South Carolina @ Vandy (Thursday)

E.T.G. · Aug 31, 2008

South Carolina -9 @ Vandy (Thursday)

Believe it opened offshore at SC-8 or -8.5

Will update as the week goes on.

SC treated Friday as Sunday, Saturday as Monday, Sunday as Tuesday since they are playing on Thursday again, I'm sure Vandy does the same. Spurrier has his press conference coming up tonight maybe.

No obvious injuries to SC except Beecher, his non throwing shoulder is sore. If he were to sit out, Smelley is #1, Garcia #2 (who is not ready to play) which means the OL better protect their QB.

Problems in WK1: QB & Line play
Positives: Defense, Special teams, 4th quarter.

Vandy's QB is a running QB, in the past, running QB's have haunted SC, hence the move to the 4-2-5 on defense. SC did not run a 4-3 once versus NCST.

I did not play the Vandy/SC game last yr, was not comfortable laying 14 after the 2nd half of the UNC game. The Vandy game still stings the players, I just watched player interviews from today and reporters were just doing their job asking the players about the game last yr and they kept baiting Munnerlyn who kept saying he still thinks about losing to them. I'm sure he is not a lone.

Jasper Brinkley played less than 50% of the plays versus NCST, he will play more this weekend and should have a bigger impact. Norwood didn't have a single tackle versus NCST.

I know UGA looms but I'm pretty confident this is a game the players want as well as Spurrier and if they have the chance to pour it on, they will. I think SC can shutdown Vandy on offense and hold them to about 10 points.

E.T.G. · Aug 31, 2008

August 31, 2008
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No Promises by Spurrier

Scott Hood
GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
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Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden caused a stir when he fulfilled – apparently - a recruiting promise made to freshman running back Jamie Harper early in Saturday night's 31-10 shellacking at the hands of Alabama at the Georgia Dome.

Harper - told he would have the season's first carry if he signed with Clemson – was handed the ball on the Tigers' first running play from scrimmage and promptly fumbled, one of many disastrous plays by Clemson on the nights.

While no one dared – it seems – to ask C.J. Spiller or James Davis about the curious decision to bypass them in favor of an untested freshman, South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier made it clear Sunday afternoon in a brief conversation with reporters following his weekly press conference that he's not in the business of promising anything to recruits, no matter how heralded they are.

"You'll never see me do that, I'll tell you that," Spurrier said. "The only thing we ever promise is an opportunity. That's the only thing – opportunity. I guess (Bowden's way) is another way of doing it. There aren't many people out there I know that do it that way. If it helps recruiting, I guess maybe you can do it."

Spurrier said he was surprised to see Harper in the ballgame for the opening series, especially since he thought the freshman had an ankle injury.

"I was shocked," Spurrier said.

Alabama's win secured a very successful weekend for the SEC against the ACC. Thursday, USC belted N.C. State, 34-0, while the Crimson Tide smashed the Tigers, 34-10. That means the SEC outscored the ACC by a 68-10 margin in two games.

"Obviously, the Alabama team was jacked up. They were ready," Spurrier said. "(ESPN's Lee) Corso didn't have many nice things to say (about Clemson), did he? I heard him this morning. He was upset. But (Clemson) will be back. It's only one game. They've got a bunch of teams they're going to start beating coming up. It's a long season. We have to worry about Vanderbilt, that's all we need to worry about right now."

DEPTH CHART CHANGES: There are a few changes from last week's depth chart for the N.C. State game. One of the more intriguing ones is at running back, where Mike Davis and Taylor Rank are listed as co-starters. Both running backs had 14 carries in Thursday's win over N.C. State. However, Spurrier said Davis will likely be on the field for the first snap.

"I would imagine Mike has probably earned the starting position there," Spurrier said. "So, there's a good chance he'll start."

Spurrier reiterated that Jarriel King would start at left tackle, while redshirt freshman Kyle Nunn has been shifted to left guard to fight for playing time there. Defensively, redshirt freshman Byron McKnight is now listed as the lone backup to Cliff Matthews at defensive end after collecting a key sack against the Wolfpack.

"We're going to give Jarriel every opportunity to nail down that left tackle spot and be a big, solid tackle for us all year at that position," Spurrier said. "We're going to give Kyle a chance to see if he play some guard there for us. We'll see how that goes during the week."

Quarterbacks Tommy Beecher and Chris Smelley are listed as co-starters in the aftermath of the former's shoulder and head injuries sustained in the opener. Spurrier said he would announce the starting QB later in the week.

HOW 'PITIFUL' WAS IT REALLY?: Spurrier made sure to clarify something he said on Friday during his weekly 'day after' teleconference with reporters. Spurrier used the word pitiful while talking about the offensive line and the four false starts in Thursday's 34-0 victory over N.C. State. However, USC's head coach said it was taken out of context.

"(Some reporters) sort of insinuated that I said our offensive line's performance was pitiful. That's not what I said," Spurrier said. "The false starts are pitiful. I know our fans are sick of the false starts as much as I am, and Coach Hunt and all the coaches."

Spurrier said fullback Patrick DiMarco was flagged for a false start, but questioned the accuracy of the call, saying "no one could tell if he jumped early, but they called it."

What's the penalty for committing a false start penalty? Extra running at practice. Spurrier said he has noticed the offensive line has played better on the road than at home, prompting him to ask offensive line coach John Hunt if USC should adopt the techniques they use on the road to overcome crowd noise.

"(The bad play) happens more at home than it does on the road," Spurrier said. "I was asking Coach Hunt the other day if these guys would be better off if we went on the foot at home. He said no. They can hear. They just don't want to hear. They want to guess, I guess, or anticipate. Maybe we have to go on the foot at home. We'll wait and see, though."

The sense of urgency relating to false start penalties has been amplified this week after last season's disastrous performance by the offensive line against the Commodores in a 17-6 loss. USC surrendered seven sacks and was penalized five times for false starts in that contest.

"That's something we need to correct, the false starts," Spurrier said. "Last year against Vanderbilt we had five false starts and seven sacks. It's inexcusable. As coaches, we have to take responsibility for that. We can't teach our guys to go on the snap. We want to try as hard as we can to get guys to go on the snap and look like a well-coached team.

"As the offensive coordinator and head coach, shoot, I have to take responsibility if the guys can't stay on-sides. We're going to find some guys that can stay on-sides. If they can't block, that's OK as long as they stay on-sides because then they'll get a chance to play."

However, the offensive line didn't take all the heat. Spurrier blamed the running backs for failing to block properly in a couple of situations. He also found time to praise the offensive line for its performance in the fourth quarter when USC scored 21 points on a pair of touchdown passes by Chris Smelley and a three-yard run by Taylor Rank.

"The other night, our running backs sort of had blinders on and let a linebacker run right by them a couple of times," Spurrier said. "Our offensive line played very well in the fourth quarter. We had three possessions and scored three touchdowns. I know we sputtered and sputtered and sputtered early. Anyway, at least we did get something positive out of the game. We're looking forward to staying positive as we go to Vandy Thursday night."

BETTER IN THE FOURTH QUARTER: The USC offense was humming in the fourth quarter of Thursday's win over N.C. State. The offense compiled 208 total yards in the final 15 minutes, averaging 12.2 yards per play. Quarterback Chris Smelley was 5-for-5 for 92 yards and two touchdowns.

"We actually had some holes to run (through)," Spurrier said. "Mike (Davis) had two three pretty big holes during the fourth quarter. I guess he ran for just about all his yards in that fourth quarter. We mixed the run in with the pass better when (Smelley) was in there. And the protection was better, for whatever reason. It was the same protections and so forth."

Spurrier said the blame for the offense's poor performance in the first three quarters should be shared by everyone, including the coaches, Beecher, offensive line and running backs.

"Tommy didn't play very well either," Spurrier said. "I'm not trying to give him all of the outs that he played super and had no protection. He threw the ball errantly at times. And at times guys were hitting him when he was throwing. Then he started running out of there a little quicker than we had hoped. (You need to) give the pass pattern a chance if you can. But again, when your line is opening the gates or your running back is not blocking the linebacker, it can sort of make the quarterback antsy."

Spurrier also said injuries to key players contributed to N.C. State's demise.

"They've had a lot of guys hurt this year," Spurrier said. "They had a bunch of kids hurt during pre-season practice. And they had two or three carried off during the game. But, we still struggled in the first half. Hopefully, we can lineup and get some plays off and nor make some false starts."

SUPERIOR CONDITIONING: Spurrier attributed the outstanding fourth quarter performance of the Gamecocks to the superior conditioning of the players. There's no question N.C. State wore down, allowing USC to score 21 consecutive points.

"Certainly, I believe our team is in good shape," Spurrier said. "They're well conditioned. I wouldn't say we played a lot of guys. It was actually a fairly fast game. You know with that new clock and so forth, our defense against State was generally three and out. But we only had 69 plays. So there was a lot of running. When there's a lot of running and the click keeps going, it's a fast game. That helped us in that fact. Even when N.C. State was behind, they kept running to sort of get it over with, I guess. Which is understandable considering the condition of their team was in. It was a fast game. Our guys held up pretty well."

WHAT DID USC LEARN?: What did USC learn from the win over N.C. State? Plenty about the defense and special teams. The offense, meanwhile remains a mystery as to why it played so poorly for three quarters and then erupted in the fourth for 21 minutes.

"We just know we were very solid on defense and special teams," Spurrier said. "We sputtered tremendously (on offense) for about three quarters, I guess, and got something finally going in the fourth quarter. But anyway, it was probably a good start that we weren't super. We didn't blow them out and think we're a super team or anything like that. We know we've got a lot of work ahead of us.

"But we believe we have a chance for a good year. If we can continue to improve, that's all we know, that we have a chance. We've got a better team than we had last year, no question about that. We have better coaching, I hope. Hopefully, on offense we'll look like we're better coached. I can't say we were the other night with all the false starts and so forth. So we need to clean up there."

The USC defense limited the Wolfpack to 138 total yards. However, Spurrier knows the Gamecocks will face a bigger challenge this week in Nashville when they encounter a Vanderbilt offense that was hitting on all cylinders at times against Miami of Ohio.

"I don't think we had too many errors on defense," Spurrier said. "Our guys were in position. We made a little comment about guys who played their assignments very well and played with excellent effort. We mentioned a whole bunch of defensive players. They had a good game. Now, we need to pick it up a level. We're probably playing a better team, obviously, in Vanderbilt. Time will tell as the season goes, but I would say Vanderbilt is a little bit better team than what NC State's going to end up being."

MISCELLANEOUS: Spurrier said Captain Munnerlyn came close to breaking a pair of punts for touchdowns in the opening game. "Coach Ray (Rychleski) really likes Captain back there because he'll take it and go forward and that's how you go all the way". . .After a brief scare, Spurrier said defensive end Cliff Matthews suffered a shoulder stinger in the N.C. State game but should be OK for the Vanderbilt game. . .Spurrier expected USC will be at "full speed" for Thursday night's game in Nashville. . .Spurrier said USC might try to throw deep to other receivers besides Moe Brown. Candidates include Kenny McKinley, Dion LeCorn, Joe Hills and Matt Clements. . .With Beecher out, Stephen Garcia worked with the second team offense in Saturday's practice. USC also scrimmaged with the players who didn't see any action in Thursday's game. "Stephen was out there pitching it around some," Spurrier said. "He's getting a little bit more practice time now that Tommy's hurt. He threw some good ones. He's looked better than he's been looking, let's put it that way. He only threw one pick yesterday and that was during pass skell. I don't think he had one in the scrimmage". . .Spurrier declined to comment specifically about Saturday's Clemson-Alabama game. . .The ESPN announcing crew for Thursday's game will be the same from the season opener: Chris Fowler (play-by-play), analysts Craig James and Jesse Palmer and sideline reporter Erin Andrews. . .The contest will mark USC's sixth appearance on Thursday night in Spurrier's fourth season as head coach. . .USC leads the all-time series against Vanderbilt, 14-3. . .USC is 8-1 in Nashville. The only loss to the Commodores in Music City came in 1998 by a 17-14 margin. . .USC is seeking to improve to 2-0 on the season in consecutive years for the first time since 2000-2001. . .Steve Spurrier is 14-1 all-time against Vanderbilt. . .The 31 second-half points scored by the Gamecocks last Thursday was the highest output in a single half since Oct. 8, 2005 when they scored 34 points in the second half of a 44-16 win over Kentucky. . .Spurrier is now 22-16 in his four years at South Carolina. . .Kenny McKinley now has 159 career receptions, 10 fewer than all-time leader Sterling Sharpe.

E.T.G. · Sep 1, 2008

September 1, 2008

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Mobile QB's

David Cloninger

GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
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THE CENTURY CLUB
Quarterbacks who have rushed for at least 50 yards against the Gamecocks in the past three seasons, with yardage and USC's result in that game.

2005
Arliss Beach, Kentucky (73)* W
Brad Smith, Missouri (150) L

2006
Sean Clayton, Florida Atlantic (68) W
Chris Nickson, Vanderbilt (70) W
Anthony Aldridge, Houston (85)* W

2007
Michael Desormeaux, Louisiana-Lafayette (116) W
Cleveland McCoy, S.C. State (58) W
Ryan Perrilloux, LSU (59) L
Mackenzi Adams, Vanderbilt (84) L
Tim Tebow, Florida (120) L
*Beach and Aldridge played tailback in the games but also threw one pass.

Captain Munnerlyn said he wasn't concerned.

