By RJ
Lou Holtz thinks it, which is dangerous, since he is more delirious than House was at the end of Season 5.
So far this has played out as I thought it would. At the start of the college football season, I told a few coworkers that South Carolina would take down Bama on October 9th. They thought I was nuts, and while I may be, there are some sound reasons I believe this (I say as they check me into the mental ward).
1. Bama is finishing the 3rd game in a tough 3-game stretch, where Arkansas pushed them to the brink and they blowtorched Florida at home. A letdown seems inevitable, whether it is this week or shortly there after, is another story, but for the purposes of the article, said letdown will be tomorrow.
2. South Carolina is coming off a bad loss. This was part of why I thought they would beat them at the start of the year. I had the Auburn game marked as a loss, mainly because Stephen Garcia is a terrible QB on the road in SEC games (he is 0-5). Granted the game was in their grasp, until his two fumbles and freshman Connor Shaw's two picks, but it still followed what I had projected out at the start of the year. South Carolina has QB issues and Steve Spurrier has been unclear about what he will do at QB. I expect Garcia and Shaw to rotate series to some degree.
3. South Carolina has had two weeks to sit on the Auburn disappointment and two weeks to prep for Bama. Normally, I dont put much stock in this sort of thing, but Nick Saban and Bama cried to the SEC that six of their opponents this year play them coming off a bye so they clearly think its a factor. Giving an offensive guru like Spurrier additional time to disect a defense is dangerous (he may not have been a guru the past few years but he finally has the offensive weapons in fabulous freshman Marcus Lattimore, sophomore stud Alshon Jeffrey, and Percy Harvin clone-Ace Sanders). South Carolina has typically come out of the gate strong to start seasons, before fading in the final weeks.
4. South Carolina's karma change. 2010 has been a big year in South Carolina athletics. They upended then No.1 Kentucky in basketball at home in January and they took home the National Championship in Baseball with their backs against the wall several times in Omaha. The SEC East is wide open this year and this is Spurrier's best chance to get to Atlanta for the SEC Title game.
Two weeks ago, Auburn's spread running attack killed South Carolina (over 300 yards on the ground). Last year, Mark Ingram rushed for 246 yards against them in a 20-6 win at Alabama. So the rushing defense works against them, but Alabama seems ripe for the picking, especially struggling on the road at the less hostile evironment of Arkansas. Williams-Brice Stadium will be twice as nasty on Saturday.
The Pick: South Carolina 23, Alabama 17
Lou Holtz thinks it, which is dangerous, since he is more delirious than House was at the end of Season 5.
So far this has played out as I thought it would. At the start of the college football season, I told a few coworkers that South Carolina would take down Bama on October 9th. They thought I was nuts, and while I may be, there are some sound reasons I believe this (I say as they check me into the mental ward).
1. Bama is finishing the 3rd game in a tough 3-game stretch, where Arkansas pushed them to the brink and they blowtorched Florida at home. A letdown seems inevitable, whether it is this week or shortly there after, is another story, but for the purposes of the article, said letdown will be tomorrow.
2. South Carolina is coming off a bad loss. This was part of why I thought they would beat them at the start of the year. I had the Auburn game marked as a loss, mainly because Stephen Garcia is a terrible QB on the road in SEC games (he is 0-5). Granted the game was in their grasp, until his two fumbles and freshman Connor Shaw's two picks, but it still followed what I had projected out at the start of the year. South Carolina has QB issues and Steve Spurrier has been unclear about what he will do at QB. I expect Garcia and Shaw to rotate series to some degree.
3. South Carolina has had two weeks to sit on the Auburn disappointment and two weeks to prep for Bama. Normally, I dont put much stock in this sort of thing, but Nick Saban and Bama cried to the SEC that six of their opponents this year play them coming off a bye so they clearly think its a factor. Giving an offensive guru like Spurrier additional time to disect a defense is dangerous (he may not have been a guru the past few years but he finally has the offensive weapons in fabulous freshman Marcus Lattimore, sophomore stud Alshon Jeffrey, and Percy Harvin clone-Ace Sanders). South Carolina has typically come out of the gate strong to start seasons, before fading in the final weeks.
4. South Carolina's karma change. 2010 has been a big year in South Carolina athletics. They upended then No.1 Kentucky in basketball at home in January and they took home the National Championship in Baseball with their backs against the wall several times in Omaha. The SEC East is wide open this year and this is Spurrier's best chance to get to Atlanta for the SEC Title game.
Two weeks ago, Auburn's spread running attack killed South Carolina (over 300 yards on the ground). Last year, Mark Ingram rushed for 246 yards against them in a 20-6 win at Alabama. So the rushing defense works against them, but Alabama seems ripe for the picking, especially struggling on the road at the less hostile evironment of Arkansas. Williams-Brice Stadium will be twice as nasty on Saturday.
The Pick: South Carolina 23, Alabama 17
Can we really still say that Spurrier is an offensive guru? Isn't there a statute of limitations on things like that? There should be.
ReplyDeletegreat pick
ReplyDeletePretty solid prediction RJ. Didn't get to watch the game but I saw that they held Bama to 36 yards rushing, which is amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys. South Carolina got up big early in the second quarter (21-3) and that pretty much made Ingram and Richardson nonfactors from there out, but that number is a bit misleading because I think it counts McElory's lost yardage on sacks and they got to him seven times.
ReplyDeleteWith all that said, SC is just as likely to go out and play down to the competition at Kentucky. I hope not, but it wouldn't surprise at all. They have struggled with Kentucky throughout Spurrier's time at SC.