“If drinking were a national sport, USC would probably be number one.”

An alert reader emailed me the link to this, and all I can say is, what else is there to do in Columbia, South Carolina?

So many drunk University of South Carolina students are being transported to the emergency room during home football games that stretchers line the hallways of Palmetto Health Baptist, emergency services are strained and drunken antics slow nurses who are trying to tend to the truly sick.

“They try to run away, fight people, pee in the corner,” said a nurse at Palmetto Health Baptist. “It’s been that way the whole time I’ve worked there.”

Young, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, kids, Columbia, or no Columbia.

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The best laid plans of mice and ‘Cocks

Today, in things that make you chuckle…

HC @CoachWMuschamp on why he doesn’t want to re-schedule the cancelled Marshall game for December 1st, weekend of the SEC Championship:

“We plan on being there [in Atlanta].”#SpursUp #Gamecocks

— Armchair South Carolina (@ArmchairSCAR) September 13, 2018

Better get those hotel rooms booked soon, ‘Cock fans.  Avoid the rush and all.

Gamecock roundup

It’s midweek, so it’s time to put the South Carolina game in the proverbial rear view mirror, but not before I leave you with a few final choice nuggets.

• Interesting choice of words, but to what should be no one’s surprise after the hurry up blew up in their faces, Will Muchamp’s offense sounds like it’s getting back to grinding on offense.
• LOL:  “Is it time to start thinking about getting rid of Will Muschamp?”
• Try to guess who said this:  “No matter what happens, we made a statement that we’re a force to be reckoned with.”

As the saying goes, the more things change…

Not the week two inexperience they were anticipating

One of the questions I had leading up to last week’s South Carolina game was how ready the ‘Cocks would be on offense, given a new offensive scheme and coordinator.  My thought was that it was early enough in the transition to expect a few hiccups.

Kind of like this:

South Carolina gained only 54 yards rushing while yielding 271 to Georgia. Part of the problem, Muschamp said, was the Gamecocks seeing called runs shift into passes in their up-tempo, RPO (run pass option) attack.

First-year offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon took the blame at halftime and told Muschamp he would be more hard-headed about sticking to run plays.

But once Georgia scored in the third quarter, South Carolina had little choice but to throw the ball to get back in it, Muschamp said.

Muschamp and McClendon discussed how things unfolded with the head coach quickly jumping in that South Carolina’s defense needed to make stops so the offense could have a chance.

“I said, ‘You can’t start shouldering blame on everything.’ You can’t do that as a coordinator,” Muschamp said.

No shame in that.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, you know.  But it never was reasonable to expect that offense to be clicking on all cylinders in game two against an SEC defense, Deebo or no Deebo.

Of all the teams in the SEC East, South Carolina is certainly one of them.

Gary Danielson’s post-game take on what he saw in Columbia is worth watching simply for the pause he takes when he’s asked that “whither South Carolina?” question.

What we learned on our Saturday

Gamecock fan gets slapped in the face by reality:

Not Ready

Will Muschamp’s Gamecocks are still not ready to compete with the big boys. I know, call me Captain Obvious, but it’s true. Yea, the first half was competitive for the most part. Take away a pick 6 on Carolina’s first drive and it’s 13-10 at worst going into halftime. The second half was a different story as UGA scored 3 TDs on their first 3 second half drives and the Gamecocks responded with, well, two 3 and outs and an interception. Anyway, I’m not here to give y’all a game recap. My point is I think our lack of depth and, overall youth, caught up with us in the second half. Georgia is a legitimate national title contender and has clearly separated itself from the rest of the pack in the SEC East. I was one of the people out there that thought Carolina would compete against UGA. Actually, I picked the Gamecocks to pull the upset on the GABACast. I was wrong. The Gamecocks aren’t ready yet. They don’t have the players depth wise to hold up for 4 quarters against the elite teams around the country.

Ummm… you left out something.

😂 watch JJ take Williams & 8 others for a ride down the field 👏 pic.twitter.com/bnJaeaizpJ

— Bryce Dixon (@dixonbryce) September 9, 2018

Your guys weren’t a physical match, either.  Which is why I’m a bit skeptical that the “A 9 or 10 win season is still on the table” projection plays out, particularly if regression to the mean rears its ugly head this season (the ‘Cocks finished minus-1 in turnover margin Saturday).

The easy fix

Ah, the things people say after giving up another 270+ yards on the ground…

… Steven Montac pointed out the easy fix, making the Gamecocks’ inability to do so even more frustrating.

“They’re a good team and they have good players, so missed tackles are definitely gonna hurt. But that can be fixed by just running to the ball,” he said.

Junior linebacker T.J. Brunson, a leader of the defensive unit, said the problem was that some of his teammates lost their edge after the halftime break.

“I think during the second half a lot of guys just didn’t understand the grind of the game,” Brunson said. “It’s hard to win, especially playing against those guys. It’s always going to be a dog fight, but it’s the second game of the season. We got a long way to go.

“We just didn’t line fast enough, weren’t urgent. That’s all it boiled down to — urgency, being vocal, getting the calls every down.”

The issues with tackling came with that lack of urgency, Brunson said, as poor focus led to poor execution.

“I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but I just want those guys to understand that it’s a long game,” he said. “It’s always a long game. We battled, we fought the first half and made it to where it was manageable, and you just gotta keep that same energy throughout the whole game.”

Montac was just as blunt in his assessment.

“We just gotta tackle better. That’s it,” he said. “What happened today was … lack of execution. We just gotta focus way better, play better.”

Bless your heart, Steven.  I don’t think you’re grasping what happened yesterday.

Kirby Smart knows.

Said Smart: “You’ve got to be able to take the crowd out of the game. You do that by being physical, dominating the line of scrimmage. When you do that, the stands will be empty in the fourth quarter.”

Even with Thomas out, Georgia (2-0, 1-0 SEC) scored on its first three offensive possessions of the second half, rushing the ball 15 times for 111 yards, averaging 7.4 yards per carry behind its mammoth offensive line.

“We thought if we were able to run the ball early and pound away that it would take its toll in the second half and I think that showed through,” said Smart whose team finished with 271 rushing yards on 52 carries.

It’s not that Georgia was clearly the more talented bunch yesterday.  The Dawgs were just as clearly the more physical, and that took its obvious toll on South Carolina as the day progressed.

Speaking of fourth quarters, how about these apples?

According to #UGA's record book, the Bulldogs' final drive of 58 yards in 16 plays taking up the final 9:59 of the game is their second-lengthiest offensive drive in history (time wise) which didn't result in points. #UGAvsUSC @UGASportscom

— Patrick Garbin (@patrickgarbin) September 8, 2018

Ain’t no easy fix to that.