"I don't dread it. Maybe the linebackers (do)," South Carolina's junior cornerback said. "I just worry about the pass. If I have to come up to make a tackle, I'll do it, but with coach (Ellis) Johnson on defense, his little scheme, it's just all 11 get the ball and it'll stop the running QB."

The Gamecocks have been notoriously bad against the run over the past three seasons, and opponents have quickly figured out the trend. In this age of spread offenses and multiple athletic players who can pass and run, a mobile quarterback is a coach's dream.

And a Gamecock's nightmare.

Ten quarterbacks over the past three seasons have rushed for at least 58 yards against USC, and while the Gamecocks are 6-4 in those games, it's still a looming problem. Five of those quarterbacks faced USC last year and the last three won, hurdling USC defenders as if they were trying out for the Olympics.

Naturally, when USC finished watching the tape of last week's 34-0 season-opening win over N.C. State -- the Gamecocks gave up the lowest yardage of coach Steve Spurrier's tenure, plowing the Wolfpack's three quarterbacks but allowing tailback Andre Brown to scamper for 101 yards -- the team turned to Vanderbilt, Thursday's opponent. What they saw brought back painful memories.

Vandy quarterback Chris Nickson gashed Miami (Ohio) for 166 rushing yards in a 34-13 win last week. Nickson didn't play last year in the Commodores' 17-6 win at Williams-Brice Stadium, but did play two years ago, rushing for 70 yards in a 31-13 USC win.

Nickson's legs are a handful. And his backup, Mackenzi Adams, ran for 84 yards against USC in 2007.

Whoever takes the snaps, the Gamecocks' defenders know if they don't wrap him up, it could be a long, long evening and an even longer ride home.

Munnerlyn said there's no difference in assignment to contain a running quarterback, it's just everybody has to play theirs and get to the guy. He was on the field last year, kept seeing the No. 9 on Adams' jersey getting closer to him and is hoping he doesn't have to see it again.

"I'll never forget him," Munnerlyn said. "He was running against us and I was like, 'Oh, man, he's running the ball.' He's tough to tackle. Adams, last year, showed me a lot of heart."

USC's front seven will be charged with limiting Nickson (or Adams) right away, and Munnerlyn thinks they'll do their job. "The QB can keep running the ball but if you have Emanuel Cook and Jasper Brinkley and Eric Norwood just keep tackling him, he ain't going to run the ball often no more," Munnerlyn said.

"He's going to tell his coach, 'Hey, coach, they're hitting me out there.'"

But if the QB gets loose and starts doing his impression of Brad Smith, Michael Desormeaux or Tim Tebow, all who have rushed for 100-plus yards against USC, something's going to have to change.

There's no desire to repeat last year, when a loss to Vanderbilt began a season-ending train wreck.

"It's difficult sometimes, but I think we should be able to contain them with our D-line and our linebackers," Cook said. "Chris Nickson, great QB. Played against him two years ago.

"I just think we got to hit him a lot. Just get after him and he'll slow down."

E.T.G. · Sep 1, 2008

September 1, 2008
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Up Next: Dores

Scott Hood
GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
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Not long after the conclusion of last Thursday night's 34-0 blanking of N.C. State, South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier was asked about Thursday night's annual tussle with SEC East rival Vanderbilt.

More specifically, he was asked about USC possibly experiencing a hangover from last season's debacle in which the pesky Commodores jumped out to an early lead and held on to shock the then No. 6 Gamecocks, 17-6, at Williams-Brice Stadium, sending them into a tailspin that lasted five games.

Offensively, the contest was a nightmare for the USC offense, which managed just 26 yards rushing and was held scoreless in the second half. The USC offensive line surrendered seven sacks and committed five false start penalties in its poorest performance of the season.

"We're just mad at ourselves for last year ," Spurrier said Sunday during his weekly press conference. "We've said many times that it was one of the worst offensive games personally I've ever attempted to coach. The second half of the North Carolina game (outscored 12-0) through the Vandy game was pretty sorry."

The Gamecock offense will be challenged again by a Vanderbilt defense that features Spartanburg native D.J. Moore, who had a remarkable first quarter performance in the Commodores' season-opening victory over Miami of Ohio last Thursday.

The Broome High graduate, still only a junior, changed the early momentum by intercepting a pass, forcing a fumble by the quarterback that took the RedHawks out of field goal range and returned a punt 91 yards, all with a span of 5:42.

The punt return – he was tackled at the 1-yard line – was the second longest in Vanderbilt history. Last year, Moore had two interceptions in the win over USC, earning him Defensive Player of the Week honors.

"(Moore) had a big game for them. He's a very talented player," Spurrier said. "He's one of the best players on their team, if not the best player."

Moore has eight career interceptions, tying him with safety Reshard Langford for the team's active career lead.

Vanderbilt, playing with five first-time starters on defense, had three interceptions in the 34-13 win at Miami of Ohio. The RedHawks entered as the game as three-point favorites but were limited to 340 yards of total offense.

Last season's second-half domination of the Gamecocks wasn't the lone outstanding performance by the Vanderbilt defense. The Commodores finished fourth in total defense (and 17th in the nation) in the SEC by surrendering 325.2 yards per game, about 53 yards fewer per game than the USC defense.

In 2007, Vanderbilt's defense was the highest-ranked in the nation among teams that did not participate in a post-season bowl game. Spurrier expects to see the same energetic, aggressive, fundamentally sound defense on Thursday night that showed up in Columbia last year.

"Vandy has a very good defense," Spurrier said. "They've been pretty good the last several years. They're sort of a zone blitz team. Their players play very hard. They're in position. We have to execute, protect the quarterback and run and throw and hopefully do some things like we did in the fourth quarter (against N.C. State) the other night."

The Vanderbilt offense might need another inspring performance from fifth-year senior quarterback Chris Nickson to have a chance to beat the Gamecocks for the second year in a row. The last time that happened was in 1998-99.

Nickson, who started 18 games at quarterback for Vanderbilt before injuries sidelined him midway through the 2007 season, was superb in his return to the lineup last Thursday night, compiling 257 yards of total offense and accounting for three touchdowns without committing a turnover.

Nickson rushed for a career-high 166 yards, including a 59-yard scamper, and two touchdowns on 20 carries. It was the second highest single-game rushing total ever by a Vanderbilt quarterback, and the most yards by any Commodore ball carrier in nearly seven years.

"(Nickson) ran around very well," Spurrier said. "He made some scramble plays. We've got to try and make him throw it and hopefully, not let him run around too much. That's our game plan every week anyway. That's everybody's game plan. Make them throw, stop the run and go from there."

However, there is a concern about the lack of production from Vanderbilt's main three running backs in the season opener. Jared Hawkins, Gaston Miller and Jeff Jennings combined for just 77 yards on 25 carries in the win over Miami of Ohio.

Jennings, the top running back on this week's depth chart, was held to minus-15 yards rushing on two carries against the RedHawks, while Hawkins, the No. 2 running back, had 51 yards on 13 carries.

Could Vanderbilt rely heavily on Nickson again? They might if the running backs, especially Jennings, fail to get untracked against the Gamecocks.

"Our defense will be tested by the quarterback run, just like we were last year," Spurrier said. "Hopefully, we've made improvements. I think we have. But again we'll be tested to slow down their quarterback running the ball."

Thursday's matchup is pivotal in that both programs are trying to break into the top echelon of the SEC. While extremely high academic standards have historically held Vanderbilt back, USC must avoid another setback to the Commodores in order to reach its goal.

While the victory over USC highlighted Vanderbilt's 2007 season, they nearly pulled upsets over Georgia and Tennessee as well and fell one win short of attaining bowl eligibility for the first time since 1982.

With the score tied, 17-17, against Georgia in Nashville last season, the Commodores were driving for the potential game-winning points when a fumble in the red zone denied them the opportunity. The Bulldogs then drove down the field and kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired to pull out a dramatic win.

About a month later, Vanderbilt led intra-state rival Tennessee, 24-9, in the third quarter before the Volunteers rallied with 16 points in the fourth quarter. After Tennessee went ahead with just under three minutes remaining, the Commodores saw a field goal attempt ricochet off the goal post in the final minute.

"You talk about losing some heartbreakers, they've lost more than we have," Spurrier said. "They had Tennessee on the ropes last year and easily could've beat them. They had Georgia beat last year and the kid fumbled on the 10 yard line.

"So, Vandy's been a good team. They lost in overtime in Florida a couple of years ago. They've been there with a lot of teams without winning a lot. So they're very capable and hopefully, they'll get started in about two weeks."

The man responsible for bringing a healthy dose of respect back to Vanderbilt is head coach Bobby Johnson, a former head coach at Furman and a native of the Palmetto State. After going 6-29 in his first three seasons, Johnson, now is his seventh season at the helm of the Vanderbilt program, is 14-21 over his last three campaigns.

While most SEC programs would cringe at that record, it's been a cause for celebration in Nashville.

The 14 victories are the most over a three-year span since 1992-94. Vanderbilt fans have responded enthusiastically to the change in fortunes by purchasing season tickets at the strongest pace in over a decade. Season ticket sales surpassed 18,500 last week, the most since 1996 when Vanderbilt hosted Notre Dame in the season opener and Tennessee in the season finale.

"We all admire Bobby Johnson and the coaches at Vanderbilt," Spurrier said. "They're players, I don't think they get in trouble very much. They're student-athletes. They do it the way you're supposed to do it. The whole country probably pulls for Vanderbilt."

Dollywood · Sep 1, 2008

Sorry if I missed it, I assume you are playing SC again this week? If so, what kind of units are you looking at or have you played.

Best of luck.:cheers:

E.T.G. · Sep 1, 2008

September 1, 2008

Smelley to Start
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David Cloninger
GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
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It appears that what South Carolina followers have presumed for the past week is true.

Coach Steve Spurrier said after Monday's practice that backup quarterback Chris Smelley was the presumptive starter for Thursday's game at Vanderbilt, although it was still three days away. Smelley has been working with the first team after a head and shoulder injury to starter Tommy Beecher, who missed two days of practice before being back on the field on Monday.

Third-stringer Stephen Garcia was working with the second team. Stay tuned to GamecockCentral.com for a complete recap.

E.T.G. · Sep 1, 2008

Dollywood said:
Sorry if I missed it, I assume you are playing SC again this week? If so, what kind of units are you looking at or have you played.

Best of luck.:cheers:

I played SC-9 last night for 1 unit

Thinking about SC-10 for 1 more unit, maybe.

Think SC looks much better in this game and posts a convincing win

Timh · Sep 1, 2008

Nice thread ETG, appreciate the info and GL this week.

ddk997 · Sep 1, 2008

SC currently at -9, thinking about grabbing it tonight before it boosts up.

Very nice information ETG

counselor · Sep 1, 2008

If Spurrier didn't learn that Beecher isn't the QB, then I don't know what will ever convince him, and I would have a very difficult time putting my money on that clown again.

BOL, ETG. Hope you cash

E.T.G. · Sep 1, 2008

counselor said:
If Spurrier didn't learn that Beecher isn't the QB, then I don't know what will ever convince him, and I would have a very difficult time putting my money on that clown again.

BOL, ETG. Hope you cash

Well for one thing, Beecher beat out Smelley for the job during the summer, although, Smelley did begin to out play him in the last 2 scrimmages. I originally thought Spurrier named Beecher the starter to motivate Smelley who kind of felt like the job was "his". Over the course of the summer, Beech continued to hold on to his spot though. Their abilities are similiar, Beecher is more mobile and has a little stronger arm, Smelley has the game experience. Both are excellent students and smart kids so they should be able to make smart decisions with the ball, which Beecher did not do. Smelley has a tendency to force throws though and it got him in a lot of trouble vs. Vandy last yr. In the end, to be fair to Beecher, he didn't have all day to throw the ball but his 3 INT's were on plays with no pressure getting to him.

With Smelley getting the start, this game gives him the ultimate chance at redemption for that disaster vs. Vandy last yr however, if he gets himself too pumped up, could be bad for the cocks.

Regardless, if the OL doesn't play better, John Elway would look like shit back there

E.T.G. · Sep 1, 2008

Head Coach Bobby Johnson
Quotes from Weekly Press Conference
Monday, September. 1, 2008
South Carolina Game

Opening Statement:

“We are very pleased with our victory on the road over Miami last Thursday. I thought the first game was a good test for us and we had to overcome some adversity right off the bat with the fumble. We made some big plays and we did a good job of protecting the lead in the second half. The competition is going to pick up. This is a huge game for us to play South Carolina on a Thursday on ESPN. We are extremely excited about the opportunity and it’s just right around the corner.”

Did you guys like what you did offensively against Miami?

“I think our offense played well. I mean if we would have had to throw it more, we would have. We were running the ball and had some big plays to get the lead. I don’t care who you are playing against; you play to win the game, not to get more yards. We were trying to run out the clock,so keeping the ball on the ground was what we did.”

Was last year’s game against South Carolina the perfect storm for your football team?

“We did play well. We executed well on defense and we put some pressure on South Carolina’s offense. Then when we got the ball away from them, our offense capitalized several times. We got just enough points because we didn’t get the ball in the end zone in the second half. We were disappointed with that. We went into that game upset because we thought we should have beaten Georgia the week before, so our guys went into South Carolina and played hard. I was real proud of our team’s effort. Sometimes you have to step up and say, “we didn’t win last week, but we’re going to do something about it this week.”

How big is the South Carolina game to your program?

“It’s the second game on our schedule and that is the way our team is treating it. We know we are playing a quality opponent in South Carolina. I’ve said to our team that we have to play well every game if we want to win. You have to go at it every week and we had to play well against Miami last week to win.”

