“Yes, folks, this is going to be a big game.”

Enjoy Gamecock Man’s breakdown of this year’s Georgia-South Carolina matchup.

It’s a close call, and I can’t fault him for backing his team (at least if Lattimore is healthy).

That being said, I think the garnet-colored glasses show through a little bit in his conclusion:

Until proven otherwise, I think we should be able to handle Georgia’s running game, and while Murray is a dangerous passer, Clowney and Taylor are likely to have a field day with him, hopefully leading to some of the classic Murray breakdowns. Georgia’s defense will likely make things tough on us, too, but if we can stay steady running the read-option with Shaw and Lattimore, we should be able to move the ball with a bit more consistency and without putting the ball in danger. I’m concerned about our ability to throw the ball against a team with such a great defensive front, but Shaw’s ability to improvise with his feet should keep us out of trouble until our running game opens things up down field.

I’m not sure I see why Carolina’s offense will be more likely to have its way against Georgia’s defense than vice versa.  That certainly wasn’t the case last year.  And, yes, Murray versus the Gamecock ends is worrisome, but he still managed to put up a 175.98 passer rating with Clowney and Taylor on the field last year.  (That’s not a number Shaw managed to hit against SEC competition in 2011, by the way.)

The big question to me is whether the Dawgs can avoid self-destructing.  If they can, I think Gamecock Man’s got his prediction backwards.

About these ads

You make it hard for me when you say things like that.

You know what’s worse than a Gamecock fan?

A reasonable Gamecock fan.

I mean, how am supposed to attack something like this?

But the fact of the matter is also this: If South Carolina had defeated an Auburn team that Georgia defeated last year, the Gamecocks would have gone to Atlanta. Yes, the loss to Arkansas hurt, but Georgia went 5-0 against common opponents last year and South Carolina went 4-1. That’s why the Gamecocks didn’t go to the SEC Championship Game.

Seriously, and for the record, I don’t see Georgia running off a 12-0 regular season.  But I think cocknfire’s right about one big thing – if Georgia wins the East this year, it won’t be because of the schedule.  It’ll be because it turned out to be the better team.

2008: The Year of Living Easily

Spurrier’s constant wanking over scheduling might be worthy of more respect if it weren’t so blatantly self-serving.  In other words, where was he in 2008?

2008- Alabama: The Crimson Tide opened with an overrated Clemson team, who would finish the year with six losses, while Tulane, Western Kentucky, and Arkansas State rounded out its non-conference slate…Faced just two ranked opponents – No. 13 Georgia and No. 14 Ole Miss…Like Kentucky two years later, eight of Alabama’s 12 regular-season opponents finished their respective regular seasons with non-winning records.

And speaking of 2008, don’t forget to compare Georgia’s and South Carolina’s schedules from that season.  That lack of balance inspired crickets from the OBC.

The point is that over time, this all comes out in the wash.  Spurrier’s problem is that at this time in his career he doesn’t have that luxury anymore, so he’s resorting to his next best option:  working the refs.

Get over it, son.

Spurrier’s still fixated on that schedule thing.

Spurrier on UGA,'They got plenty of RB's at UGA…they got the easiest schedule so that's why they're picked. They play OM, we play LSU.'—
Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) July 03, 2012

Vandy’s got an easier schedule than the ‘Cocks, too.  So how come nobody’s picking the Commodores to finish ahead of South Carolina?

I tell you what – it’s about time for Evil Richt to emerge and start needling Spurrier about this.  The seed’s already been planted in the OBC’s head.

Saturday morning buffet

A tidbit here, a nugget there… and pretty soon it adds up to a post.

• Auburn’s Emory Blake will have his fourth different opening-day quarterback throwing to him when the Tigers begin this season.
• It’s good to see that faculty were as detached from reality in 1951 as they are today.
• The Orlando Sentinel picks the Georgia-South Carolina game as one of ten that could change the BCS.  (It looks like I’m going to have to mothball my favorite GTP post permanently.)
• The California State Assembly is on the verge of passing a college athlete’s bill of rights.
• I know he occupies more than one position there, but, still, Vanderbilt’s AD makes a surprising amount of money.
• Bruce Feldman notes that Ole Miss’ new coaching staff is almost entirely made up of coaches from Orgeron’s Rebels staff.  Wonder what the Red Bull consumption is like.
• LSU is handing out raises to coaches like candy.  One example:  “Recruiting coordinator/running backs coach Frank Wilson is up for a $225,000 raise to $550,000 a year. That will go up to $600,000 a year in 2013 and $650,000 a year in 2014, according to the proposal.”  Whoa, Nellie.

