Superman Wears Eric Norwood Underwear!

Garcia put up another solid performance going 16-34 for 220 yards, perhaps more important was his 1 TD pass against 0 INT's. Spencer Lanning went 3-3 on field goals and made a TD saving tackle on a punt return. Cliff Matthews stepped up with 5 solo tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 1 forced fumble (that set up USC's lone TD) and two sacks. 

BUT....

Anyone who watched the game will tell you there is one reason USC won and it's name is Eric Norwood. Forget Eric Berry, Norwood is the most valuable defensive play in the SEC. I'll ignore that he's had 28 career sacks (1st in USC history, 8th in SEC history) or that he has 49.5 tackles for a loss (11th in SEC history) or that he's the leader and the heart and soul of this young defense. I'm just going to talk about his stat line from tonight. 7 solo tackles, 3 assists, 2.5 tackles for a loss, 1 blocked kick and 2 sacks; gaudy numbers for most but little more than another day at the office for this man. Moreover he seemed to be involved in every play, pressuring Snead or stuffing the run. Heck he even tipped a punt, talk about a guy who plays with a motor every single snap. This defense lead by Norwood and Matthews fought through injuries, youth and a heisman candidate to hold Snead and McCluster to 10 points in route to recording the biggest win ever in Williams Brice.

So why am I not euphoric over beating the #4 team in the nation?

1. Red-zone troubles continue to be a bane in the side of this team. Today was no different. 5 trips inside the 20 yielded only 16 points (1 TD, 3 FG's, 1 TO), that's only 3.2 points per trip. Self inflicted penalties and dropped passes were the main reasons for this dismal number today and this is the only reason Ole Miss even had a chance to win with 2 minutes left on the clock.

2. The rushing game took a step backwards today and went for a mere 65 yards on 34 carries (1.9 per carry). Giles and Garcia combined for -5 yards and the lone "stand out" was Miles who went for 52 yards on 13 carries (4 per carry and sadly 80% of our entire rushing attack).

3. There's nothing special about our special teams. I'm excluding Spencer Lanning from this as he was perfect (3 of 3 and 9 straight) on FG's as well as making a TD saving tackle; however, if he didn't make that play we give up a TD and very likely lose the game. So while the 24.3 yards per kick return is an improvement we still need to shore up our kick coverage. Now I want to be careful that I don't get to down on or special teams because they did tip a punt and stop a fake field goal but I do think that if we don't clean things up it will bite us down the road.

4. If Ole Miss is a top 5 team, they sure didn't look like it last night. Now give our D-line a lot of the credit for that but it's still not quite like beating Bama or UF, and we'll know a lot more about how big this win really is a month from now. I just don't want to have another repeat of the win over #8 UK in 07 and I see too many parallels to be comfortable.

Now it's not my intentions to rain on our parade tonight, I mean we just beat a top #5 team for only the second time in our history, right now it's time celebrate! I just don't want to make more of this win than I should. I don't want to talk like we've made it when in reality we just took another (albeit large) step towards national importance. What this win does do is make 8 wins very achievable and 9 wins a realistic goal, it shows that our "D" can keep anyone in check and if we put together a complete game there's nobody we can't play with.

Notes:

I've heard a lot of talk about penalties in this game, and that USC got a lot of calls. Now, since I was limited to gametracker and a bit of espn radio it's hard for me to make a fully informed comment; however I think it may be useful to point out that USC had 8 penalties for 65 yards and Ole Miss had 9 of 70. Seems fairly balanced to me.

A CH CH

Scary Small Print: I'm not sold on the ACC and I don't renege any of my previous ACC comments; however, I do have to give praise where praise has been earned.

So.....what do I know about the ACC after three weeks?

1) Duke, UVA and Maryland are awful, in fact, I can smell their stench from here.

2) GT and UNC are overrated. They aren't bad teams, but they certainly shouldn't be around a #15 ranking. They belong with Clemson in the 20-30 range.

3) VT may still be the team to beat, I'll let you know for sure next saturday. Also, their win over Nebraska really isn't anything to hang your hat on. I know they beat a ranked Nebraska team, but before we get carried away let's remember it's not the 80's.

4) Two teams that may have missed the 80's memo are U and FSU. #9 Miami is returning to familiar territory and FSU looked vintage as they out classed a solid BYU team 54-28. I'll go ahead turn on upset alert sign for Miami though as their match up with VT has all the makings of a let down (hyped, young over-achievers vs. solid under-achievers) but if they can get through their first four 3-1 it's hard not to be impressed.

5) Wake, NCST, and BC aren't worth the ink (or bits of memory) it takes to write about them. They aren't bad or good enough to turn any heads.

