South Carolina overcame a very rocky start last night – two turnovers in their first three offensive plays – to take a 10-0 lead over Vanderbilt. After the field goal that gave us points 8, 9 and 10, we barely missed an opportunity to get a stranglehold on the game as the Vandy kick returner fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Alas, a Commodore fell on it, but not to worry. On the next play Jordan Rodgers was dumped for a two yard loss, and for the first time during the game I allowed myself to actually sit back on my couch and relax a little. Things were looking good.

On the next play, Rodgers hit Jordan Matthews for a 78-yard touchdown. The dogfight was on.

This, my friends, is Carolina football.

We all like to think Carolina football is a 34-13 thrashing of CTU, or a 30-13 New Year’s Day bowl romp over Nebraska, but that’s just not the case. Carolina football is much better represented in wins like 24-21 win over Navy, 14-12 over Mississippi State, 14-3 over Tennessee, or 17-12 over Florida.

Ugly, grind ’em out wins.  But wins nonetheless.

Don’t take that the wrong way, because it’s a good thing. I grew up around Carolina football when we would lose those games. So close, but just not good enough, mixed in with an occasional blowout loss.

Now, more often than not we are just good enough, mixed in with an occasional blowout win.

So curb all the bitching and moaning for just a brief moment and let’s take stock of where we are. A close, sloppy 17-13 win over Vandy on the road is not necessarily predictive of what we’re going to do against Georgia or LSU or Florida or Arkansas or CTU.

It’s a long season. Enjoy the ride. We’re 1-0, which is a lot better than 0-1.

With that said, here are some quick, barely researched, not fully-formed thoughts from last night’s  17-13 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores:

Game balls.  Connor Shaw was a warrior last night, and without his return to the game I’m not sure we could’ve moved the ball past the 50.  I was certain based on the pain he looked like he was in that he had a broken collarbone, separated shoulder, or something that would keep him out for the rest of the game, if not for multiple games.  His stats won’t get him on any Heisman ballots any time soon, but he refused to let us lose, and that’s the kind of guy you want as your quarterback.

Honorable mention to Marcus Lattimore.  He looked like he might still be a step slow, but Marcus at 80% is better than 95% of the running backs in the country.  Welcome back 21.

And honorable mention to Lorenzo Ward. His defensive backfield looked a little shaky at times, and his blitz call on 4th and 7 on Vandy’s last offensive play was questionable, but overall this squad looks solid.  Vandy seemed like they were perpetually on our 40-yard line in the second half, and to only give up 3 points in the last 30 minutes was quite an accomplishment.

A tale of two lines. While not exactly running free in the backfield all night, our defensive line lived up to billing. I saw a lot of guys in the rotation, and as expected 7 and 98 were in on a ton of plays. Unexpectedly, Chaz Sutton appeared to have a pretty good game as well, which was very good to see.

The o-line on the other hand was a little disappointing. Maybe having a 35 lb. weight advantage over the Vandy d-line wasn’t such a good thing. We ran the ball fine, but Vandy’s combination of blitzes and straight four-man rushes left very little time for Shaw to look downfield.

I believe we’ll see some extra conditioning drills for these guys in the next couple of weeks.

Paging Mr. Adams and Mr. Roland, please report to the offense. I saw Jerrell Adams on the field once (and I looked for him a lot) and did not see Shaq Roland at all. After all the preseason hype surrounding these two guys, particularly Adams, I expected to see them on the field a little more. Maybe Spurrier will bust out Roland at some point a la Alshon Jeffery against Kentucky three years ago.

Paging any receiver not wearing #1, please report to the offense. Ace Sanders had a few balls thrown his way but only had two catches. Dameire Byrd had one catch. No other receiver had a catch, and I can only recall D.L. Moore being thrown to. Granted, Shaw didn’t have a lot of time to throw, but we’ll have to do a lot better than 67 yards passing to beat the big boys.

Paging Brenden Nosovich to 2nd string QB. For all the talk of Dylan Thompson’s improvement during the offseason, last night he simply looked lost or scared or both. For the HBC to pull him in favor of Seth Strickland so quickly tells you he saw the same thing.

Nosovich, based on his high school career, is a similar player to Shaw. Maybe it’s time to get him a limited play package ready and move him up the pecking order. Nosovich can’t be much worse than what we saw last night.

On a side note, a little surprised we didn’t see Bruce take a single snap at Wildcat last night.

Paging a kicker, any kicker. We made a field goal and two extra points, yay. But kickoffs and punts were shaky. Gots to get a lot better fellas.

Plays of the game. I have four:  1) Shaq Wilson interception, a real momentum killer for Vandy. 2) the Justice Cunningham catch – you know the one, the only one. That was SportsCenter top 10 worthy and put us in position to score the go ahead TD.  3) Dameire Byrd running down the Vandy kick returner after we took the lead. Huge play, and glad to see a WR make a contribution. 4) the play where Connor Shaw came back into the game.