Coach, can you talk about D.J. Moore and the versatility that he has?

“He just knows how to play football. He just has that knack of knowing where the ball is going. Against Miami he had an interception, a sack, a long punt return and he tackled real well, so he can do it all. D.J. is different than most of the players that I have ever seen. He is one of those players where you don’t have to remind him that the quarterback is going to read this and then go to that. He has it down the first time you tell him. I know one thing, he is a lot of fun to have on your football team.”

Coach, with how D.J. plays at one corner, are you seeing offenses starting to go away from him and how do you see Myron Lewis responding?

“Well I think Myron has gotten better and better. He did a fantastic job in man coverage versus Miami and that allowed us to run some defenses where we could get some people in the box to stop the run. Myron not only plays well on defense but he also did well on punt return. He’s the guy that man’s up the gunner on the outside and he kept him from making the tackle. He is really starting to become a complete player. One reason people don’t notice him as much is because D.J. lines up on the other side. He is a physical specimen.”

What do you know about South Carolina’s receivers?

“South Carolina has excellent schemes and excellent receivers. Kenny McKinley and Dion LeCorn and all their skill players can light you up. We’ve got to be ready to play. I don’t have to tell my team that they need to be ready to go Thursday because they know that Kenny McKinley is that good.”

How do you prepare for a team that might play three different quarterbacks?

“I don’t know because I haven’t seen one of them. We played against one of them last year and the other one I have seen on film. We’re going to do what we do and I think that is one of the best things our football program has done the last couple of years. We have our defensive scheme and we stick to it. We’re playing faster and are bringing more pressure and I think it has paid off for us. We’re going to do the same things no matter who is playing quarterback.”

South Carolina had four turnovers in the first half last week but their defense still pitched a shutout. What are your thoughts on their defense?

“That was impressive. N.C. State had the ball several times with good field position but South Carolina’s defense went out there and snuffed them. That really put a stop to all of the momentum that N.C. State was building in the first half. The South Carolina defense played with a lot of confidence. They play a lot of man defense and crowd the line of scrimmage. Their defensive line is very aggressive and they get up field with good penetration. Our offense had a little problem with that last week against Miami so it will definitely be a challenge for our offense to meet USC intensity.”

Who are some of South Carolina key defensive players?

“I’ll tell you Emanuel Cook might be one of the best tacklers that I have ever seen in college football. He does a form tackle everytime he brings somebody down. If somebody gets by their defensive line and linebackers he seems to always be there for the big hit. Captain Munnerlyn is a great cover corner and a very dangerous kick returner. I think their entire defensive line is athletic and like I said before, they really get off the ball. Linebacker Eric Norwood has a great knack for the ball. He is sort-of like D.J. Moore, if the ball is somewhere you can find Norwood there.”

What were your thoughts on the kicking game last week at Miami and how important is it for Hahnfeldt to gain confidence?

“Confidence is huge in kickers and specialists. I was glad to see Bryant Hahnfeldt knock those two fields in with ease.”

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

9/1 Daily Report

Scott Hood
GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
<SCRIPT language=javascript>document.write("<div id=contentcontainer style='font-size: " + currentsize + "pt;'>");</SCRIPT>Talk about it in The Insiders Forum

When pre-season camp started, South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier said he hoped redshirt junior Tommy Beecher would last the entire season as the starting quarterback.

But injuries have sidetracked those plans.

With Beecher still unable to do much in practice, Spurrier named redshirt sophomore Chris Smelley the presumptive starter for Thursday's nationally televised contest against SEC East rival Vanderbilt in Nashville.

Beecher left last Thursday night's win over N.C. State with head and left shoulder injuries when he was tackled hard following a scramble play that set up a USC field goal late in the third quarter. He was 12-of-22 passing with 106 yards, and was sacked five times.

Smelley entered the game on USC's initial possession of the fourth quarter and led the Gamecocks to three touchdowns in less than seven minutes. The Tuscaloosa, Ala. native connected on all five of his passes for 92 yards, including TD tosses to Dion LeCorn and Jared Cook.

"Chris Smelley should be ready to go," Spurrier exclaimed after a 2-1/2 hour workout on the Bluff Road fields that he described as 'normal'. "He's healthy and ready to go. He played close to perfect (Thursday night). He was five-for-five. But he had some good plays on and he executed them the way we try to coach it.

"Again, he had good protection and the running game started going. We were going nowhere until we popped a few runs there. It sort of all went together. I don't have the real answers. But it was only five throws. But he played well and he deserves to start even if Tommy wasn't injured. But Tommy is injured, so we don't have to worry about it. It appears Chris is going to be our starter right now unless something happens between now and Thursday night."

Beecher wore a garnet jersey during Monday late afternoon's practice after sporting a yellow non-contact jersey on Saturday and Sunday. But Spurrier said he is far from healed.

"He's hurt. He can't even throw the ball," Spurrier said. "His shoulder stiffened up on him. It looks doubtful that he'll be ready to play. Tommy should be close to being ready by Thursday, but right now he's limited."

Spurrier added that should Beecher remain sidelined, redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia will move up to No. 2 on the depth chart and could see action if anything happens to Smelley.

"It's going to be either Smelley or Garcia. We're down to those two" Spurrier said. "It looks like Chris Smelley would be the logical choice. Garcia could play if Chris gets bumped in the head and comes out dizzy or something. We'll put Stephen out there and let him go. He'll probably be the backup unless Tommy gets ready."

With Beecher sidelined, Smelley is now preparing to make the seventh start of his career. He was 4-2 as a starter last season with victories over Louisiana-Lafayette, Mississippi State, Kentucky and North Carolina.

Smelley will prepare to face a Vanderbilt defense that stymied the Gamecock offense last season in the stunning 17-6 win at Williams-Brice Stadium. Smelley rotated with Blake Mitchell in that contest and completed 14 of 24 passes for 154 yards and two interceptions.

Spurrier sees the same type of Vanderbilt defense on film this season. The Commodores allowed only 13 points in a season-opening victory over Miami of Ohio last Thursday night.

"They're a good defense," he said. "They play their style. It's been very good for them. Hopefully, we will not play the way we've played lately. We're going to try to stay on-side."

After four false start penalties by the offensive line in Thursday's win, Spurrier contended any offensive lineman who jumps early and draws a false start penalty during Thursday night's pivotal game is subject to being pulled quickly and replaced by a backup.

"If our linemen can't stay on-side, they're going to come out of the game," Spurrier said. "How's that? We told them today that if they can't stay on-side, we'll just jog you out and embarrass you in front of national TV. I don't know what else to tell them. We have to stay on-side and wait for the snap to go."

Smelley took the quarterback reins at halftime of the LSU game last September and remained in that posiion until halftime of the Tennessee game. For the year, he completed 56.8 percent (92 for 162) of his passes for 1,176 yards and nine touchdowns with seven interceptions.

His 5-for-5 performance in the season opener improved his career completion percentage to 57.9 percent (106 of 183) for 1,380 yards and 11 touchdowns.

RYCHLESKI HASN'T CLOSED THE DOERR COMPLETELY: Although punter Ryan Doerr has left the USC program and headed back to Texas, special teams coordinator Ray Rychleski offered a slimmer of hope on Monday that the freshman from Katy, Tex. might return after suddenly departing last week. Rychleski pointed the finger at himself for Doerr's decision to leave.

"I'm a little disappointed. I blame myself for him leaving," Rychleski said. "I probably should have loved him a little more, and that's my fault as a coach. He is a fine young man. I hope he reconsiders and comes back, and if he wants to go somewhere else I'll help him. We'll give him his release. We had a misunderstanding. I didn't handle it in the right way and I feel real bad about it. I blame myself and I have a heavy heart."

Rychleski said he is working through Doerr's former roommate, tight end Mike Triglia, to try to convince the former high school All-American to come back and kick for the Gamecocks.

"We left the door open," Rychleski said. "Mike Triglia was his roommate. He's been calling Ryan to check on him. Sometimes you leave for reasons we don't even know about. They're just looking for a reason to leave but it's not the real reason. Nobody really knows why."

Doerr left the program suddenly, Rychleski said, after being locked in a battle with Spencer Lanning throughout fall camp before the latter, a York High School graduate, won the job. He punted three times for an average of 45.7 yards in Thursday's opener. However, Rychleski said his net average was not acceptable. With Doerr gone, at least temporarily, Ryan Succop has become the backup punter.

"I jumped him for the first time a few days before the (opening) game," Rychleski said. "He probably wasn't ready for that. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't do it. He was working his butt off. He took it the wrong way. It was a big misunderstanding. Like Coach says, I yell at everybody, I even yelled at Scotty Spurrier today. It's all about winning and doing the right thing. In fairness to Ryan, I hope he comes back."

LAWING PLEASED WITH MCKNIGHT: Redshirt freshman Byron McKnight had one of USC's two sacks in last Thursday's shutout victory over N.C. State. He's listed this week as the backup defensive end behind Cliff Matthews, and is regarded as a player with promise.

"He's made a lot of improvement," Lawing said. "He's worked very hard. He's like a lot of our young kids. He's developing right now. Again, he's a second year player. He wasn't ready to play last year, and I didn't play him. Some of the other guys weren't ready and I had to play them. So he benefited from a redshirt year."

McKnight, a high school teammate of Travian Robertson, was a slender 6-foot-5 defensive end when he arrived at South Carolina last fall. While he's still on the skinny side, he's added some bulk to his frame, allowing him to finally step on the field. This week's roster lists him at 231 pounds.

"He's added some muscle to his frame," Lawing said. "He plays very hard. He's going to be a very good football player."

While some people have assumed McKnight was used as bait by the USC coaching staff to attract Robertson, a four-star prospect, Lawing challenged those assumptions, contending McKnight is good enough to stand on his own feet.

"He was a good player in high school," Lawing said. "By no means was he a throw-in. I've heard that in recruiting. If I was him, I'll take that as an insult. He's a good player."

TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON SPRING GAME?: Chris Smelley could be the starting quarterback for South Carolina in Thursday night's SEC opener against Vanderbilt. But, as far as he's concerned, he shouldn't have lost his position as the No. 1 QB following the spring game.

"I used (the decision to elevate Beecher to No. 1 QB) as extra motivation to work hard over the summer and be prepared when my opportunity came," Smelley said recently. "With 12, 13 or 14 games, it's a long season and you never know what's going to happen."

Why was he demoted? The redshirt sophomore from Tuscaloosa, Ala. believes too much emphasis was placed upon his performance in the spring game when he threw five interceptions and not enough on his performance in the previous 14 practices.

"I didn't have a great spring game, Smelley acknowledged recently. "(But) there's too much emphasis put on one thing. Quarterbacks are going to have good days and bad days. Peyton Manning threw five interceptions in the first half of a game last year. If that was all anybody saw of him, they'd think this quarterback is terrible. But, obviously, football is a whole team thing and it takes the whole team working together to make people look good. That's why not everyday is going to be your best day.

"But I thought I had a pretty solid spring up until then. Tommy and I both played well in the spring. Then the spring game was a little disappointing. I didn't perform the way I wanted to with people watching. So, that was definitely a big factor. But it didn't change my mindset towards how I approached the summer."

Smelley finally got his first chance to play this season in the fourth quarter of the victory over N.C. State. While he played well, Smelley pointed out it wasn't the first time that has happened.

"I thought last year I played at times," Smelley said. "The offense was really clicking sometimes. It was really working well (last Thursday). We worked as a group. I thought the O-Line really picked it up. We ran the ball and really pounded on N.C. State in the fourth quarter. That opened up some things passing wise. When a football team is working as a unit, it makes everybody look good."

With Beecher sidelined with multiple injuries, Smelley is preparing diligently to start against pesky Vanderbilt.

"I'm not sure how long Tommy will be out," Smelley said. "I just come out here and prepare to be the guy. It's going to be my goal and has been goal ever since I got here. It hasn't changed. You're always one play away from being the starter. You always have to be ready."

BROWN CLICKS WITH SMELLEY: Wide receiver Moe Brown said recently that he doesn't have a preference which quarterback gets the starting nod for Thursday's road game at Vanderbilt. But if performance means anything, he'd prefer Chris Smelley, who completed a pair of passes to Brown in Thursday's 34-0 victory over N.C. State.

"That's up to Coach Spurrier, which one starts. I feel pretty comfortable with either one," Brown said. "Both know the system and I think both of them give us a good chance of winning.

The first connection between Smelley and Brown went for 13 yards and set up Dion Lecoorn's TD reception. The 34-yarder occurred on the second play of USC's final possession od the game and helped lead to a 13-yard TD catch by Jared Cook.

"They had started to get worn out and Coach said we were better conditioned," Brown said. "You could tell in the forth quarter they were a little more tired and we were still able to go."

Kenny McKinley also expressed confidence in Smelley, who is set to make his first start since the Tennessee game last season.

"I'm behind whoever Coach Spurrier puts out there," McKinley said. "We're 100 percent behind him. The receivers have to do our part and help out the quarterbacks. I was impressed with him (Thursday night). He's been in the fire before. I have no doubt he can come in there and do the job. He's had a lot of good games."

GAMECOCKS READY FOR REDEMPTION: One of the major topics of conversation among the Gamecock players this week is gaining redemption against Vanderbilt for last season's 17-6 loss at Williams-Brice Stadium. USC came into that contest with a 6-1 record and a No. 6 ranking in the BCS. But the stunning setback jumpstarted a reversal of fortune for the Gamecocks.

