Answer is, “well, yeah”.

Question:  do I want to live in a world where this week’s Coaches Poll has Georgia listed five spots ahead of South Carolina?

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‘Cocky talk

Gotta admit this was pretty nervy:

But when a threatening comment is made just outside a locker room less than an hour before kickoff, it will resonate and reverberate as loudly as any stadium roar. This is what happened Saturday night on the field at Tiger Stadium just outside the chute that goes to LSU’s locker room, according to LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger:

“We’re coming for you, 8,” a South Carolina player told Mettenberger, who wears No. 8.

“You’re not going to make it through the game,” South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney said.

You know, when you’ve got a team that’s sleepwalking through its schedule, as LSU had been lately, the first rule is don’t do anything to wake it up.  Especially when you’re traveling.  Well played, gentlemen.

As if they needed any extra help…

Jadeveon Clowney says Aaron Murray was giving away snap by tapping center's hip to call for ball. Noise a huge factor.—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) October 07, 2012

It’s amazing how stuff like this gets by without being caught and corrected.  At least it should be amazing.  I’m too numb right now to be amazed.

Georgia – South Carolina: It’s hammer time.

Okay, I’m just gonna come right out and say it:  I don’t feel good about this one.

Before I get to what’s got me uneasy, let me go through the list of what doesn’t bother me:

• Georgia offense vs. South Carolina defense.  You know the one thing I don’t get in all the noise leading up to this game?  Why so many people are completely dismissing Georgia’s ability to score on the Carolina D.  It’s not that I’m saying 40+ points will happen.  But that’s a long way from saying that it’s not a possibility.  Lou Holtz (!) noted that there are only two teams in the country that have scored at least 40 points in every game they’ve played this season:  Georgia and Oregon.  If the Ducks were in Columbia, do you think everyone would have the same take on their scoring?  Despite last year’s shitstorm of turnovers, Georgia still hung 42 on the ‘Cocks – and that team had Melvin Ingram in addition to Clowney and Taylor.  Murray gashed that secondary worse than any other quarterback SC saw last season; the running game was credible as well.  Georgia also scored easily three years ago, with Joe Cox at the helm.  The last game in Columbia was a low scoring affair, true, but much of that was due to the straight jacket Richt elected to put Murray in because of his lack of experience.  That’s not happening today.  The South Carolina defense is formidable, particularly in the front seven, but it’s not shutting down the most explosive offense in the country.  The Dawgs may not score 40, but they won’t struggle to get to 20, either.
• Intangibles.  Hey, did you hear they’re fired up in Columbia?  It’s sort of a big game.  That being said, I don’t see where these favor either side.  The stakes are basically the same – the loser’s out of the national title hunt and is also behind the eight ball in the SEC East race.  As for the crowd, this isn’t Mark Richt’s first rodeo.  He’s only lost once in Columbia.  And we all know what Spurrier’s track record against Georgia is.  I expect both teams will be ready to play.
• The South Carolina running game.  The ‘Cocks are going to get some yardage on the ground.  Marcus Lattimore is simply too good for that not to happen.  But this isn’t going to be another Tennessee-like debacle on the part of Georgia’s defense.  As Jody notes, Carolina’s threats on offense are about as different from the Vols as they can be:  “Whereas UT had a big-armed QB, 2 future NFL WRs, a strong OL and very little on the ground, SC, well, doesn’t.  At QB they have the effective Conner Shaw, although he’s more dangerous on the ground.  At WR they don’t have the Alshon Jeffrey or Sydney Rice they’ve had in recent years.  Their OL has struggled mightily at times this season, but they do have one of the top talents in college football in Marcus Lattimore.”  Grantham is game planning for that.  And it will have an effect.  Of course, the risk he runs is that something else opens up.  (I’ll get to that in a minute.)
• The South Carolina secondary.  It’s been banged up and Ward is still working to get the pieces operating in sync.  And it hasn’t seen a passing attack like Georgia’s all season.  The Dawgs are currently ranked second in passer rating.  The most efficient passing attack the ‘Cocks have seen to date is Vanderbilt’s.  It’s ranked sixty-third.