ESPN Coverage. I have to say, I was OK with the coverage of the game last night. Rece Davis is top-notch, at least as good as Chris Fowler and 75% less smug. I know a lot of people have issues with Short Tie Palmer, but he doesn’t bother me that bad. The big surprise was David Pollack. I listened to him on Atlanta radio for a couple of years and he was borderline dumb jock abysmal + he always seemed to hate USC. He was quite insightful last night. I think I’ll give him another chance.

Good win fellas. Go Cocks, beat ECU!

We’re almost finished with our Best Case/Worst Case previews for 2012 Gamecock football, and today with focus on the third, and obviously least important, phase of football – special teams. Oh, come on, you’re not really falling for that bunk that the coaching and media elite are spouting about special teams is just as important as offense and defense are you? If so you’re watching too much Fox News. Or MSNBC. Or NFL Network. Or Alec Baldwin.

Anyway, I digress. You watch football for runs like this. Or pass plays like this. Or hits like this. Or returns like this. Or post-game rants like this. Not for some lousy kicker.

Wait, what? The punt return? That’s considered special teams?!? Ah, geez. Well, that changes things, but only a little. It’s not like we have the next Boo Williams, Chavez Donnings or Matt Thomas on the team. Or, at least I hope we don’t…

On to the BC/WC:

Placekickers/Kick Coverage

Best Case:  Adam Yates is at least as good as the guys in our recent run of average to very good kickers. He makes kicks consistently from inside 40, and hits a few beyond 40, which means the HBC has the confidence to let him try. He gets us a few touchbacks on kickoffs, but even when he doesn’t he hits high kickoffs inside the five to give our coverage guys time to get down and make a big hit. We give up zero kick returns for touchdown. Nick St. Germain gets to redshirt and build leg strength so he can be our main guy for the next four. Bonus Best Case: I don’t have to walk out of the room every time we kick a field goal.

Worst Cast:  Adam Yates misses early and often. Low kicks, wide kicks, short kicks, you name it. St. Germain is given a chance and shows a powerful leg but is terribly inconsistent. Nobody can go deep on kickoffs, resulting in long returns against us. So we resort back to pooch kicks, giving away a minimum 15 yards of field possession on every kickoff. Bonus Worst Case: I continue to leave the room during field goal attempts. Which is probably what I’ll do anyway.

Punters/Punt Coverage

Best Case:  Mike Williamson or internet legend Tyler Hull grabs the job by the short hairs in the last week of practice and doesn’t let go.  Williamson/Hull is a pleasant surprise, with consistency of length and hang time for an entire season.  We don’t give up a punt returns over 20 yards all season, and the average against us is single digits.

Worst Case:  Neither Mike Williamson nor internet legend Tyler Hull distinguish themselves. Joe Robinson plays wheel of punter with those two guys as they produce poor punt after poor punt. We still do well on returns against average because the punts are so bad the return teams can’t get to the ball. We hear players yelling “FIRE” a lot.

Kick Returners

Best Case:  Bruce Ellington breaks the no-kickoff-returns-for-TD streak early in the season, and just for good measure does it a couple more times. Joe Robinson gets return schemes into place that allow for Ellington to use his natural skills to give the Gamecocks great field position time after time. People start resorting to the pooch kick against us. And we catch them 100% of the time.

Worst Case:  Ellington continually mistakes opponents jerseys for open running lanes. Poor schemes lead to missed assignments lead to big hits on Ellington leading to turnovers. Despite our dearth of high school kick return superstars, we can’t seem to find anybody to bust a big one. Matt Thomas’ streak is alive for another season.

Punt Returners

Best Case:  Ace Sanders was good last year (outstanding if you want relative to recent history) and has improved immensely. He’s Joe Adams dangerous, and sets a single season record for Gamecock punt returns for TD (which is what, two?)

Worst Case:  Ace has trouble fielding punts, and despite being dangerous once he gets the ball, we can’t risk the turnovers. Vic Hampton would be an option, but it’s too risky to put him back there since he’s our best corner. Shaq Roland becomes our designated fair catch machine.

Snappers

Best Case:  Consistently good snaps.

Worst Case:  Consistently bad snaps.

Hey, what do you want from me?  Analyze snap RPMs or something? It’s a freakin’ snap, hit the man in the hands with it.

Coming up:  In our final Best Case/Worst Case preview, the Gman will take a look at our schedule and let you know how we can make it to the BCS Title Game…or the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

With the season less than two weeks away, just wanted to send a reminder of the HBC’s “LOI” to Dabo:

You smell that?

No, not that.

THAT.

That’s the smell of football in the air people.  We’re speeding towards Thursday, August 30 like a Silver Bullet train, and expectations for Gamecock football have never been higher.  An SEC Championship Game appearance is a reasonable expectation.  And a 9-3 regular season feels kinda…meh.

Over the next week we’ll show you what a SEC Championship season looks like, and what 9-3 or worse looks like with best case/worst case scenarios for Gamecock offense, defense and special teams.

And we begin with…The Offense. (Note: In the best case/worst case scenarios, we cannot, will not, and do not assume injuries.)