"Oh, it definitely still bothers me," Emanuel Cook said. "That was the turning point in our season and everything went downhill from there. So we've got to make a change this year. I don't know what happened (last year). The confidence of a lot of players went down after that loss. It was a major change and it definitely showed."

Would a victory on Thursday ease some of the pain from last season's debacle? Cook says no.

"We're still trying to take each game one at a time and we still have a lot to prove," Cook said. "A lot of teams beat us, so we have to come out and prove something every week.

Cornerback Captain Munnerlun echoed Cook's comments about the negative impact the Vanderbilt loss had on USC's season, both from a physical and psychological perspective.

"Yeah, it still bothers me," Munnerlyn said. "They messed up our perfect season because we were No. 6 in the nation. I think we just relaxed and thought they were going to lay down for us. It's still in my head. They were a good team, but I felt we were better than them. This year we're not going to think they'll lay down for us. We're going to play hard and hopefully come out with a win."

But Munnerlyn realizes the Gamecocks can't focus too much on gaining a measure of revenge against the Commodores and forget to keep the eye on the prize – a much needed SEC victory against a division foe.

"It's not like payback," Munnerlyn said. "This is the SEC opener and we just need to win. We just have to go out there and play hard. I woke up about 3:00 a.m. (after last year's game) and thought, we just lost to Vandy. We were No. 6 in the nation. We probably could have moved up to about No. 4 because several other teams lost. But it happened and we've just got to put it behind us and go out there and play this weekend."

NOTES:

-- USC equipment manager Chris Matlock said Monday afternoon that USC will wear white jerseys and garnet pants for Thursday's game. Vanderbilt is set to wear black jerseys as part of the school's "Blackout" promotion with ESPN in town.

-- Spurrier described Vanderbilt's All-SEC cornerback D.J. Moore as a "very good player." Moore has eight career interceptions and also returns punts and kickoffs. "He does it all for them," Spurrier said. "He can pick off some passes. He picked off two against us last year."

-- Spurrier said senior fullback Yvan Banag is still experiencing problems obtaining a student visa to allow him to continue with his education. Banag missed the season opener against N.C. State and his prospects for the Vanderbilt game are bleak. "We're trying to get his immigration papers worked out," Spurrier said. "He's not even in school right now, so he needs to hurry up and get the approval. I don't know. There's nothing else he can do. It's just a paperwork trail."

-- Spurrier said redshirt freshman Kyle Nunn is doing 'so-so' at left guard. Previously, he was the backup to Justin Sorensen at right tackle. "He's a redshirt freshman trying to play a new position," Spurrier said.

-- Spurrier said Jarriel King is still the scheduled starter at left tackle.

-- ESPN's broadcasting crew for Thursday night's game between USC and Vanderbilt will be the same one that worked last Thursday's contest: Chris Fowler, Craig James and Jesse Palmer. Kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m. ET. Erin Andrews will be on the sidelines. The contest can also be heard on WKNT 107.5 FM "The Game."

Marlo · Sep 2, 2008

ETG Nice thread :cheers:

Quick question, was it the Favs or underdogs that dominated on Thursday nights last year?

broadwayjoe · Sep 2, 2008

very tempted to lay the road chalk with your boys etg...gl to ya

Wolfpack17 · Sep 2, 2008

congrats on your dominating win last week ETG. Good luck this week against the dores

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

I’ve had some time to study Vandy now and make some better thoughts about this game as compared to what I knew about them in the preseason. After reading several reports from Vandy fans that were at the game versus Miami, Ohio, I have come to a few conclusions:

With a straight 4-man rush, Vandy had trouble getting to the QB. They needed to bring 5-6 guys to get pressure.
In both detailed reports it mentions that Vandy is vulnerable (inexperience) to misdirection plays and screens.
The passing game is a work in progress.
The size of the team, particularly the OL is small. More on this later.
They expect Nickson to roll out a lot of passing downs because the OL simply could not hold the pocket
Nickson is very dangerous with his feet, he picked up 94 of his yards on 2 runs.
The Vandy secondary is good and it is the strongest point of this team
Special teams is also pretty good, DJ Moore is a game breaker and must be contained, Kicker Hahnfeldt was on target.

Going over the Vandy depth chart that they used in WK1, I count 11 players who are Sophomores or Frosh listed on the 2-deep just on defense and that is a problem similar to what NCST faced late in the game.

Their OL had some trouble blocking MOH and I expect them to struggle even more with SC. They are not a big OL by any means:

T: So, 6’7 273, 1varsity letter
T: Jr, 6’7 305, 2varsity letter
G: So, 6’4 295, 2varsity letter
G: So, 6’4 280, 1varsity letter
C: Jr, 6’3 292, 2varsity letter

SC DL:

DE: Sr, 6’3 266, 3varsity letter / So, 6’7 282, 1varsity
DE: So, 6’4 259, 1varsity letter
DT: Jr, 6’1 287, 2varsity letter / Sr, 6’2 296, 1varsity
DT: So, 6’1 298, 1varsity letter / So, 6’4 281, 1varsity

I think the G-C-G on Vandy are going to have trouble with the pressure up the middle from SC.

I think Ellis Johnson is an excellent X & O’s Defensive Coordinator and he is going to force Nickson to throw the ball, I believe there is enough speed on defense to contain Nickson when his number is called to run the ball. He is going to take a physical beating if he rushes 20x in this game too.

I expect Vandy to come out on defense and blitz and blitz and blitz which is what they did last year but if the OL picks these blitzes up, then someone will be open. There is no excuse for the way the OL played versus NCST (4false starts, 5 sacks, holding penalty, personal foul in 1 half) and they are much better than that. This game is a measure of pride for the OL because of what unfolded last year in Columbia.

I understand Vandy might have some confidence because they did in fact beat SC last year, the fans are going to try and create a hostile environment and are reportedly trying arrange a “black out” but under Spurrier, SC has traditionally played better ATS on the road and the team tends to be more focused on road trips. The fans at SC games are hard enough on the team when all is not going well, even chanting “Garcia” in the 2<SUP>nd</SUP> quarter versus NCST so I’m sure the team won’t be phased heading into Vandy which holds around 45k. I also know that DD favorites in conference play, especially the SEC, have done terrible and SC even has a game on deck with their 2<SUP>nd</SUP> biggest rival, BUT, the team is very pissed off about last year and Vandy is going to get a full focused effort from SC. See random comments about this game:

"Oh, it definitely still bothers me," Emanuel Cook said. "That was the turning point in our season and everything went downhill from there. So we've got to make a change this year. I don't know what happened (last year). The confidence of a lot of players went down after that loss. It was a major change and it definitely showed."

"Yeah, it still bothers me," Munnerlyn said. "They messed up our perfect season because we were No. 6 in the nation. I think we just relaxed and thought they were going to lay down for us. It's still in my head. They were a good team, but I felt we were better than them. This year we're not going to think they'll lay down for us. We're going to play hard and hopefully come out with a win."

“I woke up about 3:00 a.m. (after last year's game) and thought, we just lost to Vandy. We were No. 6 in the nation. We probably could have moved up to about No. 4 because several other teams lost. But it happened and we've just got to put it behind us and go out there and play this weekend." - Munneryln

"We're just mad at ourselves for last year ," Spurrier said Sunday during his weekly press conference. "We've said many times that it was one of the worst offensive games personally I've ever attempted to coach. The second half of the North Carolina game (outscored 12-0) through the Vandy game was pretty sorry."

I think this is a 13-3type game at half and then SC begins to pull away in the second half for a convincing victory. I expect much better OL play, better QB play, the TE’s to get more involved in the game, a balanced offense, and assignment football.

SC-9.......1unit
SC-10......1unit

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

MONDAY PRESS CONFERENCE RECAP

Jesse W. Johnson
VandySports.com Publisher
<SCRIPT language=javascript>document.write("<div id=contentcontainer style='font-size: " + currentsize + "pt;'>");</SCRIPT>Talk about it in Commodore War Room

The Vanderbilt Commodores began their game week preparation on Monday with the programs weekly press conference for the greater Nashville media. Head coach Bobby Johnson addressed several for a 30-minute presser, highlighting several things about the Commodores win over Miami last Thursday as well as his thoughts on preparing for the SEC home opener against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The following is a summary of what Johnson as well as Commodores Ryan Hamilton and Sean Walker had to say to the members of the media on Monday.

<SCRIPT language=Javascript>document.write(insertImage('http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/1087/668632.JPG', '668632.JPG', 0, 396, 264, 1, 'Coach Johnson knows the South Carolina defense will present a tough challenge.', 'Mike Rapp, VandySports.com', 1220307540000, 'Coach Johnson hands on hipslarge', 1087, 'Align=Left'));</SCRIPT><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=272 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=266>

</TD><TD width=6 rowSpan=4>

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>Mike Rapp, VandySports.com</TD></TR><TR><TD height=3>

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>Coach Johnson knows the South Carolina defense will present a tough challenge.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Coach Johnson's Opening Statement:

"We are very pleased with our victory on the road over Miami last Thursday. I thought the first game was a good test for us and we had to overcome some adversity right off the bat with the fumble. We made some big plays and we did a good job of protecting the lead in the second half. The competition is going to pick up. This is a huge game for us to play South Carolina on a Thursday on ESPN. We are extremely excited about the opportunity and it's just right around the corner."

His thoughts on the offenses performance against the Redhawks:

Johnson: "I think our offense played well. I mean if we would have had to throw it more, we would have. We were running the ball and had some big plays to get the lead. I don't care who you are playing against; you play to win the game, not to get more yards. We were trying to run out the clock,so keeping the ball on the ground was what we did."

His thoughts on D.J. Moore's versatility:

Johnson: "He just knows how to play football. He just has that knack of knowing where the ball is going. Against Miami he had an interception, a sack, a long punt return and he tackled real well, so he can do it all. D.J. is different than most of the players that I have ever seen. He is one of those players where you don't have to remind him that the quarterback is going to read this and then go to that. He has it down the first time you tell him. I know one thing, he is a lot of fun to have on your football team."

On Myron Lewis' improvement as well as teams possibly scheming away from Moore:

Johnson: "Well I think Myron has gotten better and better. He did a fantastic job in man coverage versus Miami and that allowed us to run some defenses where we could get some people in the box to stop the run. Myron not only plays well on defense but he also did well on punt return. He's the guy that man's up the gunner on the outside and he kept him from making the tackle. He is really starting to become a complete player. One reason people don't notice him as much is because D.J. lines up on the other side. He is a physical specimen."

Thoughts on last year's game against the Gamecocks:

Johnson: "We did play well. We executed well on defense and we put some pressure on South Carolina's offense. Then when we got the ball away from them, our offense capitalized several times. We got just enough points because we didn't get the ball in the end zone in the second half. We were disappointed with that. We went into that game upset because we thought we should have beaten Georgia the week before, so our guys went into South Carolina and played hard. I was real proud of our team's effort. Sometimes you have to step up and say, "we didn't win last week, but we're going to do something about it this week."

On the importance of the game against the Gamecocks this year:

Johnson: "It's the second game on our schedule and that is the way our team is treating it. We know we are playing a quality opponent in South Carolina. I've said to our team that we have to play well every game if we want to win. You have to go at it every week and we had to play well against Miami last week to win."

Thoughts on South Carolina's defense:

Johnson: "That was impressive. N.C. State had the ball several times with good field position but South Carolina's defense went out there and snuffed them. That really put a stop to all of the momentum that N.C. State was building in the first half. The South Carolina defense played with a lot of confidence. They play a lot of man defense and crowd the line of scrimmage. Their defensive line is very aggressive and they get up field with good penetration. Our offense had a little problem with that last week against Miami so it will definitely be a challenge for our offense to meet USC intensity.

"I'll tell you Emanuel Cook might be one of the best tacklers that I have ever seen in college football. He does a form tackle everytime he brings somebody down. If somebody gets by their defensive line and linebackers he seems to always be there for the big hit. Captain Munnerlyn is a great cover corner and a very dangerous kick returner. I think their entire defensive line is athletic and like I said before, they really get off the ball. Linebacker Eric Norwood has a great knack for the ball. He is sort-of like D.J. Moore, if the ball is somewhere you can find Norwood there."

Thoughts on South Carolina's receivers, an All-SEC performer Kenny McKinley in general:

Johnson: "South Carolina has excellent schemes and excellent receivers. Kenny McKinley and Dion LeCorn and all their skill players can light you up. We've got to be ready to play. I don't have to tell my team that they need to be ready to go Thursday because they know that Kenny McKinley is that good."

On South Carolina's uncertainty at quarterback, and scouting possibly three different players at that position:

Johnson: "I don't know because I haven't seen one of them. We played against one of them last year and the other one I have seen on film. We're going to do what we do and I think that is one of the best things our football program has done the last couple of years. We have our defensive scheme and we stick to it. We're playing faster and are bringing more pressure and I think it has paid off for us. We're going to do the same things no matter who is playing quarterback."

<SCRIPT language=Javascript>document.write(insertImage('http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/1087/668740.JPG', '668740.JPG', 0, 396, 264, 1, 'Ryan Hamilton believes stopping South Carolina\'s Kenny McKinley might be a key to the game for the Commodore defense.', 'Mike Rapp, VandySports.com', 1220307782000, 'Hamiltonlarge', 1087, 'Align=Right'));</SCRIPT><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=272 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=6 rowSpan=4>

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</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>Mike Rapp, VandySports.com</TD></TR><TR><TD height=3>

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>Ryan Hamilton believes stopping South Carolina's Kenny McKinley might be a key to the game for the Commodore defense.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Commodores starting free safety Ryan Hamilton on the Miami victory and the upcoming contest against the Gamecocks:

Hamilton: "It was a good win, I think it was really good for the team. It's always great to start out 1-0 but I think we all know that we've got to keep it rolling. Last week's over and we're probably going to have to play better with playing in the conference this week. I think we're all happy, but we've already got our game faces on for this week."

