Marcus Lattimore is done for the season due to a knee injury. It’s a nightmare, and it’s heartbreaking. As one writer put it, Lattimore is not only a great representative for the University of South Carolina, he is a great representative for the game of college football.

He is the current cornerstone of our football program.  All-SEC. All-American. Heisman candidate. Good guy…check that, GREAT guy. He is the best running back we have seen in a Gamecock uniform in 30 years, and has a chance to be the best ever. Even better, he is the epitome of a team player – humble and willing to do whatever it takes to help bring home a victory.

The good news is he will be back in 2012, and based on the work ethic and determination he has shown since coming to USC, he will be better than ever. The bad news is he is done for the 2011 season.

Which leads to a question for the rest of the Gamecock players and coaches…

What are you going to do about it?

These are the times when you get the full measure of a football program. Adversity has come upon you like a cold rain the last two weeks, and even so, you are still in the driver’s seat to win the East and get back to Atlanta.

The media is already building in the excuses for your demise – the dismissal of Garcia, your tough schedule, Georgia’s easy schedule, and now the loss of #21. You have no shot.

Well screw that. You didn’t come to South Carolina to finish second. You have enough talent to compete and defeat anyone on the schedule, even without Garcia and Lattimore.

Connor Shaw – this is your team. Don’t go “manage the game”, go win the game.

Brandon Wilds – you came to South Carolina to be a feature back, right? Well, here’s your shot, and a lot sooner than expected.  

Bruce Ellington – you saw the success of the football program and decided, “I want in.” Now stop being a part of the success and start being a reason for it.

Kenny Miles and Eric Baker – rub some freakin’ dirt on it and let’s get on the field and make a difference.

Dameire Byrd and Ace Sanders – be game breakers. Be back breakers.

Jason Barnes – you’re running out of time to make a difference. Now is as good a time as any, what do you say?

Offensive line – put a hat on somebody and push them out of the way. EVERY TIME.

Defense – you guys need to…well, you need to keep doing what you’re doing, and we’ll be in every game.

Steve Spurrier and staff – COACH. THEM. UP. HBC, if you are still truly and offensive “genius”, now is the time to show it. You have the talent, now maximize it.

We had a whole day to have a pity party on Sunday – coaches, players and fans alike. But it’s time to define a season. It’s time to move on and expect nothing less than a complete effort in every game going forward. Three phases on the field, and one united phase in the stands.

Win anyway.

Win any way.

Here are some quick, barely researched, not fully-formed thoughts from yesterday’s emotional, hard-fought 14-12 victory over Mississippi State:

Marcus. This being early Sunday morning, we are still awaiting more concrete information on Lattimore’s knee injury. I am pessimistic, but am hesitant to write any type of epitaph on #21’s season. It’s scary, it’s sad, but at the moment I write this there is still hope. I know knees don’t normally bend that way, but I also know Marcus Lattimore has been defying normal for quite some time now.

D is for Defense. The first couple of weeks of the season we were wondering why all the talent on the defensive side of the ball wasn’t translating into low yardage and low point totals. Wonder no more. While this week was nothing like the Vanderbilt or Kentucky games, make no mistake, holding the MSU offense to 10 points won this game for us. Sure, the Bulldogs moved the ball at times, and missed a couple of long ball opportunities when receivers got behind Marty Markett. But we had Tyler Russell running for his life all day, and we disrupted and decleated at all the right times.

All hands on deck. Whether Lattimore is out for days, weeks or months, it’s time for some guys on offense to step to the front of the line. A preseason ESPN.com article talked about our returning “Big 3” – Garcia, Lattimore and Jeffery. Well, at this moment we’re down to the big 1, and we need our paper playmakers to become real playmakers. Ellington, Sanders, Byrd, Wilds, Miles, Jones et al, show us what you got.

1. Speaking of our big 1, any doubts cast upon that gentlemen were dispelled with one 42-inch vertical leap. He’s still a superstar, regardless of stats.

Fourth quarter comeback. We’ve had a dearth of fourth-quarter comebacks at South Carolina over the years. But Connor Shaw orchestrated one in his third career start. Shaw’s numbers – 20-28, 155 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT – were nothing to write home about. He forced some balls that led to the interceptions, and maybe made a couple of other decisions he’d like to have back. But when it counted, on the last meaningful drive of the fourth quarter, he was 4-4 for 38 yards and rushed twice for 11. Not bad for a road game in cowbell hell.

Questionable. Steve Spurrier is stubborn. Too stubborn to realize that our offensive line is not powerful enough to get one yard on fourth down between the tackles. I was screaming to take the field goal when Lattimore was stopped on fourth down with the game tied 7-7. I know the HBC hates field goals, but sometimes those three points are the difference between winning and losing.

The SEC hates us. I texted that yesterday, and not as a conspiracy theorist, but as a realist. How else do you explain the calls that have been going against us this year? The roughing the kicker penalty that we didn’t get (that would’ve kept a drive alive) was one of the most obvious screwjobs I’ve seen in a while. And when the officials start calling holding again, we are going to be in business. I just hope it’s this year.

We like James Franklin. Not related to our game, but if you haven’t seen his postgame presser after the Georgia game, you really need to watch at least the first three minutes or so. What a class act, and a guy you’d love to have on your side. Oh, and on the flip side, Todd Grantham is a first-class turd.

TRC Unleashed will not be airing tonight due to some conflicts, but we’re planning to have a show for you tomorrow night. Stay tuned for details.

