Even if you don’t think much of Phil Steele’s prognosticating skills, you’ve got to admit he has few peers in assembling data. I haven’t gotten this year’s mag yet, but he’s posted his preview of the Gamecocks at his site for your reading pleasure. Here are a few tidbits that jumped out at me, in no particular order:
- South Carolina is 5-11 in its most recent road openers.
- Stephen Garcia is 3,200 yards away from becoming South Carolina’s all time passing leader.
- Looking at Steele’s efficiency measurement, yards per point, the defense has been on a slight decline over the past three seasons, but the offense made a huge breakthrough in 2010.
Get The Picture 
Hello Marcus Lattimore!
We can only hope that Crowell can have a similar impact – if he does, we’re going to win the east.
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Never underestimate the importance of a power running attack. Lattimore took them from a .500 program to sec-east champs. Dawgs top offensive priority should be to develop a consistent running attack. We don’t give running anywhere near the importance it deserves.
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With the same offensive talent from last year returning and the defense much more experienced than the past two years (although now sans Norwood and Matthews, but plus Clowney)…
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Clowney is good but he is still a freshman. They will miss Norwood and Matthews and Clowney doesn’t offset the loss of those two.
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True, but Devin Taylor–projected by Steele as a first-team All-American–has done a decent job replacing Norwood’s presence on the pass rush. Matthews didn’t make a huge impact last year until the end of the season, and guys like Melvin Ingram also stepped up to do what he did. Clowney joins the party this year. I expect our defensive line will be OK with experience in the middle, a pre-season first-team All-American on one end, and the best freshman prospect in the nation on the other.
There’s a popular myth among Georgia fans that South Carolina is always one player away from totally sucking. Back in 2007 before the game in Athens, some guys told me that we were toast because we didn’t have Sidney Rice or Syvelle Newton anymore. Before last season, it was Norwood. This year, it’s Matthews. The truth is that South Carolina, at least for the time being, is no longer the late-90s South Carolina. I’m not saying that we’ll be great this year, or that we should be favored against UGA, but don’t expect us to be missing any of these guys too much when we come to Athens. There’s a reason Steele has us at 14, despite the fact that he seems to believe we’ll have a QB controversy on our hands. And that, by the way, is the place where we may be hurting.
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