Hamilton on South Carolina all-conference receiver Kenny McKinley:

Hamilton: "He's a good player, they try to get him the ball as good as they can and we know that. We know that wherever he's at, he's there for a reason, so we're definitely going to keep our eyes on him. I think if we do a good job of limiting him getting the ball, I think we'll be in good shape."

Vanderbilt senior wide receiver Sean Walker's thoughts on South Carolina:

Walker: "South Carolina's a great team, we know that we have to come out here and bring our A game on every play. It's going to be a lot different than the Miami of Ohio game because they are a great SEC team and the SEC is on a whole other level. I feel like our offense has been so prepared all throughout camp, all throughout last week and will be this week, I feel like we have a great offense and they have a great defense, but I feel like we can come out on top."

Walker on how the Commodores younger receivers have performed:

Walker: "Jamie [Graham] and Udom [Umoh] have stepped up. Also John [Cole], he was stepping up too but he's gotten hurt. I feel like some of the younger receivers have been watching some of the older receivers such as me, Justin Wheeler and George Smith before he got hurt. They've been watching us, and just learning from us and I feel like they've stepped up to the plate very well. I feel like their progress throughout the season will be even more and I feel like they will get more involved with the passing game here soon."

Extended thoughts on Smith's absence and what it means to the other experienced receivers:

Walker: "I feel like George has been a big loss, but at the same time, me and Justin knew coming into the season, that we were going to be needed to go all out. I feel like with George gone that I just have to continue to play my game and continue to focus how I normally focus and I'll step up to the plate that way."

Walker's thoughts on teammate D.J. Moore:

Walker: "DJ's a great guy on and off the field. He's a person that I saw coming into his freshman year that just had so much talent, probably more than anybody I've seen. He's the type of guy that can go out there and you tell him to do this, he'll do it good, tell him to that, he'll do it great. Playing with a guy like DJ makes you feel comfortable about your defense and also your return game and everything by knowing he's one play away from breaking something."

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD class=storytitle colSpan=3>Nik's Commodore Keys: South Carolina </TD></TR><TR><TD class=primaryimage vAlign=top>

Bryant Hahnfeldt/Mac Adams (VM/Stan Jones)
</TD><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=4 width="60%" bgColor=#f5f5f5 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD vAlign=center noWrap>By Niklas Rodewald

Posted Sep 1, 2008
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After thrashing Miami (OH) last week in Oxford, Vanderbilt plays South Carolina in the newly renovated Vanderbilt Stadium in front of an ESPN Thursday night prime-time national audience. The Commodores won’t have an easy task beating the gamecocks, who were 34-0 winners over N.C. State, but certain things must happen for the Dores to sprint out of the gates 2-0.
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3>
Passing Game

For Vanderbilt to beat South Carolina, Chris Nickson is going to have to pass the ball well. Last week, Nickson looked very confident and very comfortable leading the Commodore offense, but most of his yards came on the ground. Nickson only threw for 91 yards with one touchdown. However, Nickson looked good on the occasions that he did actually throw the ball. After watching South Carolina’s front seven smother the Wolfpack of N.C. State last week, Vandy’s running game will need help from the passing game to do well offensively. Nickson will need to show the Gamecocks that he can pass the ball; this should help spread the defense out, and allow Gaston Miller or Jared Hawkins to sneak through the hole for some big yardage. The O-line will also need to perform. Following an outing at Miami that showed plenty of small errors, Vandy will need to correct those to give Nickson time to throw, as well as provide holes for the running game. This game will be a true test to this line full of 5 new starters.

Stuff ‘Em

Another facet of the game that the Commodores must be successful in is stuffing the run. South Carolina has a quarterback controversy after starter Tommy Beecher threw 4 interceptions last week before being replaced by Chris Smelley. In the first outing of his career, redshirt freshman Chris Marve proved vital to the Vandy defense both in stuffing Miami’s quarterback and their running game. He will need to do the same thing this week. Vanderbilt needs to force South Carolina to pass, which they have had trouble with last year and the start of this year. The defensive line will also be key to stopping South Carolina’s running game, which accounted for 171 yards of offense last week.

Special Teams must be special

For Vandy to win this game, their special teams must be solid, unlike many previous games where special teams lost the game for the Dores. Kicker Bryant Hahnfeldt was solid last week converting 2 /2 field goals from 42 and 32 yards, respectively. Brett Upson was a solid punter averaging 40.2 yards per punt over 4 punts. On the return game, D.J. Moore had a 91 yard punt return, and the kickoff returns were solid as well. Punt coverage was excellent, as the Commodores outgained Miami on punt return yards 120 to 9. Vandy needs to work on kickoff return coverage. Although there were no huge returns by Miami, the coverage scared Commodore fans a little bit. In a tight game, special teams can win or lose the game for the Commodores, and the Dores need to change their luck, and have outstanding special teams to win this game.

Series History

Last meeting: Vanderbilt 17 South Carolina 6 (2007 in Columbia)

South Carolina leads series 14-3, 8-1 in Nashville (Vanderbilt won 17-14 in 1998) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Inspekdah · Sep 2, 2008

How is SC in your opinion on special teams? I see Spurrier is emphasizing it this week. Seems they should not get torched deep with their 4-2-5 and the athletes they have compared to Mia OH. But that's all Vandy could do vs. Mia OH was break huge plays/gains either on special teams or with a big pass. Eliminate that and this thing gets ugly for Vandy as long as SC can move the ball.

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

Inspekdah said:
How is SC in your opinion on special teams? Seems they should not get torched deep with their 4-2-5 and the athletes they have compared to Mia OH. But that's all Vandy could do vs. Mia OH was break huge plays/gains either on special teams or with a big pass. Eliminate that and this thing gets ugly for Vandy as long as SC can move the ball.

Special teams is not a worry to me at all. Coach Ray, brought in from Maryland is an excellent ST coach. I am sure they will have a plan to handle DJ Moore on PR and as far as KR goes, Succop is hitting them in the endzone at a high percentage.

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

If you watched Vandy/Miami (OH) play on Thursday, please drop by with some opinions

Xpereby · Sep 2, 2008

Watched the Vandy/Miami game last week and lasting impression of Vandy's D was their speed at every position....lots and lots of tipped balls both at the line of scrimmage and in passing lanes. Corners were the fastest players on the field....looked like they had the Miami playbook. Screens were snuffed out immediately and first defenders were sure tacklers. As an NC State fan, I'm not sold on the USC offense. The wolfpack brought no defensive exerience last week on the D line or in the secondary and was without their special teams returner. If Smelley gets sucked into expecting a repeat of the secondary play of NC State in the 4th quarter, DJ Moore could be a game-changer....both in defensive shemes and in the return game....I can't bring myself to touch that line.

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

Xpereby said:
Watched the Vandy/Miami game last week and lasting impression of Vandy's D was their speed at every position....lots and lots of tipped balls both at the line of scrimmage and in passing lanes. Corners were the fastest players on the field....looked like they had the Miami playbook. Screens were snuffed out immediately and first defenders were sure tacklers. As an NC State fan, I'm not sold on the USC offense. The wolfpack brought no defensive exerience last week on the D line or in the secondary and was without their special teams returner. If Smelley gets sucked into expecting a repeat of the secondary play of NC State in the 4th quarter, DJ Moore could be a game-changer....both in defensive shemes and in the return game....I can't bring myself to touch that line.

:shake:

fair enough, thank you for your thoughts, always appreciated

~Utah · Sep 2, 2008

ETG - Im on Vandy this week, and as you pointed out they have had a lot of trouble with mobile QB's, thats a lot of the reason im on this game, the rest I wrote out in my thread. What makes you think that just changing the defense to 4-2-5 is gonna solve the problem, a lot of the players on the defense this year played on this defense last year. Has Smelley really improved that much since last year? Surely you dont look at the NC State game when he came in as convincing evidence. Sorry if you mentioned it already, lot to go through

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

AlexGurv1987 said:
ETG - Im on Vandy this week, and as you pointed out they have had a lot of trouble with mobile QB's, thats a lot of the reason im on this game, the rest I wrote out in my thread. What makes you think that just changing the defense to 4-2-5 is gonna solve the problem, a lot of the players on the defense this year played on this defense last year. Has Smelley really improved that much since last year? Surely you dont look at the NC State game when he came in as convincing evidence. Sorry if you mentioned it already, lot to go through

Well first with the defense. The best player in last weeks game on the DL, Jordin Lindsey, sat our all yr last yr. Jasper gone during WK 4, Nathan Pepper gone in Week 3. So we can start there, with 3 starters in the front 7 gone for 3/4 of the year. Then you have 2 true frosh starters (Matthews/Ajiboye) who are now a year older, bigger, faster, and 4 sophomores that are now juniors and 3 of them are in their 3rd year as starters (Cook, Munnerlyn, Norwood, Stewart) ULL runs for however many yards they did, 250? Whatever, they had 2 long drives in that game in the 1st half where Jasper was on the sideline with an ankle injury. SC had UGA in WK2 and spent all summer preparing for UGA, the didn't prepare for the ULL option for more than 3 days. That game doesn't hold any weight for me. I think going back to 06' and 05' is kind of pointless, new players, new schemes, new coaches.

LSU dominated in the trenches in running for 290 or so, different defense when B52 isn't out there. By the time the team made it down to the Arky and UF games, they were demoralized, battered, beaten up, and had not had a bye week yet. This was a young defense with a bad scheme that was overwhelemed without their best player. Surely you are not putting Vandys offense of the level of the elite offenses SC faced last yr.

Why is the 4-2-5 better? First, Ellis Johnson imo, from what he has done already with the defense in practice and the way he prepares, is a much better fit for SC than Tyrone Nix was, go check what his defense did versus Memphis last week. The 4-2-5 allows SC to bring their safety (D. Stewart who is excellent against the run) into a hybrid LB spot which in turn makes the front 7 faster and more adapt to stopping the run. Getting Culliver at the safety spot adds another kid with 4.35 speed on the field. This defense is a better fit to SC strengths. I think with limited time to prepare for basically an unknown NCST offense, SC did pretty well and could of done better. SC knows what Vandy is running this week and fundamentally speaking, I am sure they spent A LOT of time defending that read option and playing assignment football.

I realize Andre Brown picked up something like 100 yards last week, they had 138yds total as a team, they had to do something on their drives for a whole game, and Jasper Brinkley played less than 50% of the snaps on defense but he is now up to fulll speed and will play significantly more this week. If he plays a full game, Brown is under 100 and NCST might of picked up about 115yds.

I am not counting on Smelley to look like Dan Marino, I am counting on the OL to do their job and then the offense will work. I've seen enough of Smelley to know that if he has time, he can move the offense down the field. I bet Beecher can prob do the same. How could I possibly count on that OL to look better? Because they are much better than what they showed in the first half.

Vandy scored 17 points last year, all in the 1st quarter, all on turnovers, all were possessions inside the SC 40yd line.

I think backing Vandy you have to have some worries:

Offense is a 1 man show
Defense has 11 frosh or sophs on the 2-Deep
OL is inexperienced and undersized which plays into the strength of SC
The inability to get a pass rush against M(OH) with the front 4
SC has not gotten over that game from last year, it is really a sore spot for Steve and the team. He won't stop scoring if he has the chance

Also, I know a lot of people had M(OH) beating Vandy in WK1, I personally never saw that happening. So sometimes when a team exceeds your expectations, you think they are better than they really are. I'm not saying thats you, just across the net the most popular reasons for playing Vandy are because "SC has UGA on deck" or "SC can't stop running QB's" and I think there is more to this game than that. SC looked terrible in WK1 and they won 34-0. Had this been last years team, the final would of been 13-0. They played very poorly and I just don't see that happening this week. I'm pretty confident Vandy scores 10 or less points in this game.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask, good luck with your play.

ddk997 · Sep 2, 2008

I don't see vandy being close in this game after the first half...

Pimpdaddy55 · Sep 2, 2008

Think Vandy Over Under for the season was 3 games right. I see a slaughter here because of last year as well. Steve remembers games like these to run up the score on a bad Vandy team.

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

I just want to add, you won't see me on SC every week, I just think these first 2 games are good bets for them. For example, next week when UGA comes to town, I am on the UNDER as long as it is around 40 points. Its been 12 or 13 years since the total has gone over 40 points

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

<DIV id=contentcontainer style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">September 2, 2008

Ranked Gamecocks Set to Leave

<SCRIPT language=Javascript src="http://vmedia.rivals.com/js/swf.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=VBScript> on error resume next For vCount = 2 to 6 If Not(IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash." & vCount))) Then Else bFlash = true flashVersion = vCount End IfNext </SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=Javascript></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT>David Cloninger
GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
<SCRIPT language=javascript>document.write("");</SCRIPT>Talk about it in The Insiders Forum

South Carolina finished up its last day of practice before leaving for Thursday's SEC opener at Vanderbilt and jogged off the field as the newly crowned No. 24 team in the country.

Not that the Gamecocks were patting themselves on the back about it.

"Better than not being ranked, I guess," coach Steve Spurrier said. "We're just trying to play our best against Vandy this week."

Players weren't made available afterwards but they're probably following the reasoning of their coach, since a Top 10 ranking last year began falling after a loss to Vanderbilt.

