It sure felt good to get back in the saddle, didn’t it? And if you stuck it out until the end, you saw a very entertaining game in Nashville. Here’s what I took away from the night:
- North Carolina vs. South Carolina. It didn’t take long at all to figure out what a physical mismatch this was. The Tar Heels looked like a good Conference USA team – small, quick with a few good pieces here and there but little depth. And their defensive fundamentals were terrible. South Carolina, however, looks big and nasty, especially on defense. I didn’t see anything that surprised me, though. Connor Shaw is what he is, a quarterback who can hurt you if you let him set up in the pocket and if you aren’t able to contain his running, but who looks extremely ordinary if you can force him to pass on the move. The ‘Cocks receiving corps is certainly competent (if there’s one thing you can count on in a Spurrier-coached offense, it’s that the receivers know how to run routes), but lacks that scary big man who has to be accounted for on every play. The defense looked winded at times, but was never seriously challenged, although it’s not like North Carolina has the kind of running game that had to be taken seriously. In the end, it was a typical South Carolina opener under Spurrier, not the prettiest game, perhaps, but they got the job done. They’ll be a handful when they come to Athens.
- Ole Miss vs. Vanderbilt. It took a while to get there, but in the end, all this game told us is that these two teams are what they are: middle-of-the-pack by SEC standards and fun. Which is a big step up from where they were just a few seasons ago, admittedly. There were huge momentum swings throughout, which made for some highly entertaining observations in the Twitterverse, but I doubt the top-tier programs are losing any sleep over a new sheriff arriving in town. Neither team is deep enough to pose a consistent, season-long threat. That being said, the Vanderbilt squad I watched in the second quarter could upset anyone on a given day if it could play that way for an entire game.
Get The Picture 
Clowney has been reading his press clippings and has shown up this season out of condition. He’s probably been working out with weights to bulk up but not done sufficient running, etc. to build up stamina. He was gassed virtually the whole game. The Dawgs need to play fast from the first snap and run him around until his tongue hangs out. He’ll be out of the game before you know it. This question is addressed to those work-out experts out there: Can a player who is generally in good shape but lacking stamina develop stamina in a week? I’m betting “no.”
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Senator, that was succinct and representable game calling. +5. 🙂
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We’ve got our hands full in Athens next weekend
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Honestly, I was less than impressed with USC. I predicted a fourth loss in a row to them before the season, but now I’m more worried about the Clemson game.
For all the “advantage” that SOS supposedly has with his couple of extra days before playing UGA every year, I was feeling pretty good last night knowing that CMR, Bobo, Grantham and our players were most likely watching every snap of that game.
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I’m not yet so sure (though how our D plays Saturday is a big factor). UNC had one good player on their OL, no real running game, and no real game-breaking WRs. ALL they had on O was basically tempo. We’ve got a running game, a better OL, and better WRs. SC’s secondary looked vulnerable, and no DE not named Clowney scares me like the guys they’ve had the past two years.
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen a defense as out of shape as that South Carolina squad last night. Clowney was the worst out of all of them.
Sure makes me glad it’s a 4:30 kick in Athens. Going to be hot as hell.
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Clowney was recovering from a stomach bug. I wouldn’t get too carried away about his conditioning.
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Do you honestly believe that? Smells like a PR cover up to me
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Remember a week or two ago when SS was changing the subject when Clowney came up? He didn’t want to talk about it. I think the guy’s been sick or something and Spurrier has been hiding it. He’ll be ready next week…but that defense can stand it’s ground without him. But with an up-tempo game, Gurley should be able to eat up the yards in the fourth….You can bet SS is working on the ground game to keep this defense off the field…just like CMR is doing this week against Clemson.
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That big offensive line at SC worries me.
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Interjecting my best Munson pessimism and paranoia I will now state that knowing Spurrier and the lengths with which he will go to screw Georgia, Clowney was probably only pretending to be gassed to lull us into a false state of confidence, lol.
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I actually thought that as well. Not rational I know, but definitely crossed my mind.
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My thoughts as well. He was loafing around and looked exhausted by half time. Hope its true, but I put nothing past a man who chooses Original Coors in this day and age of easily found premium hops.