Finally after the first two weeks the ACC finally put up something they can be proud of (at least when considering the standards their play has set in recent years).

Three Games In

Now that we have a 3 game sample size I'll attempt to provide a sort of review for USC's start, not predictions or how I think they'll finish, but rather a snapshot of the team after 3 weeks. First, South Carolina's offense is no longing inanimate and after a paltry 7 points in the opener against NCST they've put up 75 points in the last two games. A large share of praise goes to Garcia who seems to finally be maturing after the first two years of his tumultuous relationship with the University of South Carolina. Now I don't want drink the coolaid (yet) and say that he's one of the best quarterbacks USC has had in a long time (however, when that list includes the likes of Tannyhill I'm willing to be convinced) but I do think that he's had the potential and is now progressing towards being the guy Spurrier expected he would be when he signed him, Next you can't avoid looking at the rushing game where USC has been making great strides (no pun intended). While Maddox doesn't have any real big play potential, he has become a solid, reliable back and his powerful is well complimented by Giles speed and agility. While the offense isn't there yet, it's hard to say that they aren't moving in the right direction.

The defense has been a little harder to evaluate and I'm admittedly having trouble harmonizing their first three performances. First I'm going to talk about what I know. Eric Norwood is a monster and has been a constant highlight reel since his coming out party against UK a few years ago; however, he doesn't make just the big plays this guy makes EVERY play. Also, losing Ajiaboye, Gathers and Peppers seriously hurts our depth and run stopping ability and our youth in the secondary can be exposed. Now let's venture bravely into the unknown as I explain the unexplainable, how the same defense could play the NCST and the UGA game and just how good are they? First they clamped down on NCST allowing 3 (a team who has averaged 55 points in their other games) and were widely praised, from Spurrier and ESPN to everyone who watched the game. Then, for an encore they give up 41 points to a Georgia team that scored 10 against a Big 12 defense (I'm ignoring the FAU game because it doesn't really show anything). I guess the first question to be addressed is just how good UGA's offense is and I'd argue they're really good. While they only scored 10 against OKST it was on the road, the first game of the year, and they were playing with a new QB and RB, also the put up 52 against the Hogs this weekend. So I think their game against USC was more of a "perfect storm" than an anomaly. They were fired up and playing to save their season and USC made mistakes, a lot of them (in both the kick coverage and too often going for the big hit instead of simply rapping up). So where does that leave us? USC is a talented (but young) defense this year, and losing guys like Muyderlan, Cook and Brinkley hurt but they have tremendous potential. I think we'll catch glimpses of both the youth and the potential this year. Look for a bit of a drop-off from last year's 13 ranked squad but a unit that will give the offense a chance to win every game and bail them out in a few.

Another think that has impressed me about this team is their youth at all the offensive skill positions. Garcia is a sophomore, the three leading receivers from last week are Gurley (rs F) Barnes (SO) and Jeffery (t F), the two leading rushers from last week, Giles and Miles are both true freshmen. Coupled with rising defensive stars like Gilmore and Taylor, and you're looking a strong nucleus to build around.

Finally to everyone who has called for Spurrier's head (or visor) over the past for seasons should calm down and shut up. They need to take a break from criticizing and look back over USC's history to put their expectations in prospective. How many winning seasons has USC had total? How many under Spurrier? Take a look at our coaches winning percentages and compare them with Spurrier's run here. I think we (myself included) got spoiled by Holtz temporary turnaround, (0-11 to 9-4) the greatest in college football history. It takes time to build something and I think that patience will pay some fat dividends over then next few years. Also in football, as in any sport, you have to ask who better can you get before you move someone. The answer for that question concerning Spurrier is no one (I think the same goes for Jake Delhome). 

So whats next for this team? An upset of the #4 team in the nation on thursday night!

Giles and Miles: Get Used to It

Now I know it was against the FAU Owls and you can't draw many meaningful conclusions from the game, but still, after USC's red-zone troubles (seemingly always being forced to settle for the FG instead of the TD) they scored 5 TDs tonight. Then Stephen Garcia avoided a let down and had another strong performance going 20-27 for 222 yds, no INTsm rushing, and passing for a TD. However one area for concern was USC's offense was it's .333% conversion rate on 3rd downs and .000% on 4th downs. Still, for a team that lead the SEC with 27 int's last year and who scored a mere 7 points against NSCT it's hard to get upset with a second consecutive 30+ point game.

For a USC rushing attack has lacked a real marquee back and has struggled to establish itself in games over the last few years things may/are finally starting look up. The freshman duo of Giles and Miles combined for 169 yards on just 16 carries, that's 10.6 yards per carry, then while Maddox didn't have the yards to keep up with these two he was able to punch the ball into the end-zone three times tonight. In total the Gamecocks rushed for 287 yards, 4 TDs and averaged over 8 yards per carry. 