"I remember very clearly getting beat. It wasn't a good feeling," place-kicker Ryan Succop[db] said during a press conference earlier this week. "Fortunately we get another chance to beat them this year. So that's what we're focusing on right now.

The Gamecocks debuted tied at No. 24 (with Illinois) in The Associated Press poll and alone at No. 24 in the USA Today/coaches poll. Spurrier brushed off the compliment and said it was good for recruiting and publicity notices, but not much use on the field.

"I'm not really surprised or not surprised," Spurrier said. "Good to be ranked. But we're just trying to play a good game."

Spurrier mentioned that injured quarterback [db]Tommy Beecher (left shoulder) would still retain his starting job at holder, although Chris Smelley will start at quarterback. Beecher has practiced sparingly this week, which elevated third-stringer Stephen Garcia to the No. 2 spot.

Garcia, practicing in front of his parents on Tuesday, has been taking several snaps in practice this week. Spurrier said if the Gamecocks turned to him against Vanderbilt, the offense would have to very conservative.

"Yeah, we'd have to limit what we do with Stephen," Spurrier said. "Conservative. We were pretty conservative the other night, though, weren't we?"

The coach also declared he had no problems of backing up his boast of pulling an offensive lineman or two during the game if there was a false start. After five penalties against N.C. State, Spurrier reamed the line and threatened to embarrass it on national television if it happened again.

"I feel sure I'm going to have to pull someone out," Spurrier said. "I don't think our guys can do it. You think they can do it?

"I wish I felt pretty confident. I think one of them will jump. We've got the backups ready. It's just sad. It's embarrassing to me and to coach (John) Hunt, that we can't get them to do that."

Spurrier also said there's been no change in the status of Yvan Banag, who continued to sit out while trying to renew his student visa.

Kevin Young, Jay Spearman, Reggie Bowens, Donte'e Nicholls and Nick Prochak remained in yellow jerseys. Prochak has been held out for three days because of a knee injury suffered in practice.

The Gamecocks are set to arrive in Nashville on Wednesday afternoon. The game kicks off at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday and will be televised on ESPN.

~Utah · Sep 2, 2008

E.T.G. said:
Well first with the defense. The best player in last weeks game on the DL, Jordin Lindsey, sat our all yr last yr. Jasper gone during WK 4, Nathan Pepper gone in Week 3. So we can start there, with 3 starters in the front 7 gone for 3/4 of the year. Then you have 2 true frosh starters (Matthews/Ajiboye) who are now a year older, bigger, faster, and 4 sophomores that are now juniors and 3 of them are in their 3rd year as starters (Cook, Munnerlyn, Norwood, Stewart) ULL runs for however many yards they did, 250? Whatever, they had 2 long drives in that game in the 1st half where Jasper was on the sideline with an ankle injury. SC had UGA in WK2 and spent all summer preparing for UGA, the didn't prepare for the ULL option for more than 3 days. That game doesn't hold any weight for me. I think going back to 06' and 05' is kind of pointless, new players, new schemes, new coaches.

LSU dominated in the trenches in running for 290 or so, different defense when B52 isn't out there. By the time the team made it down to the Arky and UF games, they were demoralized, battered, beaten up, and had not had a bye week yet. This was a young defense with a bad scheme that was overwhelemed without their best player. Surely you are not putting Vandys offense of the level of the elite offenses SC faced last yr.

Why is the 4-2-5 better? First, Ellis Johnson imo, from what he has done already with the defense in practice and the way he prepares, is a much better fit for SC than Tyrone Nix was, go check what his defense did versus Memphis last week. The 4-2-5 allows SC to bring their safety (D. Stewart who is excellent against the run) into a hybrid LB spot which in turn makes the front 7 faster and more adapt to stopping the run. Getting Culliver at the safety spot adds another kid with 4.35 speed on the field. This defense is a better fit to SC strengths. I think with limited time to prepare for basically an unknown NCST offense, SC did pretty well and could of done better. SC knows what Vandy is running this week and fundamentally speaking, I am sure they spent A LOT of time defending that read option and playing assignment football.

I realize Andre Brown picked up something like 100 yards last week, they had 138yds total as a team, they had to do something on their drives for a whole game, and Jasper Brinkley played less than 50% of the snaps on defense but he is now up to fulll speed and will play significantly more this week. If he plays a full game, Brown is under 100 and NCST might of picked up about 115yds.

I am not counting on Smelley to look like Dan Marino, I am counting on the OL to do their job and then the offense will work. I've seen enough of Smelley to know that if he has time, he can move the offense down the field. I bet Beecher can prob do the same. How could I possibly count on that OL to look better? Because they are much better than what they showed in the first half.

Vandy scored 17 points last year, all in the 1st quarter, all on turnovers, all were possessions inside the SC 40yd line.

I think backing Vandy you have to have some worries:

Offense is a 1 man show
Defense has 11 frosh or sophs on the 2-Deep
OL is inexperienced and undersized which plays into the strength of SC
The inability to get a pass rush against M(OH) with the front 4
SC has not gotten over that game from last year, it is really a sore spot for Steve and the team. He won't stop scoring if he has the chance

Also, I know a lot of people had M(OH) beating Vandy in WK1, I personally never saw that happening. So sometimes when a team exceeds your expectations, you think they are better than they really are. I'm not saying thats you, just across the net the most popular reasons for playing Vandy are because "SC has UGA on deck" or "SC can't stop running QB's" and I think there is more to this game than that. SC looked terrible in WK1 and they won 34-0. Had this been last years team, the final would of been 13-0. They played very poorly and I just don't see that happening this week. I'm pretty confident Vandy scores 10 or less points in this game.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask, good luck with your play.

Great read for sure, but I'm still sticking with my guns here because even though you got Lindsey back, you got Pepper back, this is something that will deffinatly improve the numbers, but even with experience I just dont trust this team. As far as I know in 2005 they had the same kind of expectations, and last year really too, to stop the run, and it just never worked out. Last year even with all the loses, a 175 rpg was deffinatly not expected, you guys were expected to do much much better even with injuries and academic issues and whatever else. One thing I do agree about, you cant really compare the other teams I used in my writeup to Vandy offense (other then ULL), but I think this will do enough damage to make this a close game. Nickson probably will throw 15-17 times in the game.

Also about your Vandy d assesment, I disagree, and in fact I read an article that even though they didnt get sacks, the D rattled the Miami of Ohio QB, and even though he threw for 250 yards or so, he still managed to go 19/45 (not a good % you must admit). They played great on 3rd downs and they looked like a veteran sqaud for the most part. Even though they are young, not sure where else you are getting that they didnt play well. Not only from the assesment in this thread, but the Vandy D looked fast, thats something I love against Smelley. Also if the line manages to just get pressure, not even sacks, just pressure, it is all but done. The O-line played terrible last week, even though they have the potential, so do a lot of things that never work out, they played how they played, and there is no reason that they might not play the same way against Vandy. I was nervous as hell that entire game, and I think I honestly got lucky to win my bet with South Carolina (even though it was 34-0, im sure you know what I mean). (ill try to dig up that article for you read it on Thursday night)

Anyway, GL on the rest of your plays, ill only be able to catch the Second half of this game, ill be checking in on your other plays this week

VThokies · Sep 2, 2008

Good info ETG. I made this game -14 just scared of the conf road game/ road opener at this point

ddk997 · Sep 2, 2008

Hurricane Hanna headed for South Carolina in two days....:seeya:

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

VThokies said:
Good info ETG. I made this game -14 just scared of the conf road game/ road opener at this point

Its a valid concern. I think DD dogs in SEC-Conference play are hitting at like 75% or something crazy the last couple of year.

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

ddk997 said:
Hurricane Hanna headed for South Carolina in two days....:seeya:

good thing the game is in tennessee?

ddk997 · Sep 2, 2008

E.T.G. said:
good thing the game is in tennessee?

wasn't sure if YOU were located in SC...

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

ddk997 said:
wasn't sure if YOU were located in SC...

oh ahaha, good looks

naw, im just an alumni relocated back in dirty jersey, guido fist pumping the summer away

Inspekdah · Sep 2, 2008

Wow... just like we all assumed. Huge value in SC given the two nationally televised games last week. SC's offense looked like dog shit and Vandy looked like an SEC team vs. Miami Ohio.

E.T.G. · Sep 2, 2008

A feud with DJ Moore?

Kenny McKinley is normally a pretty talkative and gracious kind of guy. So you had to know something was up after the following exchange occurred Monday, when McKinley was asked about Vanderbilt cornerback D.J. Moore:
McKinley: “He’s pretty good. He’s all right. I think he’s a good player.”
Reporter No. 1 (laughing): “You don’t seem to be giving him too much credit.”
McKinley: “He’s a pretty good player.”
Reporter No. 2: “That’s it? A lot of people think he’s one of the best cornerbacks in the SEC, if not THE best.”

McKinley: “I haven’t played against every cornerback in the SEC. I think he’s a good player though.”
Reporter No. 1: “You lined up against him last year, right?”
McKinley: “Yeah, he’s a pretty good player.”
At this point almost everyone was laughing, including McKinley.
McKinley: “Y’all want me to say something about him. I think he’s a good player. That’s all I can say.”
Then it got to the nub.
McKinley: “After they beat us, he was like, we’re just an average group of receivers, we weren’t all that good, this and that. He’s a pretty good player. Hopefully we’ve got (something) for him this week.”
Reporter No. 3: “Did you go out and cut out that quote for this week?”
McKinley: “Nah, I just go out and play. I feel like if I play my game then –"
He thought a second.
"He’s a good player.”

Now in all due respect to McKinley, who’s one of the easiest Gamecocks to like, I don’t believe that quote hasn’t been bulletin-boarded. Most people had probably forgotten about it, but it’s a good bet the receivers haven’t.
Even Freddie Brown, who’s known Moore since he was 10, was a bit circumspect when I talked to him about Moore. This was before McKinley reminded me about Moore’s comments, so I wasn’t able to ask Brown about them.
And we won’t be hearing from Moore before the game. In an e-mail, Vanderbilt’s sports information director said Moore wasn’t available for interviews because of his “comfort level” doing them. Having interviewed Moore when he was in high school, I can attest to that. I had hoped that two-plus years at Vanderbilt had changed that. It's also very possible Vanderbilt is shielding him from any attention for last year's quotes.
Either way, allow me to use all of the above information to make a prediction: USC’s receivers are amped up for this game and the matchup with Moore. If they have a big game – whether it’s just McKinley, or a group effort – we’ll hear some crowing afterwards.

RetroVK · Sep 2, 2008

lol mckinley

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2002/05/09/iverson_transcript/

E.T.G. · Sep 3, 2008

September 3, 2008

Special Teams Must be Solid Again

Scott Hood
GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
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The decision last December by Steve Spurrier to hire Ray Rychleski as South Carolina's new special teams coordinator paid immediate dividends in the opening game of the season.

Without the glaring mistakes that contributed heavily to the five-game losing streak that marred the second half of the 2007 season, Rychleski's units came though with solid performance in nearly every area in the Gamecocks' 2008 debut against N.C. State.

Dependable Ryan Succop connected on both of his field goal attempts from 29 and 46 yards, and placed four of his seven kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

Captain Munnerlyn averaged 11.3 yards on three punt returns, while Chris Culliver had a quiet night returning kickoffs with just one opportunity thanks to the shutout posted by the USC defense.

Spencer Lanning averaged 45.7 yards on three first-half punts. He remained on the sidelines in the second half as the Gamecock offense scored on five of its six possessions. The other possession ended on an interception.

After watching in horror as USC had three punts blocked in the final two games last season, Spurrier was pleased with the turnaround.

"They were organized and we had 11 out there all the time," Spurrier said when asked Monday for his assessment of USC's special teams against N.C. State. "They played pretty hard and were fundamentally sound. They played like they were supposed to."

Rychleski was pleased, as well, but wasn't prepared to give his players perfect grades after just one game.

"We were solid, but not great," Rychleski said. "Two things we did extremely well - no turnovers and no penalties and that's huge in special teams."

Lanning had points deducted from his overall grade for punting the ball twice into the end zone resulting in a lower net average than Rychleski sought.

"The average looks good on paper, but the net was not good," Lanning acknowledged. "That's not what we're looking for. Coach Ray wants a lot more, and that's what really helps the team. I really need to work on downing the ball inside the 20. But it felt good to go out there and help the team. That's why I came here."

His first punt from the N.C. State 49 carried into the end zone for a touchback for a plus-29 in the net average. His third and final punt of the night carried 45 yards to the goal line, where Captain Munnerlyn nearly downed the ball at the 1-yard line.

But the ball found enough of the end zone for a touchback for a plus-25 on the net average. That's not good enough for Rychleski's liking.

"It was almost a great play, but like I say, the operation was great but the patient died," Rychleski said. "The patient can't die, so the bottom line is we didn't get it done, It cost us 20 yards, whether it's Spencer's fault or Captain's fault. The players make plays. If you want to be special, make the play."

Lanning' net average for his three punts was plus-32.3 yards.

"Spencer punted well but he didn't have a good net average," Rychleski said. "You have to keep it inside the twenties. He knows he has to get better, but for the first game, to get the jitters out, he did fine. If Captain comes up with that ball on the 1-yard line, then it's a great play.

"It was fine (for the first game) because two of the three went into the end zone. The other one was a line drive that Captain did a heck of a job to get down there. Akeem (Auguste) was down there to. If you're going to be good on punt coverage, you have to have good gunners and they looked good."