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HEY!!! Original Coors is a great beer! A bunch of blind taste tests say so, too.
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What was compared? Natty Daddys?
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Keystone Light…..You could get a case for $10/$12 in Athens when I was in school.
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Another fine beverage, right up there with Pabst Blue Ribbon. 🙂
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Beers that, like revenge, are best served cold. 😉
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My gut agrees.
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I’m definitely more worried about Clemson than I am SC. Especially after last night. Clowney’s a freak, and I’ll give him somewhat of a pass because of the stomach bug. But from the looks of it, all it takes to beat this SC defense is (a) a competent RB or two, and (b) a bunch of slants and screens in the passing game. Not rocket science.
Home field advantage doesn’t hurt, either.
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Agree with you on Vandy. They looked pretty damn tough in the 2nd quarter.
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All I know is, that Ole Miss Offense is boring. Quick to the line, stop look over the coaches. Run a bunch of WRs deep, than throw a 3 yard pass to the crossing WR.
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I get the sneaking suspicion spurrier was just toying with unc and fucking with Georgia. Telling clowney to take some plays off, look winded, etc. the offense was vanilla but very effective. He brought in Thompson to throw one pass, which was a TD. Each QB had a TD pass and each RB had a rushing TD. we can’t read too much into this one. Spurrier is the evil genius
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How does Millen still have a job? Usually I can learn a few things from a good analyst during a broadcast. I thought Palmer even had a nice cutaway explaining the Spurrier passing philosophy. But all I remember from Millen was trying to compare college freshmen to Hall of Fame NFL’ers. And stumbling over Michael Irvin’s name.
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Agreed. Tessitore is okay, but Millen is terrible. I like Maria Taylor (DGD!) on the sidelines. She’s good.
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After watching the cocks last night… I like our chances. Clowney was the big story, as he did his best Cornelius Washington impression. If he plays like that against us, our offense will score big points.
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Wait, what? NC ran the offense away from Clowney all night. He was still a huge factor in the game, even if his numbers (and stamina) weren’t impressive.
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We saw some freshmen and inexperienced players contributing last night and it should give us some comfort believing that ours can do the same.
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I agree with the guys here who say we should not expect that SC team to come to Athens. That will be a large mistake.
SC will be bringing their A game, and Clowney will be just as good as he’s ever been.
~~~
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+1. Even if they have to amp him up with “medication.”
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I want to see a running attack consistently at Clowney. Let him take plays off because he will take the wrong one off every know and then. Plus, I would test his conditioning. Don’t abandon the running game.
UNC can’t tackle worth a crap.
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I agree. Run right at him, like Bama did to Jarvis. He’ll get tired of fighting off 2-3 blockers every play.
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What concerns me most is our run defense. Did you see Brandon Wilds carry the pile for that first down in the first half? Mike Davis put up 115. I hope our depth on the line will be enough to overcome our youth, but damn I fear getting gashed again by the run, a la SECCG.
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Did you see how small UNC’s defensive front was? Did you notice that UNC’s starting MLB was a walk-on?
I don’t know how UGA’s defense will handle SC’s offensive line, but last night’s not what you want to gauge that by.
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Hey I hope you’re right.
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Most of the conversation on this thread has been about USCe and Clowney but the Senator’s post included Ole Piss and Vandy, too. Looked to me like they were both evenly matched .500 SEC teams whose Ds couldn’t stop any kind of good O. I look for both of them to have regular seasons about 6-6 with Ole Piss maybe going 7-5 because it won that game.
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Exactly what I thought. The winner can oretend to be relevant for another couple of weeks. Bad bowls for both. Does that cool recruiting for Ole Miss and cause Franklin to begin looking for greener pastures?
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I mentioned this on the “Friday Buffet” thread earlier, but Franklin and anyone else who had any input into putting Matthews back out on the field after the projectile vomiting incident should be fired. I have never seen such craven disregard for a player’s health, and I don’t give a good God damn about the pretty pass he caught a couple of plays later, and I don’t give a good God damn what the kid or anybody else says about it today. There’s no way they had time to evaluate him for a concussion on the sidelines. In light of all the talk about concussions are getting at all levels of the game, it’s especially grievous.
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