clemson and Florida are ahead of us, and Vanderbilt is not far behind.
Brad Senkiw: Do teams really make the most improvement from Game 1 to Game 2? Brad challenges the c.w. here, but I think there's enough anecdotal evidence to back it up - even if there isn't a lot of empirical data. Brad also writes that Spurrier feeling better about tough win.
Loose Feed
Pre-Snap Read: Paul Myerberg's conference rankings may surprise you.
Mr. SEC: The case of the biggety billboard - Got Stupid? A&M Taunts UF With Billboard In Gainesville. The A&M admin denies that it's their handwork of course - but after this video (Ed - which has been scrubbed from most websites in an Orwellian attempt to erase its very existence!) can we ever believe anything they tell us? In any event the TAMU Marketing VP says they're closing in on the culrprit and will want to hang whoever it is on a trademark beef. So whodunnit? Here are the obvious choices: (A) a reckless Aggie; (B) a feckless Gator; (C) a pernicious Nole; or (D) a devious Tea Sipper? Since all the words on the sign were spelled correctly, I'm going with "D" - but that's just me!
ESPN SEC Blog: Don't think the Gators got some juice in their hometown? Texas A&M sign goes down in Gainesville. In mere hours (Ed. - Remind me to tell you the time back in 1993 when an outdoor advertising company in Columbia that shall remain nameless [cough, cough, Adams, cough cough] sold three billboards near W-B to a Tide fan who proceeded to emblazon them with a crimson-and-white "Roll Tide." I can assure you that they stayed up through the game - much to our chagrin. That still stings - and to add insult to injury we also lost to the defending national champs 17-6.)
USA Today: Why was Brent Musburger's audio dumped during Alabama game? Between Lee Corso and Brent, Kirk Herbstreit must hear more zany stuff from his co-hosts than any sportscaster in history.
Crystal Ball Run: Speaking of potty-mouths, we hear tell that Brent Pease was up in the box dropping "F bombs" during the Bowling Green game. Well, Charlie Weis was supposed to be an offensive genius, too, Brent.
Garnet Report: Must-See Games This Weekend: Week 2. Besides ours, of course.