Lanning is the clear No. 1 punter after freshman Ryan Doerr left the team last week within days of the first game against N.C. State after, apparently, being involved in a dispute with Rychleski.

"I talked to him Saturday and we had a good conversation on the phone," Rychleski said. "We sort of mended our ways but sometimes the damage is done. I told him not let a three-minute conversation ruin his career. But he has to do what's best for him. It's a long way from home and only he knows truly why he left."

Although the kickoff return team had just one chance to show what it could do, Rychleski saw enough to contend the unit "needs a little work. . .we can do better."

Munnerlyn nearly broke one punt for a touchdown. His 11.3 yard average was 2.1 yards higher than his 2007 average. Rychleski believes it's only a matter of time before the junior from Mobile, Ala. returns one for a score.

"Our guys see that Captain can take it to the house if we block for him," Rychleski said. "He's solid right now. He had two shots to break one. One guy got him on one return and I'm not sure if he would have gone all the way on the other, but he has a chance to be very good. He showed flashes and when the other kids see it on tape they'll realize that if they do a little more he could break it."

If any individual performance merited an 'A' grade, it was Succop's booming kickoffs. He averaged 69.9 yards on seven kickoffs. N.C. State started no further than the 20-yard line on six of Succop's kickoffs.

Four times the Wolfpack started at their 20-yard line, while they opened possessions at the 13 and 17 yard lines on two other occasions.

"Our kickoff coverage with Succop putting four in the end zone was by far the best phase (of special teams)," Rychleski said.

While Succop, a senior from Hickory, N.C., was successful on both field goals, the Wolfpack barely missed blocking one of the attempts, sending Rychleski back to the drawing board for changes in the scheme.

"Our field goal protection was not very good," Rychleski said. "They could have blocked a field goal and that was not very good. We've made some changes to try to get that right. You usually make most of your improvement from the first game to the second, so we'll see how much we improve. Hopefully, we'll improve more than Vanderbilt does."

USC's kickoff and punt coverage teams will certainly be challenged by the Commodores on Thursday night in Nashville. D.J. Moore, a graduate of Broome High School in Spartanburg, is one of the top kickoff returners in the SEC. His 25.7 yard kickoff return average in 2007 was the highest in 50 years at Vanderbilt, while his 823 total kickoff return yards established a new school record.

Last week, Moore added to his resume with a 91-yard punt return to the 1-yard line in the first quarter of Vanderbilt's season-opening 34-13 victory over Miami of Ohio.

Overall, Rychleski is impressed by what he's seen on film from Vanderbilt's special team units. Punter Brett Upson averaged 40.2 yards on four punts in the win over Miami of Ohio, while placekicker Bryant Hahnfeldt was 2-for-2 on field goals with the longest being a 42-yarder in the first quarter.

"Vandy has a very good kicker and punter. They're legitimate," Rychleski said. "They have the rugby punt, they shift, they do a lot of crazy things that can be a pain in the butt."

E.T.G. · Sep 3, 2008

Thats prob my last update here, nuttin else really being talked about in this game. It has been pretty quiet this week from the SC camp, which is good.

If the OL has any balls and pride at all, they will play much better this week. Vandy sports a front 7 with 5 players who made their first start last week. I can only say the OL will play much better so many times, eventually its time to put up or shut up and that time has come.

I asked the Gamecockcentral.com reporter today on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most likely, "What are the chances SC is looking to next week" and his response was 1. A full focused effort for 4 quarters, solid OL play, balanced offense, sticking to your assingments on defense, solid special teams will lead to an SC route and they are capable of all of them.

I did notice that there is probably a 3:1 ratio of Vandy players to SC players in terms of people on this game and I don't mind that 1 bit.

My final prediction is SC is out for blood, hits them hard all night, shuts down the passing game, contains Nickson, and ends with a 27-10 win after a 13-3 first half.

E.T.G. · Sep 3, 2008

Did find this article, nothing new on Vandy site. Won't be around at all 2morrow, work and then getting drunk to watch the game. GL to all playing it, hope everyone stays healthy on the field and its a clean game. I think the article below is BS by the way, Captain sums it up at the bottom.

<DIV id=contentcontainer style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">September 3, 2008

Revenge Not the Case for USC

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GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
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Sports aficionados hear it all the time.

"Revenge game."

At South Carolina, preparing for Thursday's SEC opener at Vanderbilt, the term is being tossed about. The Commodores were the ones who began the Gamecocks' epic slide in 2007, although the same amount of blame should be placed on USC losing the game as Vandy winning it.

But do the No. 24 Gamecocks see this as a chance for revenge? For exorcising past demons and settling a grudge that led to the disaster of '07?

"I wouldn't say … well, yeah, we're out for revenge," receiver Moe Brown corrected. "That started our slide last year between losing that game against Vanderbilt and we went on to lose our next (four). So this is a big game.

"Our goal is to win the SEC championship. We've got to beat Vandy in order to do that. So it's a very big game. This is definitely huge."

Other players downplayed the revenge angle, following Brown in saying they wanted to win because it was a conference game and they wanted to win the conference. Taking a personal approach -- i.e., the kind that always seems to rise when Clemson is on the horizon -- doesn't do.

It'd be one thing if Vanderbilt (1-0, 0-0 SEC) had showed up last year, taken a commanding lead and kept throwing the ball just to run up the score. But that's not the case.

No, as previously stated, the Gamecocks had numerous chances to win the game, falling behind 17-0 by the first quarter. They lost 17-6 because they didn't take advantage of their chances.

Vanderbilt didn't thumb its collective nose at USC, it just won the game. If anybody should be playing a revenge card, it'd be the Commodores.

Safety Emanuel Cook said, in a fit of frustration/anger after last year's game, Vanderbilt was the "sorriest" team in the conference. Cook remembered it this week and hoped Vandy wasn't using it as bulletin-board material.

"Yeah, I apologize for that," he said, somewhat sheepishly. "No disrespect to their fans or their team or their organization. It was just my feelings that week. They're a great team, very underrated. They've got a lot of star players on their team."

Plus, it doesn't wash for the Gamecocks to go preaching about how angry they were when they're not sure if they have the talent to back it up.

USC (1-0, 0-0) began the season with a 34-0 thrashing of N.C. State, which to the eyes of the country, looked extremely impressive (as evidenced by a perch in the Top 25). To the rabid USC fan base, it was the glass-half-full, glass-half-empty approach.

The Gamecocks handily won the game and their defense looked like it was ready to take on all comers, rising to the top spot in the SEC (and ninth in the country) in total D. They held an opponent to the fewest yards in their three-plus seasons under coach Steve Spurrier and pitched a shutout.

But their offense didn't click until late in the game, after a couple of N.C. State turnovers spotted them excellent field position. Then their starting quarterback got hurt and Spurrier spent the days immediately after talking about how bad the pass protection was.

So the players followed suit. They each talked about how it's a bit of a revenge scenario, but the most important objective for Thursday was just to win the game.

"We try to make sure we don't take it as that," center Garrett Anderson said. "It's an SEC game; we need this. We want to achieve our goals of competing in the SEC this year. The most important game is coming up this Thursday."

Anybody looking for a sound bite about how livid and ferocious the Gamecocks were for this game was disappointed, until Captain Munnerlyn arrived.

"They beat us, they messed up our perfect season," the outspoken junior declared. "I'm really amped. I'm ready to go to Nashville, I'm ready to play them now. I'm sick about that game. I just want to play and get out there.

"I'm out for revenge. I don't know about the team, but I'm out for revenge."

RSMS9999 · Sep 3, 2008

I tend to agree with a lot of what you are saying here, but I think you are discounting the Vanderbilt defense. The front seven may have a lot of new faces, but they are not a bad bunch. I think the Vandy defense is better than you are giving them credit for.

Everything else seems spot on though, I love SC here.

-my full writeup on the game is in my thread if anyone is interested...

E.T.G. · Sep 4, 2008

RSMS9999 said:
I tend to agree with a lot of what you are saying here, but I think you are discounting the Vanderbilt defense. The front seven may have a lot of new faces, but they are not a bad bunch. I think the Vandy defense is better than you are giving them credit for.

Everything else seems spot on though, I love SC here.

-my full writeup on the game is in my thread if anyone is interested...

:shake:

It is possible that I am discounting them, I like the secondary but I have my own questions about the front 7. If they can't get pressure with the front 4 tonight, its going to be tough to cover the WR/TE's when they blitz. Thank you for stopping by

September 3, 2008
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FINAL NEWS AND NOTES

Scott Hood
GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
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While his debut last Thursday as South Carolina's defensive coordinator was a smashing success, Ellis Johnson hasn't spent a minute this week resting on his laurels.

Instead, he's been figuring out ways to contain Vanderbilt quarterback Chris Nickson, who ran wild against Miami of Ohio last Thursday with 166 rushing yards. Johnson is well aware of USC's struggles with stopping running quarterbacks in the past.

"We have a history here of not being (fundamentally) sound against running plays by the quarterback out of the (shot)gun," Johnson said. "We did a good job with that last week but the kid got hurt. They lost the capability to run that stuff. We've been pretty good in practice, so we'll see how we do in the game Thursday night. It's not a physical thing. It's more technique, guys being in the right place, I think we have a good game plan. We'll just have to see how we operate it."

Johnson said USC would mainly utilize either the 4-2-5 or the 3-3-5 in order to contain Nickson and the spread offense. Either way, the Gamecocks will continue to employ five defensive backs with one of them (Darian Stewart, mostly) serving as spur linebacker.

Johnson reiterated this week that the days of the traditional 4-3-4 formation are numbered due to the proliferation of spread offenses.

"I don't know how much we'll be able to play that defense this year," Johnson said. "As you saw with N.C. State, they sped up the tempo and went with a no-huddle. It almost keeps you from being able to substitute. You can't afford to have guys on the field that can't cover the third and fourth wide receivers when you get in that situation. Our spur safety has really become an outside linebacker in our scheme. We don't worry when a team goes with four wides because we have a third safety out there. We just match up and go with it."

Defensive line coach Brad Lawing relied upon a rotation of seven or eight players along the defensive line in the first game, and plans to do that again. However, Clifton Geathers has been nursing a deep thigh bruise, though he intends to try to play on Thursday.

"He's still having to deal with (the injury) and play through," Johnson said. "He's not full speed. He may be (at game time), but we'll just have to see. Brad has a plan for that either way."

If Geathers is not able to play, Nathan Pepper and redshirt freshman Byron McKnight will likely fill in. Cliff Matthews suffered a shoulder stinger last Thursday night but hasn't missed any practice time.

Johnson echoed comments regarding McKnight, who had one of USC's two sacks in the opener, made by Steve Spurrier during his call-in show Tuesday night.

"He had a good game overall," Johnson said. "He did a few things wrong, but he gave a very intense, good effort. Brad feels he has made a tremendous of improvement from the spring till now."

Jasper Brinkley, who sat out part of pre-season camp with an injury, played 27 snaps in the 34-0 win over N.C. State. Johnson expects the senior to see more action on Thursday night.

"(His lack of action) was because he hadn't had a lot of reps in the dime package that we use on third down," Johnson said. "Later in the game we used that defense a lot. Plus, (Marvin) Sapp and Shaq (Wilson) played real well. Jasper will play more."

Johnson said OLB Eric Norwood was active against the Wolfpack even though he didn't register a tackle.

"He played extremely well," Johnson said. "He actually had one tackle, but we were late in catching it and reporting it. He also did a great job hitting the quarterback and taking the ball away. We also didn't play that many snaps on defense, so a lot of the guys didn't get many tackles."

Overall, Johnson was pleased with how the defense played in the opening game in yielding just 138 total yards. He expects the Vanderbilt offense, though, to offer a stiffer test.

"We played well (against N.C. State), but we really haven't been tested yet," Johnson said. "We did have a tight ballgame in the first half and I like how they played through that. But when we get a severe test, we'll see how they do."

Vanderbilt ran the ball 50 times against Miami of Ohio, and attempted just 16 passes. Nickson had a 59-yard scamper for more than one-third of his rushing total. D.J. Moore set up another score with a 91-yard punt return.

"(Nickson) looked okay but he really didn't have to pass a lot and he gained about 90 of his yards on two plays," Johnson said. "But he had some other good runs. They're working with a young group of receivers, but they have a real good pair of tight ends and they are hard to defend."

CHALLENGE ME OFFENSE: Cornerback Captain Munnerlyn spent most of the opening game wishing N.C. State would throw over to his side of the field. But they stayed away until later in the game, hoping to catch Munnerlyn napping. The strategy almost worked a couple of times.

"It was kind of dry for me early on," Munnerlyn said. "I was like, come on please, come my way. They tried Carlos Thomas and Stoney Woodson over there on that side and they got interceptions. When they finally tried me, I was kind of asleep. They went deep on one play and I thought, man, they're throwing my way. I can't fall asleep anymore. I have to stay on my A-game all the time. I felt bad about that play. I felt like I didn't play well after that play, but the coaches said I did a pretty good job. I hope they come my way next week."

Munnerlyn finished second on the Gamecocks with four tackles, and contributed a team-high two pass break-ups and a fumble recovery.

