Blog Swap with Garnet and Black Attack

With the upcoming South Carolina game this week, we decided to do a blog swap with Garnet and Black Attack. Here are the questions they answered for us. Be sure to check out our thoughts on their blog.

1. What’s the morale of the fans and the team after the Vandy loss? Expectations have been high for the season and that was an unexpected loss.

I would say most fans are pretty disappointed, but you have to remember that this is South Carolina, and we’re used to things like this happening. I was angry and a little bit stunned — I think most fans were — but the ultimate goal of the season is an SEC East title, and that’s still within reach.

2. The Gamecocks offense struggled against Vandy, only allowing 6 points. What do you attribute this too? Is it poor quarterback play? I believe I heard Spurrier mention something about giving up on the run too early (if true, Vol fans can relate). Did Vandy play that well or did South Carolina not execute?

Yes.

In other words, it was a little bit of both. A lot of the problems stem from the play-calling, and you kind of have to go back to the North Carolina game to understand it. With a 21-3 lead at the half, Spurrier became a bit more conservative with his play-calling. Then Chris Smelley had a few bad throws, and Spurrier got a lot more conservative with his play-calling, with the end result being that South Carolina had to bat down a last-minute pass to preserve the 21-15 win.

Flash forward to the Vandy game. Spurrier tried, I think, to open the offense up too much, particularly after the Gamecocks got in a 17-0 hole. So a team that shouldn’t throw more than, say, 25-30 times a game (if that) had 43 pass attempts. Meanwhile, Cory Boyd and Mike Davis rushed the ball 11 times between them; they should probably be getting 30 or so carries a game. So the offense never got started.

That said, Vandy’s got a pretty good defense. But South Carolina still should have beaten them.

3. How do South Carolina fans view the Tennessee game? Do any of them consider it a rivalry game at all or is it just another SEC East game? I know that Tennessee fans have gotten “up” for this game much more since Spurrier’s arrival.

Eh, we’ve always seen the Big Three in the East as teams we really, really want to beat. And Tennessee has certainly broke our hearts more times than we care to remember. But I’m not sure the game is really any bigger than, say, the Florida game. The real SEC rivalry, at least as far as S.C. fans go, is Georgia, mostly for historical reasons (South Carolina faced them even when the school was still in the SEC) and because those games are almost always very, very close.

4. Tennessee wins this game if ….. ?

They control the line of scrimmage. The offensive line and defensive line for South Carolina have both been pretty week this year, while the pass defense has been pretty solid. As for the skill positions on offense, they’ve been okay when the line has held up. So if the Vols can establish the run and push around the o-line, I think the Gamecocks are in trouble.

5. South Carolina wins this game if ….. ?

Boyd and Davis get started. In terms of all-purpose yards, they account for more than half the offense (at least before the Vandy disaster), so if they get going, South Carolina fans should end the day happy. If not, I don’t see how the Gamecocks score enough points to keep up with the Vols.

6. How do you view that state of the South Carolina program right now? I know it seemed as if most Gamecocks had pretty high expectations when Spurrier arrived in 2005 that he could quickly take you to the next level. If the Gamecocks don’t somehow find a way to win the East this year, when the traditional powers are down, will you be disappointed with where the program is right now?

I was asked before the season what would be the minimum that could happen for this to be a successful season. My answer was essentially that South Carolina wins eight regular-season games and go to a bowl not named for a Traditional American Value (Independence, Liberty, etc.) That’s still the minimum I expect.

But I think this is the year for the Gamecocks to at least compete for an East title. If the team fades out of the picture before the Florida game, I’ll be disappointed. I think most people will be.

Those that wanted Spurrier to win the East his first or second year were acting foolish. This program had been left in disarray and decay by the Holtz regime, particularly in terms of discipline. Spurrier’s cleaned all that up. The program is in much better shape now, no matter what the record says.