Some short, quick, barely researched, not fully formed thoughts from South Carolina’s 70-10 victory over Coastal Carolina on Saturday:
Breather. For once it was nice to sit back and not stress over a South Carolina football game while it was actually being played. After Coastal Carolina’s first offensive play, a 25-yard completion, the game was thoroughly dominated by the Gamecocks. I think we all felt a little wary of the 10-1 Chanticleers and thought they might be able to hang around for a while. But fortunately we were able to pull away early, rest some starters, and reward some walk-ons for their hard work during practice.
Shaw me your wins. Connor Shaw became the all-time winningest quarterback at USC with his 25th win as a starter, passing Todd Ellis’ old mark. What makes the record even more impressive is Shaw reached that win total in 30 starts, while it took Ellis 43. (In the defense of all our signal callers prior to Shaw, he has had much better teams around him.)
I believe #14 will ultimately be remembered as the quarterback who bridged the era where we hoped for 6-7 wins, to the one where we expect 10 wins.
Team Dylan. Dylan Thompson looked very sharp yesterday, which was encouraging. He has had a couple of mediocre outings this year, but he looked confident on the field yesterday, and the ball was coming off his hand like a laser. That Dylan is the guy who makes me optimistic for 2014.
Into the Wilds. Another guy who looked like he had something to prove was Brandon Wilds. After missing the last few weeks with a dislocated elbow, he appeared absolutely thrilled to be back on the field, and gives us a back-up to Mike Davis who can break tackles and get the extra yards we need in short yardage situations. I believe he has been missed more than we realize.
And while on the subject of running backs, I realize it was Coastal Carolina and we won by 60, but Jamari Smith looked very good in rushing for 103 yards yesterday.
King Tuttchdown. Steve Spurrier has seemed enamored with Pharoh Cooper since he arrived on campus, and now we know why. I’ve said since the first time I saw him on the field he reminded me of Randall Cobb, and he did his best Randall Cobb impersonation yesterday. Cooper had 168 total yards and two touchdowns – a spectacular diving catch and a 71-yard run out of the Wildcat. You have to wonder how much he will be utilized in the final 2 (or 3) games of this season, but you can rest assured he will be a major part of the offensive game plan in 2014.
Numbers game. As I mentioned above, another benefit to the blowout is the HBC was able to get a lot of players on the field we don’t typically get to see. I haven’t seen how many players took snaps yesterday, but there were a lot of names and numbers I had never seen running around at the W-B yesterday. Good for those guys, that’s a memory that will last a lifetime.
Wild Wild East. Texas A&M is now South Carolina’s last hope to make it to the SEC Championship Game after Missouri disposed of an inept Ole Miss squad last night. The Rebels shot themselves in the foot multiple times, but Mizzou seemed to be toying with them at times. Our overtime win at CoMo looks better every week.
Hate Week. Well, it’s here, and I have absolutely no idea what to expect next Saturday night. But I do expect some interesting quotes this week, and Vic Hampton and Brandon Wilds got things kicked off in yesterday’s post game:
Should be a fun week.
GO COCKS, BEAT THE HELL OUT OF THOSE TIGERS!
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