some articles, I will add some more thoughts to this thread 2night/tomorrow, I do lean SC and the Under
Garcia Gets Starting Nod
Scott Hood
GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
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Two days ago, Steve Spurrier wasn't certain who South Carolina's starting quarterback would be when the Gamecocks square off with Tennessee Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Forty-eight hours, though, have made a world of difference.
Spurrier announced Tuesday redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia would make his second career start against the disappointing Volunteers in the ESPN2 nationally televised contest. Garcia started USC's last game, a 24-17 loss to LSU Oct. 18 in which the offense totaled 212 yards in the first half but mustered just 42 yards over the final two quarters.
"Stephen Garcia is set to start the game," Spurrier said during his weekly press conference at Williams-Brice Stadium. "If he struggles and has a lot of problems, Chris Smelley may go in. We'll just have to see how it goes. We'll give Stephen every opportunity (to succeed) and see if he seems to know what he's doing in there and make good decisions. But Chris is very capable of playing also. It seems like the guy who comes off the bench has played pretty well around here. So we'll have to keep that in mind also."
Garcia's numbers against the Tigers were respectable for a young player in the glaring spotlight for the first time in his career. He completed 14 of 26 passes for 215 yards and one touchdown to tight end Weslye Saunders on a perfectly executed drag route.
Garcia also carried the pigskin 19 times – matching the single game season high for a Gamecock player this year - for a net of 15 yards. Garcia gained 64 yards on his carries, but 49 of those yards were wiped out by sacks. Spurrier acknowledged Garcia's mobility is one key reason he's starting.
"Certainly the ability to dodge people is very helpful," Spurrier said. "Stephen can do that, and he can break some arm tackles getting free. We're not discouraging him from running occasionally. We're just trying to encourage him to get rid of the ball at times and don't take those sacks. With the rules in college football now, you run about four yards over here, throw it past the line, that's all you gotta do
and then play again. Anyway, that's part of the game he needs to learn and improve upon."
Having said that, it's obvious the six sacks Garcia took against the Tigers still grates on his head coach, whose message Tuesday was identical to his previous media briefings this week – the redshirt freshman must learn to release the ball quicker when he's pressured rather than hold onto it.
"Quarterbacks have to get rid of the ball," Spurrier said. "Stephen again has only played one and a half games or so – or 2 halve and a game. In high school he'd look down the field and if he didn't throw it, he'd say, 'Well, I'll take off running.' Unfortunately, he's got to break that habit. You just can't take off running. Every now and then it's fine when you have an opening. But when there's no opening there you just can't start running around. You've got to throw it away or find somebody. You can't just go down with it for an 8-yard sack. We had about two or three of those last game at bad times in the game, real bad times.
"Our challenge is for the quarterback to get rid of the ball and not take so many sacks. The sacks really hurt last week and have hurt us all year as far as that goes. So that's our challenge, to see if we can avoid a whole bunch of sacks. We'll also try to run the ball somewhat respectfully, and go from there."
Spurrier would also prefer Garcia not run with the ball as much to avoid getting hit hard by opposing tacklers and taking an unnecessary risk of being injured.
"Stephen is a little bit better runner than our other quarterbacks here, so we could use him occasionally to run," Spurrier said. "But our offense is not based on the quarterback carrying the ball as much as the tailback. We're still trying to let the tailbacks do the ball-carrying and receivers catch the passes. We haven't been all that super at it. But we're still trying to do that."
USC has surrendered the highest number of sacks in the SEC (30). Only one other conference school has allowed more than 20 - Arkansas with 28. Together with a malfunctioning ground game (100.2 ypg, 12th in the SEC) and the worst turnover margin in the SEC (minus-9) and it's easy to see why the Gamecocks are struggling to score points (22.4 ppg) despite a number of positive signals that progress is being made.
