“You can see chunks come up on any field.”

Hey, what could go wrong?

South Carolina is fully replacing its football field less than a week before the season opener after hosting a Jay-Z and Beyonce concert.

Crews trucked in sod from Sugar Hill, Georgia, after the old field had to be removed following the superstar couple’s concert last week.

South Carolina staff will spend Monday installing more than 90,000 square feet of Bermuda grass, said Clark Cox, the school’s assistant athletic director in charge of turf and landscaping services.

The field is expected to be ready when South Carolina opens its season by hosting Coastal Carolina on Sept. 1. The Gamecocks also have home games against national runner-up Georgia on Sept. 8 and Marshall on Sept. 15.

“We would not have done this if we believed there was a safety issue,” Cox said. “My job and our entire ground staff’s job, our No. 1 priority in everything we do, is safety and welfare of our student-athletes.”

No word on whether Cox consulted with the crack Neyland Stadium turf staff first.

Just something else to worry about for week two.

Architect of nothing

Easily my favorite thing about Seth Emerson’s “The top 10 events behind Georgia’s ascent to a national power” ($$) is that he manages a comprehensive look at who and what have led Georgia’s rise in the past three seasons without a single reference to Greg McGarity.

Two can play at that game.

David Cloninger, at the Post and Courier, addresses one of South Carolina’s keys to the SEC Championship this season:

Beat Georgia. The Week 2 matchup against Georgia at Williams-Brice Stadium is the key to the title hopes. The winner has basically a two-game lead on the division counting the tiebreaker, and USC would have the easiest road after that. If the Gamecocks win, they have the rare opportunity to stub their toe once and still make it to Atlanta.

(To be fair to Cloninger, this is an analytical argument.  He’s picking the ‘Cocks to finish second in the division.)

Anyway, this reflects a second underlying theme for the folks out there calling for the upset special in Columbia, that Boom’s team, well-prepared mentally and emotionally, is going to catch the Dawgs sleeping on them a little.

There’s just this one little, teensy catch to that.

Observations from @FootballUGA practice: Kirby is running an efficient operation. They’re hungry. Already working on SoCar. Fromm looks stronger and more skilled. Fields’ athleticism stands out but his arm is better than people think. New LBs coach Dan Lanning is impressive.

— Laura Rutledge (@LauraRutledge) August 25, 2018

Kirby isn’t sleeping on South Carolina.

Herbie is confused.

Geez, what a bunch of nonsensical bullshit… er, pap, this is.

Passing thought on Mullen

If I’m picking Florida to be Georgia’s biggest challenge in the East this season — and I have to admit I’m leaning that way — here’s an indication of the reason why:

No Florida quarterback has thrown more than 12 touchdown passes in a season since Tim Tebow in 2009. It’s a glaring statistic that shows just how inept Florida’s offense has been since.

Mullen ain’t perfect, but one thing he’s shown consistently throughout his coaching career is that he knows how to develop quarterbacks.  The Gators are a flawed team, but if Mullen can construct a viable passing game out of what he’s got on the roster, they’ll be a pretty decent one.

It’s not like he’s got anywhere to go but up, either.