Steve Spurrier makes the inevitable move.
Spurrier announced Monday night Connor Shaw will make his second start of the season this week when the Gamecocks face Kentucky.
“This is his game, it’s his opportunity to go play and we think he’s ready,” said Coach Spurrier. “We’re going to find out Saturday. Connor had a good practice tonight and, as most everyone knows, our quarterback play has not been as good as we hoped. We’ve got to do something.”
I assume he’s excluding himself from the “most everyone knows” observation. Otherwise, how to you explain his decision to give Marcus Lattimore only 17 carries against the worst rush defense in the SEC?
Maybe the OBC just thought Garcia needed the work.
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UPDATE: Bill Connelly has the statistical side of South Carolina’s mess at quarterback.
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Say what? Questionable play calling by the original Offensive Genius? I thought the grass was greener everywhere else.
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It’s Bobo’s fault.
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Russ, It Has To Be.
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Otherwise, how to you explain his decision to give Marcus Lattimore only 17 carries against the worst rush defense in the SEC?
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Wonder if the Old Ballsack accepted a $170,000 check from Bobby Lowder before the game?
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Nah. Too traceable.
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It really stinks that we blew that game to SC. They definitely have some players, but the way things are going now, I think we would beat them if we played them again, later in the season.
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Agreed. In fact, if we’re gonna play’em in the 2nd game every year, let’s just play’em first instead. No warm-up games or couple extra days to prepare (as they like to open the season on Thursday night). Let’s just catch’em outta the gate if we can’t move the schedule around for a mid-season match up.
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Alternatively, let’s have a tune-up game against at least one cupcake before we play them since USCe has one. If UGA had a tuneup game this year instead of having to focus summer practice on Boise we would have been able to focus more on USCe and likely would have beaten the ‘Cocks.
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I’m all for moving the sakerlina game to mid-season, in the middle of their annual implosion.
And, as always, Fire Mark Richt!!!!1!
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Honestly, I think Steve looked at last year when his best player ran out of gas by the time the schedule turned mean. He probably thought he could count on his defense to win the Vandy, Auburn and Kentucky games for him (apparently, he still does). So he’s picking Lattimore’s carries carefully.
For all the talk of UGA being in the driver’s seat in the east, we ain’t. Carolina still has to lose again (and we still have to beat UF). It may look crazy, but I think Spurrier is thinking strategically and just trying to get to ATL and get that one-off game with Lattimore as fresh as possible.
If he can monkey around with Garcia in the process, well, he is Steve Spurrier. It ain’t like they’re likely to lose vs Kentucky.
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USC does have the tiebreaker against us. And they will likely beat UK and VU. But they still play MSU, ARK, and UF. And I think they lose at least one, very possibly two, of those games.
If UGA wins out, I give us a 90% chance of winning the division.
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“if UGA wins out”, nah – 100%
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I like your kind of paranoia and think that you are on a good thinking trail. Never trust Spurrier.
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The Gamecocks are reminding me more and more of UGA with Stafford, Moreno and Green : early unimpressive wins and then are uncovered as not a great team, losing several. Except of course they don’t have a quarterback but do have the best running back, receiver, and now a huge defensive playmaker who looks like a defensive MVP.
Lets hope their losing continues for at least one more SEC game.
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Just a couple of weeks ago folks on the Intertubes were pointing to Spurrier as the model for how to use talent and get the most out of his roster. Oh well, sucks that he lost his way for one precious week. I am sure his brilliance will return this week.
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Because AU was also sporting the worst pass defense in the league. (Smiling with a shit eating grin on my face)
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..and that Latt had one meaningful run in his 17 carries…
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Lattimore averaged 3.9 ypc. Dyer averaged 3.4 ypc.
The moral of the story is you feed the beast if the beast is your best player on offense. Gus outcoached Spurrier in that regard.
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The good Senator writes;
“Maybe the OBC just thought Garcia needed the work.”
That has been a feature of Spurrier since his Florida days. Spurrier calls the plays in a game based on what he wants, which is not always what the defense is giving him.
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“Spurrier calls the plays in a game based on what he wants, which is not always what the defense is giving him.”
You mean, Bobo didn’t invent that?
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Well Sheet Far, it usually works.
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I can’t decide whether Stephen Garcia is deliberately tanking to try and make Spurrier look bad or the other way around. I mean, Spurrier actually got outcoached in the Georgia game — it was the big plays on defense and special teams (and a bracing dose of Lattimore at the end) that bailed him and Garcia out.
It’d be real nice if this season stressed the OBC out to the point where he finally said “Screw this, I’m hittin’ the links” and retired to leave the Gamecocks in the hands of another Brad Scott type.
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Not me! I want his butt back next year and we beat him like a drum.
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Spurrier is being “hoist with his own pittard.” Spurrier’s handling of Garcia has been abysmal, destroying the young man’s confidence without actually holding him accountable for his actions, thereby creating the very situation in which Spurrier now finds himself. I stated many times in the past year on this blog that Garcia needed to transfer and frankly I am amazed that he didn’t. Garcia graduated and could have moved to another major program a la Masoli if he had tried. He already had won the SEC East title at QB. It was inevitable that Garcia was going to be benched at by Spurrier. If Shaw performs at all Garcia won’t play another down at South Carolina.
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