Tweet of the day

Mark Richt takes a genteel dig at Steve Spurrier.

Mark Richt on Spurrier's division proposal: "I don’t know if he’d feel good about it every year, but he’d feel good about it this year.”—
Seth Emerson (@SethEmerson) May 29, 2012

In its own subtle way, that’s just as good as Spurrier’s recent suspension quip about Georgia.

Wednesday morning buffet

The chafing dishes have been refilled.

• Everybody’s been focusing on Gary Pinkel’s “mammoth” comment, but I think the more interesting news from Seth’s post is that the Missouri coach is still hedging his bet on whether James Franklin will be ready when Georgia comes to town.
• Chris Low thinks it would be better to base the composition of a playoff field on the BCS standings than on a selection committee, “… because it’s farfetched to think you could truly find enough qualified people, who didn’t have a dog in the fight, to serve on a selection committee.”  Did somebody have a meeting about dropping the Coaches Poll that I missed?
• The future’s so bright at Auburn, Gene Chizik has to wear shades.  Or at least he will, once he figures out exactly how bright that is.
• Not surprisingly, Mark Richt doesn’t think much of Steve Spurrier’s divisional champ proposal.
• The rejiggered SEC is trying to figure out how it meshes with the bowls.
• The BCS looks like it’s going to adopt a fan-friendly format.  Not:  One commissioner, who is against semifinal games being played on campus, said: “The NCAA [men's basketball] tournament doesn’t have campus games, do they?”
• Even if you don’t care about the NFL (I don’t), you might be interested in this article about how its metamorphosis into a pass-happy league is affecting the value it puts on certain positions, because of the impact that may have on the college game.

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UPDATE:  Regarding the likely rejection of playing the semi-finals at on-campus sites, Brian Cook offers some excellent snark here.

For a fat defensive lineman, he don’t sweat much.

Meet Byron Jerideau, now South Carolina’s “best defensive tackle” according to his position coach who really ladles out the praise for his man:

“He still does bonehead things every now and then, but he’s changed his whole body, his whole conditioning,” Lawing said.

“When he first got here, he was in no way, form or fashion ready to play college football. He’s in shape. He can actually perform the things we ask him to perform.”

Don’t sound so surprised, coach.

Spurrier drinks deeply from the Garnet and Black Kool-Aid.

I can hardly believe the OBC has sunk to this level.

… He thinks the SEC should choose its division champions in football based on division record instead of overall conference record. “Your division champ should be decided on division games. Last year, it wasn’t fair for Tennessee and Florida,” Spurrier said. “They both played LSU and Alabama. Us and Georgia didn’t. So, us or Georgia almost had to win the division simply because of the schedule.”

Spurrier isn’t only taking up the plight of the Volunteers and Gators, who must play Alabama and LSU, respectively, every season. His motives are likely much more selfish. If division record had decided the champions in 2011, the Gamecocks would have won the East by virtue of their 5-0 record. (South Carolina went 6-2 overall, losing at home to Auburn and at Arkansas.) Georgia, which went 4-1 in the division — the loss came in Athens to South Carolina — won the East by virtue of its 7-1 overall record. “I give them credit for beating everybody after they lost to us,” Spurrier said. “But they had [0-8] Ole Miss, and we had [6-2] Arkansas. That was the only difference in the SEC schedule between us two.”

Funny how that never bothered him at Florida.  He’s become as insecure about winning as his fan base is.

If Georgia wins in Columbia this season and goes on to win the East again, maybe he’ll need to lobby for a rule next season requiring that game to be played in the second week of the season.  Or whatever ‘Cock fans think will fix the problem…

It’s hard to act like you’ve been there when you never have before.

Warning:  this comes from a Clemson board, so the possibility that it’s a Photoshopped image exists, but I sure hope it’s for real.  From the heart of Williams Brice Stadium comes this banner (click on the image at the link) honoring Gamecock immortality.

I suppose they should get credit for not hanging a “Real Winners of the SEC East 2011″ banner, though.