College Football '05 Kickoff

Last night the Spurrier era finally began at South Carolina. I watched every minute of the game to analyze every move and play we ran. First off I gotta say we WON!!! and that's cause for celebration. However, we really didn't play well in the second half and it showed. The following are some notes about things I noticed about the 2005 version of the Fighting Gamecocks:

1)Blake Mitchell and the Spurrier offense looks good. I was totally surprised by how well he threw the ball and that our receivers made some great catches and some great blocks. This part of the game right now is our strong point.

2)Our Offensive line looks atrocious. Wow, 32 yards rushing the whole game? Against an 0-11 team? Blake spent some time getting hit hard too, we HAVE to get some boys who will open holes for our running backs, because it just ain't happenin' right now.

3)Our defense is small. All night our defense got pushed around by that 'vaunted' Central Florida offensive line. They were poppin' 5-7 yard runs almost at will on us, and when they didn't do that, they had two WRs that were eating our defensive backs alive. What the??? This was supposed to be our strong point coming into this season, and so far it looks like we're lining up 10 defensive backs and one 300 pound defensive lineman on the field. Boy I hope we improve because it could get ugly against a real offense (see UGA, UF, UT ad nauseam).

4)Spurrier is the Anti-Holtz. He runs plays that make sense and work. He plays like he wants to win, not to prove some point. He makes our QB look great by teaching him where to throw the ball and let the receivers make plays. He doesn't force something that isn't working, and he actually adjusts game plans to suit the situation. Gee imagine that. I am very happy he is at Carolina and brings a coaching scheme that I think will work and work well once we get some more talent around the ball.

At this point USC has a ways to go, first order of business it seems is to recruit some big uglies for the O and D lines. We were just getting whipped out there by a mid-conference team. The Offense will improve, I can just feel it and see it. Unfortunately the Gamecocks won't be able to outscore many folks until we stop them, and that leaves us with the Defense. We better get some size and talent there or its going to be a long year.

Next up, UGA and the Ugly Dawgs. They have yet to live up to their hype with a big game against Boise State tomorrow. We will see what happens there. I will say that if their Offensive line is as good as advertised, then the Gamecock defense will be eaten alive by their running attack. Coach Thompson, you'd better readjust!

*gulp* Georgia, here we come!!!