You know, for a game with an almost obscene amount of offense, there were some terrific defensive plays on the day, too.
Daily Archives: April 3, 2018
“Nobody even comes close to what South Carolina is right now in the SEC East.”
According to Barrett Sallee,
Could they push Georgia, a team the Gamecocks stuck close to last year?
“People at Georgia will tell you, and they’ve told me, that was a game where they felt threatened,” Sallee said. “I was wildly impressed by South Carolina. I think Will Muschamp and that crew are building something pretty darn solid.”
I give Muschamp credit for managing a relatively close result, but the idea that South Carolina threatened in a game that featured the following statistical edges for Georgia…
- Time of possession: 38:22 vs. 21:38
- First downs: 26 vs. 14
- Total yards: 438 vs. 270
- Rushing yards: 242 vs. 43
… seems a stretch.
Also, Boom bragged after the game that, “We made Jake Fromm play quarterback.” Well, maybe so, but he played it to the tune of a 177.57 passer rating, so I’m not sure how well that strategy worked. (And again, the Dawgs rushed for 242 yards, so…) By comparison, Bentley managed a passer rating of 109.36.
That isn’t to say you can’t make a decent case for the ‘Cocks being the second-best team in the East in 2018. Getting Deebo Samuel back is a big deal for an offense that didn’t do much after he went down with an injury last season and from what I saw last Saturday, Bentley looks comfortable in the new offensive scheme. But being “wildly impressed” after SC’s spring game? I dunno.
Filed under 'Cock Envy, Media Punditry/Foibles
Recipe for success
A couple of notes of interest from this AP piece on how this year’s crop of newbie head coaches might do:
Remember that story about Alabama’s AD giving John Currie a spreadsheet that power ranked head coaching candidates? Welp,
The numbers also showed that coaches most likely to succeed at those schools had previous Power Five head coaching experience. Also, coaches who were previously a Power Five assistant had higher efficiency ratings than coaches who were previously a head coach at a Group of Five school.
I expected the first sentence to be the case, but the second one surprised me a little bit. Maybe there’s something to be said for already knowing how to operate in an environment of larger support staffs these days.
Speaking of previous P5 assistants, this may be the most perfect encapsulation of Jeremy Pruitt’s future you’ll read:
By virtue of not being Greg Schiano, Pruitt has Vols fans fired up about possibly having their own Kirby Smart — a Saban assistant who can implement the process. Or maybe Pruitt will be Will Muschamp? Unlike Nebraska, it does not seem as if expectations have been adjusted in Knoxville. And Alabama is still on Tennessee’s schedule every year.
I mean, really, doesn’t that hit all the high notes? (Okay, a gratuitous Fulmer reference tossed in there wouldn’t have hurt, but, still…)
“You shouldn’t have to enforce loyalty with a rule.”
I tell you what — if the NCAA does somehow come up with a reasonable fix for the transfer rule, it’ll be a miracle.
Filed under The NCAA
Defense (still) wins championships.
Ask John Chavis.
Looks like he’s on to something there.
But by all means let’s keep screaming about Chaney needing to open up the offense. Eyes on the prize, peeps.
Filed under Strategery And Mechanics
Musical palate cleanser, crime don’t pay edition
This started out as a sad story about one of my favorite artists.
Fortunately, there was a happy ending. They caught the scumbag.
Nils was a prodigy who came out of the DC area. He played in Charlottesville a fair number of times when I was in school there, both as a member of a group called Grin, and then solo. He used to play on stage with a trampoline he’d jump on and do flips during a performance, believe it or not.
Of course, his first big claim to fame was playing with Crazy Horse, Neil Young’s backing band. Here’s a little story about recording “Southern Man”.
His solo career took off in the mid-70s, but his second major claim to fame was joining Springsteen’s E-Street Band.
Anyway, here’s one of my favorite songs of his, a tribute to Keith Richards, “Keith Don’t Go”. (At one point, Nils was rumored to be in the running to replace Mick Taylor when he left the Stones. But I digress.)
The man can play a little guitar. Keep on truckin’, Nils.
Filed under Uncategorized
Get The Picture 