"Offensively, we've struggled. We've struggled running the ball, our offensive line has struggled, our running backs have not made any long runs," Spurrier said. "Kenny McKinley got hurt in the first quarter of the second game and missed a few in there. Our quarterback play has been decent, not super yet. But we're working at it, and we're trying to get better and hopefully we'll have some plans to help our quarterbacks and help our offense move the ball better."
Offensively, USC remains a paradox. Although the running game has been paralyzed the last three games, the Gamecocks continue to move the ball with a productive passing attack. USC has the second best passing offense in the SEC behind Georgia with an average of 239.6 yards per game. It's the 36th best figure in NCAA Division I.
USC has thrown for 200 or more yards in seven of eight games this season. The season low of 195 passing yards came in the UAB win when the Gamecocks' offense displayed the most balance this season between rushing and passing yardage.
The productive passing game is largely responsible for the fact USC is second in the SEC in first downs (164) and third in third-down conversions (43.9 percent). Want more? Only eight times in eight games has USC run three plays and punted. The average of 1.0 three-and-outs per game is the fourth lowest in the country behind only Missouri, Texas Tech and Tulsa, three of the most prolific offenses in the nation.
Also, USC has punted the ball just 22 times in eight games, an average of 2.75 punts per game, the sixth lowest figure in the SEC. Among the top 10 punters in the SEC, Spencer Lanning is tied for the fewest punts and is sixth in net average (42.4 yards per punt).
Saturday night, USC will be looking for its first home win over Tennessee since 1992 when the Gamecocks held on for an exciting 24-23 win on Halloween. Since then, USC is 0-7 against the Vols in Columbia.
Two years ago, USC won the statistical battle, outgaining Tennessee, 395-325, but three turnovers produced a 31-24 loss. Tennessee returned an interception for a touchdown early in the game before later scoring six points on a deflected pass in the end zone.
USC's only win over Tennessee since 1992 came three years ago in Knoxville when a late 49-yard field goal by Josh Brown gave the Gamecocks a 16-15 victory.
"We've played them three close games since I've been here," Spurrier said. "Unfortunately, they won two of them, and we've only won one. Hopefully, the ball bounces our way a little bit better maybe in the fourth quarter and hopefully we'll play better. We didn't play
very well offensively the last game, really the entire second half.
USC trails the all-time series with Tennessee by a 21-3-2 margin. But the Gamecocks are favored for one of the few times in the series against the reeling Volunteers.
"I think we've only beaten them twice since South Carolina joined the conference, so we're way behind in the standings with Tennessee, way behind. So it would be very good to beat teams that have beaten you a whole bunch, that's for sure."
Last year, the statistical gap between the two teams was even wider (501 yards to 317), but four turnovers and critical blunders by USC's special teams and defense late in the game allowed Tennessee to escape with a 27-24 overtime win.
Tennessee finds itself alone in last place in the SEC East with three conference games remaining. With a 1-4 league mark, the best the Vols can do is finish .500 in the conference. Not surprisingly, rumors that head coach Phil Fulmer could be in trouble have swirled for the last couple of weeks. He didn't help himself with the 29-9 loss to Alabama last Saturday night.
Meanwhile, USC is trying to gain bowl eligibility for the fifth consecutive season. The last time USC went five or more straight seasons with a .500 record or better in the regular season was 1928-34. USC has finished 3-5 in the SEC the past two seasons.
"It's just another big conference game to see if we can get into the top half of the Eastern division," Spurrier said. "That's one of our goals right now, to finish in the top three. Let's see if we can do that."
USC and Tennessee have faced two common opponents this season: UAB and Georgia. Both team cruised past the Blazers in nonconference matchups, while losing to Georgia. The Gamecocks fell to the Bulldogs by seven points (14-7) on Sept. 13. The Vols lost to Georgia in Athens, 26-14, three weeks ago.
With both teams struggling to run the ball and both defenses ranked first and fourth in the SEC in total defense – USC is first again this week with an average yield of 256.1 yards per game – another SEC defensive battle could erupt.