GOOD HISTORY IN NASHVILLE: USC and Vanderbilt have played nine times in Nashville, eight since the Gamecocks joined the SEC in 1992. USC is 8-1 against the Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium with the only setback coming by a 17-14 score in 1998. USC will carry a four-game winning streak in Nashville into Thursday's contest. Overall, USC leads the all-time series, 14-3. Here are the results of the nine games played between the Gamecocks and Commodores at Vanderbilt
YEAR SCORE
2006 W, 31-13
2004 W, 31-6
2002 W, 20-14
2000 W, 30-14
1998 L, 17-14
1996 W, 27-0
1994 W, 19-16
1992 W, 21-7
</PRE>MOORE IS MORE FOR COMMODORES: Vanderbilt cornerback D.J. Moore had a happy homecoming last October when he helped lead the Commodores to a surprising 17-6 victory over USC at Williams-Brice Stadium with a pair of interceptions.

After drawing little attention from the two major in-state programs, Moore committed to Vanderbilt during the latter part of his senior season at Broome High School in Spartanburg. He finally attracted attention from USC and Clemson in the final month or do before signing day but didn't budge on his commitment to Vanderbilt. He's proven to be a diamond in the rough for Vandy head coach Bobby Johnson.

"He just knows how to play football. He just has that knack of knowing where the ball is going," Johnson said. "Against Miami (of Ohio), he had an interception, a sack, a long punt return and he tackled real well, so he can do it all. D.J. is different than most of the players that I have ever seen. He is one of those players where you don't have to remind him that the quarterback is going to read this and then go to that. He has it down the first time you tell him. I know one thing, he is a lot of fun to have on your football team."

MCKINLEY, DAVIS CLIMB UP USC LISTS: Wide receiver Kenny McKinley has six receptions against N.C. State to give him 159 for his career, good for third place on USC's all-time receptions list. He needs 10 more catches to equal the school's all-time mark of 169 by Sterling Sharpe. McKinley is also sixth in career receiving yardage. If he picks up a reception on Thursday night, he'll set a new school record for longest consecutive games streak with at least one catch (35).

GAMECOCK CAREER RECEPTION LEADERS:
1. Sterling Sharpe (1983, 1985-87) – 169
2. Zola Davis (1995-98) – 164
3. KENNY MCKINLEY (2005-Present) - 159
4. Robert Brooks (1988-91) – 156
5. Jermale Kelly (1997-2000) – 153

GAMECOCK CAREER RECEIVING YARDAGE LEADERS
1. Sterling Sharpe (1983, 1985-87) – 2,497 yards
2. Zola Davis (1995-98) – 2,354
3. Sidney Rice (2005-06) – 2,233
4. Robert Brooks (1988-91) – 2,211
5. Jermale Kelly (1997-2000) – 2,181
6. KENNY MCKINLEY (2005-Present) – 2,176

CONSECUTIVE GAMES WITH A RECEPTION
1. Sterling Sharpe (1983-87) – 34
Jermale Kelly – (1997-2000) – 34
KENNY MCKINLEY (2005-Present) - 34

Mike Davis entered the 2008 season in 18th place on USC's all-time rushing list with 1,658 yards. His 101-yard effort against N.C. State after missing most of pre-season camp with a shoulder injury gave him 1,759 career yards. It was his fourth career 100-yard game. Davis needs 51 yards to catch Rob DeBoer for 17th place. Davis also needs 241 yards to become the 15th ball carrier in USC history to reach 2,000 career rushing yards.

While McKinley and Davis have posted impressive career numbers, Vanderbilt has shackled the pair. In three meetings, Davis has rushed 17 times for 76 yards, while McKinley has caught just eight passes for 137 yards and one touchdown. Nevertheless, Vanderbilt head coach Bobby Johnson is wary of the duo, as well as USC's other skill positions players.

"South Carolina has excellent schemes and excellent receivers," Johnson said. "Kenny McKinley and Dion LeCorn and all their skill players can light you up. We've got to be ready to play. I don't have to tell my team that they need to be ready to go Thursday because they know that Kenny McKinley is that good."

GAMECOCK DEFENDERS READY FOR NICKSON: Chris Nickson ran for 166 yards against Miami of Ohio last Thursday night, leading the Commodores to a 34-13 win on the road. Several players on USC's defense took note.

"We have Norwood, we have a lot of good players," Emanuel Cook said. "The defensive line has been upgraded with star players. They played a great game against N.C. State. The running backs didn't have too many holes to run through, so they had to try to take it outside, I think we'll be ready for (Nickson) this week."

Cook, who was flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty after performing 10 pushups on the field when he failed to come up with an interception, joined the chorus.

"We just have to come out each week and play," Cook said. "We didn't play a perfect game (against N.C. State). We're shooting for perfection. Coach Johnson has been preaching to us about getting turnovers, pursuing to the ball, picking up fumbles, hitting people, everybody running to the football. That's how you win games. That's how you're supposed to play. I try to play the entire game like it's 0-0. I don't look at the scoreboard."

ANDERSON VOWS IMPROVEMENT FROM OFFENSIVE LINE: Center Garrett Anderson was one of the few offensive linemen who played well for 60 minutes in last Thursday's 34-0 victory over N.C. State. The line played poorly in the first half when the offense struggled to score three points. Offensive line coach John Hunt challenged his players at halftime and they responded with a better second half.

"We're upset about it. We know we can play better," Anderson said. "We didn't come together as an offensive line, and that all falls on us. We know we can play better, we know we're a better offensive line group than how we played on Thursday. We're just going to go out here every day and try to play to the best of our ability. Because I think we're a solid offensive line and we can play a lot better than we played Thursday night.

Head coach Steve Spurrier, obviously frustrated by four false start penalties, has inserted Jarriel King into the starting lineup at left tackle and told his lineman that whoever jumps early will be immediately pulled from the game. Anderson said nothing is guaranteed along the offensive line.

"No one ever goes into a Monday practice knowing they're going to play Saturday," Anderson said. "There's no room for error in that. We're all trying to get better and trying to prove why we're at the position we're at."

Anderson made his first career start at center after eight starts at guard in his first two seasons. Hunt said Anderson played well in the victory over N.C. State. But Anderson gave himself a lower grade.

"I think I played decent. I know I can play better," Anderson said. "I left the field unsatisfied. I know what I've got to improve on and make sure I can get those things I saw on film. I know that I can play better and help out this team more than I did Thursday."

WEATHER FORECAST: The weather forecast for Thursday's game in Nashville calls for isolated thunderstorms with a 30 percent chance of precipitation at kickoff with temperatures around 83 degrees. The chance of rain will rise to 40 percent in the second half of the game.

SEC SCHEDULE (9/4-9/6):
Thur. 9/4:
South Carolina at Vanderbilt, 8:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Sat. 9/6:
Southern Miss at Auburn, 12:30 p.m. (Raycom)
Ole Miss at Wake Forest, 3:30 p.m. (ABC)
Central Michigan at Georgia, 3:30 p.m. (FSN)
Louisiana-Monroe at Arkansas, 7 p.m.
Southeastern Louisiana at Mississippi State, 7 p.m.
Norfolk State at Kentucky, 6 p.m. (PPV)
Tulane at Alabama, 7 p.m. (PPV)
Miami, Fla. at Florida, 8 p.m. (ESPN)

Postponed: Troy at LSU

NEXT WEEK (9/13): USC hosts Georgia at 3:30 p.m. in a contest that will nationally televised by CBS. The Gamecocks prevented Georgia from reaching the BCS championship game last season with a 16-12 victory at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga. Historically, the games between the Gamecocks and Bulldogs have been close, hard-fought affairs.

MISCELLANEOUS: Last Thursday's victory over N.C. State gives USC an all-time record of 522-523-44 entering the 2008 season. Consequently, USC can reach the .500 level all-time with a victory over the Commodores. . .The SEC has six schools in the AP Top 25 this week, including USC at No. 24 (tie with Illinois). Five teams are in the Top 13 led by Georgia at No. 2 and Florida at No. 5. . .Steve Spurrier is 14-1 all-time against Vanderbilt. . .USC is 4-1 on Thursday nights under Spurrier. . .USC is 7-9 in SEC conference openers. . .A win over Vanderbilt would move USC one victory closer to its fifth consecutive non-losing season. The last time USC went five or more consecutive seasons with a .500 record or better was 1928-34. . .Ryan Succop is 31-for-41 (75.6 percent) in his career on field goal attempts, including 17-of-18 inside the 40-yard line and 24 of his last 28 attempts inside the 47. . .Succop ranks ninth on USC's all-time scoring list with 171 points. . .Vanderbilt is just 4-21 in its last 25 conference openers. . .Since the beginning of last season, USC is 7-0 when leading at halftime and 0-6 when it trailed at halftime.

CapTwo · Sep 4, 2008

GL ETG

lets cash this bitch....

boz45 · Sep 4, 2008

ETG good luck and this might be most in depth report for 1 game since the super bowl. The whole size about the oL and DL is not true, just look at the denver Broncos, they give up 25-40 lbs and still run the ball every year.
Size only matters in the bedroom!!!! LoL

Blue_Chip · Sep 4, 2008

The whole size about the oL and DL is not true, just look at the denver Broncos, they give up 25-40 lbs and still run the ball every year.

The chop block can be a great equalizer. I used to like Denver because of their running game, but then I got in-depth analysis on why they run so well year after year. It's easy to find holes as a RB when the opposing DL is saving their career by avoiding chop blocks that could blow out their knees.

Blue_Chip · Sep 4, 2008

I have to fade the consensus here; I like Vandy. On paper, SCar should win easily over Vandy, but look at how Vandy has played conference opponents each season.

Getting ten points with the home team in SEC play... I'm not betting it, but if I were I'd be on the Commodores +10.5 tonight.

halfpoint · Sep 4, 2008

I just went back and read the Vandy 2008 preview from CFN. I like them alot at home getting 10 points on ESPN Thursday night.

I know they had to replace lots of linemen on both sides of the ball but I think the talent is MUCH better than everybody is giving them credit for. Several players that were supposed to start last year but for some reason or another didn't are now starting.

[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-1]Offensive Linemen[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-1] [/SIZE][/FONT] Projected Starters: Good luck trying to replace Chris Williams and Brian Stamper at tackle. Stamper was a four-year starter, while Williams might have been the best lineman in the school's history. Ready to try to step in and take over will be juniors Thomas Welch and Eric Hensley, with the 6-6, 310-pound Hensley playing for Stamper on the right side and the 6-6, 300-pound Welch playing for Williams on the left.
Welch spent last year as Williams' understudy and should be ready after seeing a little bit of playing time in almost every game and on special teams. Originally a quarterback, he started out at Vandy as a huge tight end before moving to tackle. He's not the athlete Williams is, but he can move.

Hensley is a terrific prospect and could be every bit the producer Stamper was, but he missed half of last year after getting suspended and now has to establish himself as a steady and consistent blocker. Tough and versatile enough to play guard if needed, he's a tackle who could be a fringe All-SEC performer with a little more playing time.

6-3, 292-pound junior Bradley Vierling will take over for long-time starter Hamilton Holliday in the middle. Vierling saw as much time as any Commodore backup lineman and won't be coming in cold; he was effective when thrown to the wolves as a freshman when injuries struck. While his future is at center, he could move to either guard spot if needed.

The guards also have to be replaced, but the left side should be set as 6-4, 295-pound junior Ryan Custer should be more than ready to take over. After seeing three games of starting time as a freshman thanks to injuries, he ended up playing a key backup role in every game last year. Ultra-physical, the one-time defensive tackle prospect should be great for the running game.

The right side needs 6-5, 305-pound junior Drew Gardner to be ready. While all five starters have to be replaced up front, Gardner could be the X factor as he's the one with the least amount of experience. It'll help playing next to Eric Hensley.

Outlook: Not only do all five starters need to be replaced, all five starters played every game last year. Even so, there's just enough experience among the newcomers, like tackles Welch and Hensley along with center Vierling and guard Custer, to grow into their new roles. It'll be next to impossible to replace the pass protection production of last year, but this is a big enough group to be decent for the running game early on. The depth isn't seasoned, but there's good talent, especially at tackle.

[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-1] Defensive Line Projected Starters: The only returner to a strong line is Steven Stone, a 6-5, 260-pound junior who came up with a nice year on the end making 45 tackles, four sacks and eight tackles for loss. With good size, he's been strong against the run for the last few seasons, but his real worth is as a pass rusher. He'll be the focal point up front job one for every opposing offensive line to keep in check, even if he isn't the team's best backfield threat.

On the other side will be junior Broderick Stewart as he takes over for Curtis Gatewood. The 6-5, 228-pound Stewart might be built more like a power forward than a true end, but he has the height to bat down passes and the speed to be a blur off the edge when he gets a step. After making five sacks in a limited role as a freshman, he became a pure third down sack artist leading the team with six to go along with 30 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss. Now he has the full-time job and needs to prove he can be an every down player.

The ends will be fine, but the tackles will be an issue losing Gabe Hall and Theo Horrocks. 6-2, 290-pound junior Greg Billinger will be the biggest plugger on the inside after making six tackles as a reserve. Expected to be a top producer last year, he got pushed aside by Hall and never got much of a role to play. With the size, the talent, and the experience in the system, he's expected to become a major factor.[/SIZE][/FONT]
Sophomore Adam Smotherman is expected to take over the other inside spot, but first he has to stay healthy. The 6-4, 280-pounder was supposed to be a key part of the rotation last season, but he suffered leg injuries and was limited to just one tackle in five games. Extremely tough and very strong, he could grow into a star over the next three years.

Outlook: The line was a bit of a surprise last year as it turned into a brick wall against the run and was fantastic at getting into the backfield. Three starters are gone, but Stone is a strong end to build around and Stewart could be a superstar now that he has more responsibility. The tackles will be the early concern with Billinger and Smotherman needing to play up to the bar set last year by Horrocks and Hall.

South Carolina @ Vandy (Thursday)

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