As for what has me queasy, well…

• The Georgia offensive line vs. the South Carolina defensive line.  As improved as the Dawgs have looked in this department, it’s still an accident waiting to happen.  Bobo and Murray are going to have to scheme like mad and be totally aware of space to have a chance to minimize the havoc Clowney and Taylor are capable of bringing.  And the thing is that it doesn’t take too many times for that to break down to have a significant impact on the game’s outcome.  I hate to say it, but I’m resigned to it happening.
• Special teams.  Last year’s game, they were a killer.  This year, they’ve been an adventure, to say the least.  I expect that Richt is in full damage control mode – fair catch mode on punts fielded inside the 30, plenty of punt safe formations if it’s less than fourth-and-six and knees taken in the end zone regardless of how good the blocking sets up.  Even then, he can’t control everything.  Like PAT attempts.  A miss or two tonight could be crucial.
• Field position.  This is my biggest concern.  And Richt going conservative on special teams plays right into my fear.  If the Dawgs get pinned inside their twenty for a bunch of series, that will impact the offense.  If I were Spurrier, I would be playing to control this – skip going for it on fourth down near midfield, be aggressive returning punts and kickoffs – to cut Georgia’s scoring chances.  Tennessee’s crappy defense was able to hem Georgia’s offense in when the Dawgs went predictable.  Imagine what that South Carolina defense can do with those same circumstances.
• Georgia’s defense.  I understand why Georgia looked the way it did on defense last week, but I can’t excuse it.  A team with that much talent shouldn’t be giving up that much yardage and that many points to a mediocre SEC team, turnovers and special teams snafus notwithstanding.  The suspensions were survived without a loss, but it’s clear that a price has been paid in terms of cohesiveness.  This group will improve with more game experience, no doubt, but there will be breakdowns this week.  What’s worse, they’ll probably occur in the area that will be exposed somewhat by the game plan:  the deep passing game.  Shaw’s arm isn’t in the same class as Bray’s and his receivers aren’t nearly as good at Hunter and Patterson, but Shaw has shown that he can do some damage downfield if he has the time to set and throw.  Expect the Dawgs to get burned on play action more than once.  And watch for Lattimore on the wheel route.

On paper, Georgia’s the better team.  On paper, I like Georgia to win.  But I expect reality to go about as Josh Kendall describes it:

My official prediction such as it is, is that I think Georgia will win this game if it plays a clean game, but I don’t believe the Bulldogs will play a clean game because I haven’t seen them do it recently in a big game.

He’s right.  I hope I’m wrong, but I think the gremlins trip the Dawgs up just enough to lose another close one.

They escaped in an Escape.

Is this the most South Carolina lede ever?

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Deputies are looking for a gun toting woman with a goatee who stole hundreds of dollars of Gamecock merchandise from a K-Mart in Lexington County recently.

If the goatee turns out to be a disguise, I’m going to be disappointed.

Also, I can’t stop laughing over the “Related” box.

“Be the hammer and not the nail.”

That’s Merritt Hall’s advice to self on blocking Jadeveon Clowney.

How “back” is Marcus Lattimore, anyway?

His coach hopes all the way.

Spurrier had one of his trademark one-liners ready when asked Sunday about the health of Lattimore, who had knee surgery last year.

“I hope he’s where he was when he ran against Georgia two years ago,” Spurrier said with a laugh, alluding to Lattimore’s 182-yard performance, when he carried it 37 times, “because that was sort of his coming-out day here at Williams-Brice two years ago.”

And he is behind last season’s rushing pace.

