On the surface, nothing really shocking: Alabama to win the West and South Carolina to win the East… Georgia second in the East.
But beneath that surface, note that there isn’t a single Gamecock on defense who makes first or second team SEC. (Even Georgia has one.) With Shaw and Clowney both gone, and South Carolina going to a 3-4 because of a lack of depth on the d-line, that’s an interesting call.
It sounds like both teams are perceived as being flawed. But let’s remember that Georgia and South Carolina are widely perceived as being top ten preseason teams. So one of these narratives is likely to give as the season progresses.
Get The Picture 
It appears that the SIDs didn’t follow other teams too closely and missed the part where our injured first string didn’t play. The Auburn game meant nothing to them even though they must have seen it.
We know that SC won’t be the same on D, but they won’t be feckless and neither will we. When you look at the O, there’s no comparison. The SIDs aren’t that blind nor stupid. What could possibly give Spurrier the edge in their minds? 2012? That won’t work again although I’m sure it was worth 3 pts to the SIDs, but that game was with many of the same personnel that we now have and I can see why impressed. What then? QBs? Don’t think so. Methinks their STs and possibly their O line made the difference. With our new little ball bearing runner and new faces that will step in to relieve our O line, we believe that these two factors may be a wash. ‘Course that’s our thinking and not the same as objective-thinking SIDs.
That game is quickly becoming our season. I’ll bet we will be ready for it, but I appreciate them helping to drive the odds before my money goes down.
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We play this game too early in the season. Way too early.
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True Mayor, we play them at full strength before the SEC schedule takes its toll. Add to it our yearly suspensions and tradition of instability at offensive line (EVERY FKIN YEAR) and we have a tight game. However it is time we just man up and come prepared and win this game on the road. Our D can’t be any worse than last year and hopefully the drop-off at QB can be mitigated by the best running back in college football.
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Playing them in October did not work out well for us.
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Touche.
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South Carolina and hubris. Now there’s an odd combination.
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I’m not sold on Dylan Thompson. Yes, he has played more than Mason at this point, but he has not been The Man in Darth Visor’s system. If he plays well, they’ll be tough to beat. If he struggles, where does Spurrier turn?
If they’re going to a 3-4 base due to d-line depth, they will be in trouble. We saw what it’s like to move to a 3-4 with players recruited to a 4-3. Marcus Lattimore chewed us up that second game of the year in 2010. Todd Gurley is Lattimore with better top end speed. If our o-line can control the game as they did last year, we could put up similar numbers in Columbia.
It’s going to be a war. I won’t be surprised if we win but will prepare for us to come up on the short end what could be a classic.
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The SID that picked Auburn to finish 9th in the SEC is an idiot. Auburn’s offense is loaded and the D will be better. This very well could be the year Georgia and Auburn play twice.
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Agreed.
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Maybe UGA and Auburn can play 3 times this season. That would be so exciting. I would love to see that.
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Given that the Dawgs have beaten Auburn 6 out of the last 8 times the teams have played (and the loss last year was a fluke) I hope we do play them 3 times because we likely will beat them all 3 times.
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Gamecocks fans in Columbia won that game for them in 2012 – I was watching it on a 90 year old woman’s TV in Prosperity, SC and cooked a hotdog over the television, there was so much energy.
Talent, match-ups, all those things are interesting, but I think it’s all going to come down to how much fight we bring to the stadium that day. I do think CJP is going to give us the closest thing to a Junkyard mentality we’ve seen in years. I get the feeling – backed up by little more than a few quotes – he’s teaching them mental toughness of the sort our NFL-bound d-line needed during the 4TH quarter in the SECCG that same year…although our offense needed the most help in Columbia, as I recall.
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In fairness, do not want to assume (from my comfy easy chair) to read the minds of our battered D in that 2012 game- they certainly did not get subbed at all by their coach, and, well…there is also….Alabama’s O-line.
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I was there. There fans were loud – but their players won the game. Not nearly as loud as LSU.
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That’s really surprising (although I believe your firsthand account, of course)…from my side of the tv I don’t think I’d ever seen anything quite like it…I thought they were going to start eating people.
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Are you crazy? I was there too (and have been to LSU). Columbia in 2012 was the craziest atmosphere I have ever seen for a game (and it pains me to say that). We didn’t execute though – I will agree with that. Perhaps a different game if Rambo comes down with the pick on the first play
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Yeah it sounds stupid to say one play was key in a blowout game, but I swear if Rambo makes that pick, it’s a totally different game. Not saying we win, but I think it keeps us from crapping our britches.
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I have had that same thought since the moment that occurred but, man, we had a terrible offensive plan to attack that defense. Once the first bricks starting falling on our heads there was no turning back. I view that game that game the same as I do the Bama “roof collapse” game in 2008, we had a swing moment that went the other way and then all hell broke loose for about 30 minutes.
I have no difference of opinion with the SID’s pick of SC for the East, the UGA game at home gives them the edge, imo. As I said before, there is minimal difference in the chances of UGA, Mizzou, or SC winning the East but with us having both of those teams on the road it seems logical to put us behind at least one of them. I think there are still a lot ofquestions about teams in both Divisions to say there is no clear favorite at all in the SEC this year. I look for a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in 2014.
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When’s the last time the winner of the UGA-SC game won the East?
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Good point but as tie-breakers go, and with a close race expected, it cannot be minimized. Plus, it is just a hard game to win and a conference loss is a tough burden to overcome when you still have Mizzou and Auburn on the schedule this year, (See how quickly TN and FU have fallen down the list of my primary concerns? At least in June.)
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You picked’em, Mac.
Personnel-wise we beat Auburn, but their coaches can cobble teams together so well that my concern would be our missing players at that time of year. There is a better than 50% chance they will have extruded their horse shoe as well. Their QB could stone us.
Mizzou has lost a few difference-making players, but I respect Pinkel’s coaching.
FU may go kamikazi on us this year. If they are not as depleted as we are by that time, it could be anybody’s game.
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The SEC West is loaded.
The SEC East favorite South Carolina would finish no better than 4th if they were in the West this year.
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