Friday ‘Cocky thoughts

• One thing that’s a little strange to me is how little chance South Carolina is being given by the pundits for pulling the upset.  Usually there’s someone credible (i.e., not May or Holtz) giving the ‘Cocks a shot in an upset pick, but I’m not seeing it this year.
• If SC (can I say that?) does lose tomorrow, you’d have to say that the program has hit a pretty grim stretch under Spurrier:  Should South Carolina fall to Georgia, Spurrier would own the first 1-7 stretch of his college career. His 2008 Gamecocks would be 1-2 with a schedule that concludes with six games against teams that won eight or more games a year ago.
• There were questions about whether Jasper Brinkley might struggle a bit coming out of the gate after recovering from that serious knee injury last year, and he hasn’t been the dominant player so far this year that he was then.  But there may be another reason for that – lack of confidence in a new defensive scheme.
  

  “I’ve got to start trusting the new scheme that we have,” Brinkley admitted Wednesday. “Once I trust that, I believe I’ll be a whole lot better. It’s not going to change, so it’s something I’ve got to deal with.”

  Instead of attacking the ball from the inside out with a reckless abandon that made him one of the most feared linebackers in the Southeastern Conference his first year, his current role is to contain and turn the ball inside more. The new alignment has had him rattled in the first two games in which he posted only three tackles and one quarterback hurry.

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UPDATE: Matt notes in the comments that Steele picks the upset.  It’s all about Spurrier.

SC outgained Vandy by 100+ yards last week but a punt that bounced off a blocker changed the outcome as it allowed Vandy back in the game. This is it for Spurrier. I really feel that if he loses this game, this will probably be his last season as head man of the Gamecocks and he will head to the links after the season. I feel an upset will recharge him and keep in mind SC beat Georgia last year “Between the Hedges” and now get them at home. PHIL’S FORECAST: SOUTH CAROLINA 17 Georgia 16

He’s even overriden his computer.

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Moreno, ESPN and a highlight that’ll never be

Per Coach Richt’s blog, ESPN will be trotting out a brief segment on Moreno during tomorrow’s GameDay.

We’ll probably see the Hurdle, but after reading a comment from Coach Ball about it on David Hale’s blog, I wonder if there’s an alternative universe where we might have seen a very different sort of highlight on the play.  Here’s what Ball said:

“I don’t like us to necessarily go airborne because once you go airborne, you’re vulnerable. I think there’s certainly a time and place, and some people can do it, but it’s not something I encourage. But I don’t put the reins on a ball carrier because to me, I think those things are instinctual. I did make reference to it during our meetings about the decision to do it. But for some reason when I saw him kind of gauge himself, I had a feeling he was getting ready to jump. I was hoping he would make that guy miss him and score. That was the thing I showed him. It was a great athletic move, but don’t leave yards on the field.”

So, curious, I went back to look at the YouTube clip of the play, to see if there was an opportunity for Moreno to have broken the play open, and I noticed a player coming up on Moreno’s left as he leaps.

It’s Stafford.  Makes you wonder what might have happened if Moreno had spun left instead of leaping.  So does Moreno.

“I probably should have kept on going left because I had (quarterback Matthew) Stafford on the left side, and he probably would have thrown a block for me,” Moreno said.

Who knows, Matt might have had his Casey Dick moment.

That would have made for a helluva highlight, wouldn’t it?