The Quarterbacks

Best Case – Connor Shaw picks up where he left off in 2011 and becomes the poster boy for dual-threat quarterbacks in the NCAA.  He runs the offense with complete confidence.  As a passer, he makes good decisions with the ball, goes through progressions, and only takes off running as a last option.  As a runner, he picks up first downs, and knows when to get down to preserve his health.  He’s a white Charlie Ward, but finishes as third-team SEC because of the brilliant smiles of SEC poster boys Aaron Murray and Tyler Wilson.  Dylan Thompson gets very few meaningful minutes and a few kneel downs, and Brendan Nosovitch gets to redshirt as God intended.

Worst Case – Connor Shaw freaks out.  He looks like the wild-eyed kid that opened the season against East Carolina last year.  He overthrows open receivers, fumbles more times than the acceptable number of zero, and looks lost against inferior competition.  The offense can find no rhythm and sustain no drives, even with a powerful rushing attack.  Dylan Thompson comes in and you realize all his offseason “progress” is just internet talk, and the revolving door begins to spin.  Shaw, Thompson, Clifford, even Strickland.  Talk of taking the redshirt off Nosovitch begins, and the QB spot is once again a thorn for the HBC.

The Running Backs

Best Case – Marcus Lattimore is pissed.  Pissed that God tested him like this.  Pissed that he had to work ten times harder to get back to where he was, so he worked ten more times harder to get better than that.  Pissed at SEC defenses.  Pissed at me.  Pissed at you.  And he runs like it.  He powers over people and all of a sudden has that second gear that Matt Millen said he was missing against UGA last year.  He is the second coming of Adrian Peterson, and he’s glorious.  Kenny Miles is glad he came back, and spells #21 more than adequately.  Shon Carson gives us a change-of-pace back we haven’t had since NOBODY back in THE YEAR THAT DIDN’T EXIST.  Because we only have one ball Brandon Wilds and the uber-talented Mike Davis get to redshirt.  By the end of the year the USC backfield is widely recognized as the best in the SEC, if not the nation.

Worst Case – I can’t come up with a worst case scenario involving Marcus Lattimore, it’s just not in me.  So let’s just say he rushes for 1200 yards and 20 TD’s but gets no help from anyone else in the backfield.  Miles is the pedestrian Miles he has been for much of his career, Carson doesn’t pan out, and Brandon Wilds is more the Wilds of Clemson instead of the Wilds of Tennessee.  The Mike Davis redshirt is burned, but he simply doesn’t get many carries because #21 is so good.

The Wide Receivers

Best Cast – Ace Sanders steps up and becomes worthy of all-conference talk.  He finishes in the top 5 in receptions in the SEC, and while he doesn’t have a ton of yardage he’s a first down machine.  Bruce Ellington kills out of the slot.  Dameire Byrd becomes the deep threat we all hoped he’d be last year, getting behind defenses with his blazing speed.  Shaq Roland lives up to the hype, and like Alshon, becomes our jump ball/fade guy in the red zone. (Oh, and our Hail Mary guy too.)  Other receivers like D.L. Moore and K.J. Brent are solid contributors when needed.  With a powerful run game to compliment it, the passing game helps the Gamecock O become the most balanced in the SEC.

Worst Case – Ace Sanders continues to be Ace Sanders, solid but not a breakout performer.  Ellington dreams of early playing time for Frank Martin.  Byrd has stone hands and can’t be trusted, while Roland is lost once the lights come on and the proverbial bullets start flying.  Moore catches eight passes on the season, and Brent is the second coming of Moore.

The Tight Ends

Best Case – Holy moly people.  Cunningham, Anderson, Adams, Owens (for half the season), Rainey.  Let’s just say Justice Cunningham (an excellent blocker who can catch the ball on occasion) and Buster Anderson (an above average blocker with excellent hands and moves) play the way they did last year.  And let’s just say Jerell Adams is close to what we are hearing about in practice, which if you believe the legend is a cross between Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham and Tony Gonzalez.  And let’s just say Owens comes back from his knee injury as a contributor and Rainey redshirts.  I think that will do just fine.

Worst Case – Cunningham decides blocking is for the birds and he wants to catch more passes dammit.  Anderson regresses to more resemble the lightly recruited tight end we didn’t expect anything out of last year.  Adams is a myth, Owens doesn’t recover from his knee injury in time to contribute in 2012, and Rainey plays like a freshman.

The Offensive Line

Best Case – The corner is turned, and we finally have an upper level SEC line for our stable to run behind.  T.J. Johnson anchors the line as a veteran multiple-year starter who knows how to handle the wars.  A.J. Cann, Ronald Patrick and Mike Matulis build on their solid seasons from last year, and Brandon Shell becomes the left tackle we’ve always dreamed of.  The second teamers provide depth, and Sean Elliott is hailed as a savior.

Worst Case – We’ve been down this road oh so many times, do I really have to spell it out?

Next up, Tbone gives us Best Case/Worst Case for the 2012 Gamecock defense.

Tune in live, or later, for the historic 25th episode of TRC Unleashed.  We have no idea what we’ll be talking about, but you can be rest assured it will awesome.