The defense play well, nothing unforgettable but still an improvement from last weekend. However, Gilmore appears to be settling in well and is showing signs of what may prove to be a very accomplished career at Carolina. Today he had a pick and recovered a fumble to added to his TD saving deflection against NCST. Norwood, of course,  continued his brilliance by forcing another turnover against FAU; however, the largest area for concern may be Carolina's special teams. After allowing 36 yards per return last week they (by default) improved against FAU but still allowed 26 yards per return. This is something that must improve if they want to make any waves in the SEC this year.

Why You Shouldn't Get to Discouraged about Saturday

This post would be a lot easier if Curran hadn't have gotten his hand up and Garcia had thrown for 320 yards instead of 313 but that's not how things turned out. Still there are some reasons to come away from this game optimistic. First, Steven Garcia had a career night with 313 yds, 2 td's (and two more that were called back) against 1 int, and showed poise leading a come back on the road in the SEC against a ranked team. On top of that he was ticked of with himself after the loss, “I can't even talk right now, I'm so (ticked)” and “I don't think I played well enough, it's kind of haunting me right now, the last play”. If were going to break this cycle of mediocrity we need to develop a culture that doesn't accept mediocrity, that plays to win rather than to just put up a good effort. This culture is developing on both sides of the ball. Take Norwood's post game quote, right after the defensive coordinator gave him an out explaining the defense's missed assignments were because Gathers and Peppers were out forcing USC to play a 3 man front, Norwoord said, “We gotta get right, just plan and simple. You can sit here and say it's X's or O's. But we've got to go out and make it happen”.

Still the main reason that USC fans should be optimistic is that we have seen the potential of this team. If we can combine the two efforts (the D against NCST and the O against UGA) we could play with just about any college football team. Combine the young talent, a potential quarterback, and a strong (young) defense with a developing winning mentality and you could make a case that the ole ball coach may finally be turning around this team. Now I don't want to get carried away, if last week a win was a win then this week a loss is still a loss and I don't think this is a 10 win season or anything but 8 games and a bowl win to top it off isn't unrealistic. And hey, at the risk of being “that guy”, why not next year? Lots of young talent, UF will (hopefully) have a drop off, UT is still a few years away, and we have shown are ability to play with UGA over the decade, dare I even say it?

Resilient ACC?

An excerpt What We Learned: Week 2 College Football – ESPN....

"The ACC is resilient. It wasn't always pretty (more like Ugly Betty), but the ACC did what it had to do to bounce back from last week's losses. Wake Forest responded from its loss to Baylor against a tough Stanford team, Duke rebounded from its loss to Richmond on the road against Army, Maryland was able to stave off James Madison after its loss to Cal, and both Virginia Tech and NC State took out their aggression from Week 1 losses to the SEC and beat up on Marshall and Murray State, respectively. Florida State also got a win after losing to Miami".

Wait, come again? They're resilient because they beat Stanford, Army, James Madison, Marshall, Murray St, Kent St, Connecticut and Jacksonville St? To be fair after last week if you go 8-1 it's an improvement regardless of who you play. Then, how many of these games are quality wins, traditionally defined as a win over a bowl team? Maybe one? Also, it's telling how they one these games. FSU edged out Jacksonville St in the final minute while Maryland needed over time to fight off the perennial powerhouse James Madison; then #19 UNC needed a late safety to stave off Connecticut.

Is it any coincidence that the two best wins/games for ACC teams are the two ACC vs. ACC match-ups? 

USC Drops a Heartbreaker in Athens

 South Carolina dominated 1^st down (26 to 16), top (34:21 to 25:39), to's (3-1) and total yds (427 to 308) but they ended up 4 short in the stat that matters most. While there is blame to be passed around (the “d”, an int, stupid penalties) a lot of the blame must fall on the special teams. A blocked extra point that would have allowed USC to kick a field goal instead of forcing the 4^th down conversion and 252 yds of kickoff returns with the corner stone being a Boykin 100 yd TD return coupled with to 48 yd returns. Then there is the defense who looked more interested in making the big hits than in wrapping up and sound form tackling and constantly seemed out of place on the field. Then it's hard to pin much blame an offense that scored 37 points or a quarterback with a 58% completion ratio with 313 yds but still they had trouble in the red-zone. They were forced to settle for field goals 5 times and a turnover on downs and if they had have been able to capitalize on any one of these it could have changed the outcome.

While it doesn't help now the first step in the healing process might be recognizing that dispite these mistakes we were a tipped pass away from coming back from 15 points (after blowing a 10 point lead) on the road against a ranked SEC foe.