If Florida wins in Jax, the Gators clinch the East. That doesn’t seem to matter to Steve Spurrier.
Spurrier on UGA-Florida: "I'm pulling for Florida" Not sure if he knows the only way for Gamecocks to win East is with UGA win—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) October 21, 2012
Most SEC teams hope to wind up playing in Atlanta. Spurrier coaches hoping that Georgia won’t.
Filed under The Evil Genius
You know there’s gonna be one. The man enjoys zinging Grantham.
Me, I’m going with a four-wide, single-back set up. Georgia’s busy preparing for a big dose of the zone read, with some I-formation thrown in. What better way to hit Grantham with what he’s least expecting than to spread the Dawg defense out and pick away at it? Carolina’s passing game may not be as prolific as Georgia’s, but there are enough receivers to choose from. Plus, you’ve still got Lattimore in the backfield who can either run against a defense that won’t be able to stack up, or catch the ball against single coverage from a linebacker. There should also be some open space for Shaw to take advantage of if he needs to tuck the ball and run.
What do you guys think?
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I haven’t been shy about mocking Spurrier’s complaints to the SEC about various policies the conference has put in place, but I can’t blame him for his latest grumble.
A personal foul was called against Swearinger after he launched into UAB’s Patrick Hearn while breaking up a pass in the third quarter Saturday. The side of Swearinger’s helmet crashed into Hearn’s facemask. Both players stayed in the game…
… Spurrier pointed out Sunday that a Vanderbilt player was given a 15-yard penalty but no suspension for a similar hit against Gamecocks tight end Justice Cunningham.
Here’s the hit on Cunningham, for those who need a reminder:
This is the can of worms Mike Slive has opened with his new, laser-like focus on targeting. And before you say, “that’s just Spurrier”, note that Steve Shaw felt compelled to respond to Spurrier’s comparison.
On replay, although contact was made to the receiver’s helmet, the primary contact from the Vanderbilt defender was to the shoulder area. The Vanderbilt defender never lowers his head and the contact is made with his facemask up looking at the South Carolina receiver. It was a foul because there was glancing contact to the receiver’s helmet. In the UAB contest, based on video replays, the contact was initiated by a slight launch of the defender into the receiver and the primary contact was targeted directly into the receiver’s facemask.
Now whether you think that’s a load of hooey or not, that’s an awful lot of detail you’re asking officials on the field to absorb in a short time. (Remember that the player who received the season’s first suspension wasn’t even flagged on the play.) And it’s setting things up for an awful lot of second guessing in the aftermath.
None of which is to say that sending a message about targeting isn’t a worthy idea. But the devil’s in the details. And details aren’t something at which the SEC has always excelled.
Filed under SEC Football, The Evil Genius
A few tempting morsels set out in the buffet line for you this morning:
Jeez, Spurdog, you can do better than this weak sauce.
Spurrier announces two suspensions. "Georgia is not the only one with suspensions… but nobody has ever heard of ours." both reserves—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) August 18, 2012
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I think we all know the question we wish Ivan Maisel had asked Spurrier here:
Two decades ago, when the NCAA cut back from 95 scholarships to 85, Florida coach Steve Spurrier opined that he believed the limit could fall to 75. Now that No. 1 USC is limited to 75 by an NCAA sanction, I asked Spurrier, now at South Carolina, if he still felt the same. “If you’ve got 75 really good players,” Spurrier said, “and you’re at a state university where you can get a walk-on scout team, you could easily do that.”
If Georgia manages to waltz out of Columbia with a win this year, there’s such an obvious opportunity for Richt to jab in the OBC’s direction at the post-game presser. I hope he takes a minute to indulge himself so. Or that at least somebody in the media throws him the fastball down the middle to give him the chance for the quip.
Filed under Georgia Football, The Evil Genius
Commence noshing.
No fifth chance for Tanner McEvoy at South Carolina.
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It’s a South Carolina tradition, y’all.
“Tanner’s back,” Spurrier said. “He’s been approved to come back to the team.”
So no game suspension?
“Do you know what he got arrested for?” Spurrier said. “He told me … I think South Carolina doesn’t have that law. North Carolina has that law (about underage people not being allowed to drink any alcohol at all before driving). He got arrested for it, and he’ll pay his fine. You want him suspended for having a beer and he’s underage? How many football players would be playing if they had a beer and they were underage? But anyway, go talk to coach Tanner (athletic director Ray Tanner) about that, if we’re going to suspend him, OK? I’m not going to suspend him for that, all right? But I don’t know if he’s going to play anyway.”
Hell, at this point, Spurrier ought to consider using this on the recruiting trail – “son, if you come to South Carolina, you can have a few beers now and then…”. Kinda like making Mike’s Hard Lemonade out of lemons, so to speak.
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As I told Gamecock Man in the comments the other day, I do give Steve Spurrier a lot of credit for retooling his offense to fit the skill set of his players. That’s the sign of a good offensive coordinator, which the OBC certainly is.
That being said, it seems that may not be the secret to Spurrier’s success. The key? Having a starting quarterback without a life.
“Connor is a little different, and our whole style of offense is different than in years past,” Spurrier said. “He’s been around football his whole life and is pretty much dedicated to that. He doesn’t have a lot of outside interests other than to be the best quarterback he can to help our team win games and be successful and hopefully win the SEC.”
Well, you certainly couldn’t accuse Stephen Garcia of that. (Or, it seems, Tanner McEvoy.)
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UPDATE: I swear to Gawd, just STFU.
“What happened is Tanner got a speeding ticket and the guy said have you had a beer and he said yes sir, I had one maybe two I’m not sure, but he was not over the limit. It was not a DUI.”
Spurrier said he was unaware of the North Carolina law that states no one under the age of 21 is allowed to drive after comsuming any amount of alchohol. [sic.]
“I learned that today. I didn’t know. So Tanner was guilty of speeding and he was guilty of that [drinking a beer] too. That could probably happen to 50 percent of every college football player in the country if they’ve had one beer and driven. I don’t reccomend having too many obviously. But, yeah, he’ll just have to pay the consequences for being arrested.
Steve Spurrier is supposedly unaware of underaged drinking/driving laws. This, from a guy who’s been coaching college kids for the better part of three decades? Methinks I detect the faint odor of bullshit wafting gently from the OBC’s mouth.
But aside from that, can you imagine the outcry if Mark Richt uttered a similar explanation?
For some reason, this comes to mind.
Hope he had a driver…
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