237: Number of rushing yards short of last year’s total through five games for South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore, who enters the Georgia game with 440 yards on 92 carries (4.78 yards per carry). Through five games last year, Lattimore, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament nearly a year ago, had 677 yards on 124 carries (5.46 ypc). Lattimore has been productive in 2011 with eight rushing touchdowns and his signature vision and patience through the line. Will he fully regain his explosiveness and cutting ability of old? If he hasn’t, there’s still time for that. Look at Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who tore his ACL in December and looked stronger in Week 4 than in Week 1.

But if you look a little more carefully at his stats this season, it doesn’t seem that he was that far off to begin with.  He’s been a very productive player in 2012:

• Second in the conference in rushing attempts
• Top twenty in the SEC in receptions (and first among running backs)
• Sixteenth in the SEC in total offensive plays (and second among running backs)

Further, if you compare this year’s stats to his prior work, he’s pretty much on the same pace he was on his sensational freshman season.  He projects out to 239 rushing attempts this year, compared to 249 in 2010, but he’s also on a pace to catch 41 passes, which is more than the 29 he caught two years ago.  His average yards per carry is also close:  4.78 vs. 4.81.

If there are any differences of note, maybe it’s these:  his average yards per reception has dropped steadily, from 14.21 in 2010 to 9.58 in 2011 to his current 6.81; and his yards per rush are down from last year.  How much of that is him and how much of that is how Spurrier has tweaked his offense based on the change from Garcia to Shaw is hard to say.

But overall, what I see is a coach who’s managed his best player on offense carefully and well.  Last week was Lattimore’s season high in carries.  I expect him to have plenty in the tank to try to repeat the experiences Georgia’s defense suffered through the last two season.

Friday morning buffet

Nom nom nom…

• Aaron Murray has a legitimate shot at setting the Georgia career touchdown passing record tomorrow.  (He’d trade that for a win, though.  Duh.)
• Les Miles, on his big-ass fullback J. C. Copeland:  “He is a large man. He will continue to be that.”
• Charlie Weis knows what separates the great coaches from the rest – attention to detail.
• John Pennington reports that the nine-game conference schedule is back on the table for the SEC, because of the need for product for the SEC Network.  Fine by me.
• Pat Dye isn’t man enough to pick a winner in the Georgia-South Carolina game.
• Geno Smith’s numbers are insane.
• Georgia racks up 544 yards of offense tomorrow… and loses?  I can see that happening, with a few untimely turnovers and whatnot.
• Despite having more scholarship players on its roster, South Carolina has played the same number of kids on scholarship this season as Georgia has.

Thursday morning buffet

Step right up and dig in.

• This is a weird stat:  David Greene in 2004 was the last Bulldog to throw a touchdown pass in Columbia.
• What would a poll based on teams’ records against the spread look like?  This.
• In the Big 12, bad officiating means never having to say you’re sorry.
• In Dan Wetzel’s world, playoffs make everything in college football better.
• On the other hand, the ACC elects to stay with an 8-game conference schedule.
• Gee, I thought stuff like this was just a Southern problem.
• Man, I love the O’Bannon lawsuit.  Now it’s ESPN’s turn under the microscope.
• Is there a more pointless exercise than blogging about NCAA ’13 game simulations?

Line in the sand

Just Cover notes that the betting line for Saturday’s game has flipped since the summer.

Georgia was a short favorite in the summer over South Carolina. But now its the Gamecocks that are a smidge less than a field goal chalk. This game used to be an early September benchmark, but with conference realignment, its in October this year. This is a matchup of the last two SEC East champs. The winner gets a huge leg up in this year’s race, although both have to dance with Florida later in the fall. You would think with UGA getting two key defensive cogs back from suspension might keep them the favored team here, but maybe bettors are reacting to that D, even at full strength, giving up a boatload of points at home to Tennessee. South Carolina has covered four games in a row, they’ve covered five straight home games and own a 4-0-1 ATS mark in this series since 2007. [Emphasis added.]  These games are usually defensive driven, with the Under cashing in 13 times in the last 15 meetings, but the two overs have recently: last year’s 45-42 South Carolina win and 2009′s 41-37 UGA win.

Don’t like that trend line.  At all.