A critical stretch of games begins in Starkville this week, but on paper it doesn’t appear to be quite as daunting as it did in late August. The schedule includes:

• @ Mississippi State – a team with quarterback problems similar to ours, the Bulldogs have failed to capitalize on the momentum they carried into last offseason. An 0-3 start in conference has dashed their hopes of a big season, and the Dan Mullen to (insert school name here) chatter has cooled considerably. Chris Relf will probably get the start, and could potentially give us fits as a runner, but his leash will be very short. We’ll see Tyler Russell, and maybe even Dylan Fahhhhhv-ruh.
• Bye week – Sweet, I can spend the whole weekend pulling against the teams I despise most. (I’m looking at you, Idaho State.)
• @ Tennessee – another team not living up to expectations, and will probably continue to not live up to expectations since Tyler Bray is out 4-6 weeks. That said, Neyland has been a house of horrors for us over the years, and not just because we usually play there around Halloween. 
• @ Arkansas – gulp. The ‘Hogs seemingly found themselves at halftime of the Texas A&M game. Can we win? Sure. But we’ll have to play an almost perfect game.
• Florida – The Gators got off to a hot start, including a convincing win over the Vols, but proved they are not ready for prime time against Alabama and LSU. With or without John Brantley under center for them, we absolutely have to win this game.
• The Citadel – Announced attendance – 75,000. Actual attendance – 53,714.
• Clemson – I’m halfway hoping CTU comes into this game undefeated so we can completely ruin it for them. But my blood pressure will be much lower if they lose before they come to Columbia.

Some other tusings:

BREAKING. As I type this Steve Spurrier’s weekly press conference is going on, and he has refused to speak to the media as long as Ron Morris is in the room. Says he is disassociating himself from Morris for continuing to write that he “poached” Bruce Ellington from the basketball team. A) Ron Morris has a right to write whatever he wants, and The State has a right to publish it. B) Steve Spurrier has a right to not speak to Ron Morris. In any setting. Ever.

Some people are already saying Spurrier handled it wrong and is being childish. Let’s get one thing straight – Spurrier is one stubborn, vindictive bastard that you should not cross.  And as Gamecock fans we should love him for it. (And a warning, none of the press will react kindly to this, so don’t expect it.)

Speaking of pansy-ass reporters. Andrew Miller wishes Spurrier would say something nice about the Gamecocks. Oh, boo hoooooooo. He once again longs to be the beat reporter for CTU where Captain Sunshine is the head coach.

Pat Dye thinks we suck. Well, that’s nice Pat, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. But at this point in your life I’d trust your opinion on brown liquor much more readily than your opinion on football.

Memphis AD says they “deserve” to be in the SEC. YES! And then all we have to do is add UT-Chattanooga, Norfolk State and Samford and we’ll have the first 16-team super conference!

Chris Rainey Delusion of the Week Award. And this week’s winner is…Chris Rainey! Yes, you are definitely better than the two teams that beat you by a combined score of 79-21. How can anyone even question it? #delusional

And here’s a link to our Sunday podcast. Don’t make me remind you again!

Buck, Gman and Tbone review the shellacking of Kentucky on TRC Unleashed – Episode 9, and discuss things like:

• The performance of Connor Shaw 2.0.
• How the offense went from so bad last week to so good yesterday.
• The playcalling of the HBC.
• Another dominating performance by Ellis Johnson’s defense.
• How the SEC East race is shaping up.

Join us, won’t you?

Here are some quick, barely researched, not fully formed thoughts from this afternoon’s 54-3 mauling of Kentucky:

All is well, at least for an afternoon. Nothing like a 51-point victory over a conference opponent to cheer up the Gamecock Nation. After last week’s loss there was a lot of bitching (hey, if Spurrier can use it, so can I) about the offense, play calling, quarterback, etc. We needed this kind of game to restore some order and confidence. Did we turn some kind of corner with today’s game? Hard to tell, because Kentucky is awful. But the next three games will help define the season as we go on the road to Mississippi State, Tennessee and Arkansas. Play like we did today and we’ll give ourselves a chance.

So Shaw, so good. The talk all week was about the ascension of Connor Shaw to starting QB. Most believed Shaw would be eased in and asked to “manage the game”, not make mistakes and hand off a lot to #21. Steve Spurrier had a different idea. Determined to get the passing game going, the HBC had Shaw tossing it around the park like some USFL throwback. Shaw’s final line of 26-39, 311 yards, 4 TDs and no INTs was as good as we’ve seen in a while from a USC QB. He was calm, confident, and made good decisions most of the day.

So much for the arguments that Spurrier hadn’t played Shaw because he didn’t have confidence in him, or that Shaw simply wasn’t any good. The question now becomes (because we’re all idiot fans), why did it take so long to make the switch?

The miracle of game planning. When Spurrier said they needed to make some changes on offense this week, most thought that was a direct reference to Shaw. But he obviously also put a lot of thought into this week’s game plan, unlike last week’s bizarrely unimaginative, disjointed mess. We saw pass to set up the run, the wildcat, Emory and Henry, tight end involvement, speed sweeps, a flea flicker, and much, much more. In another time and place you might say it smacked of desperation, but the way everything seemed to work it felt more like Spurrier saying, “See? I still got it.”

D is for dominant. After a rough start to the season, the defense has put in two performances where they allowed less than 100 yards total offense in conference games. I know they were Vandy and Kentucky, but I still maintain that’s pretty doggone special. Throw in six more turnovers, and we’ve currently got the best defense in the SEC this side of Alabama and LSU.

Memorable. I don’t know how many of these are any kind of record, but it was quite an impressive day for the offense – 54 points, 51 point margin of victory, 639 yards, 288 yards rushing, 91 plays…plus you had the first career touchdowns for four guys – Cunningham, Jones, Ellington and Thompson. Nice.

Running up the score? If you could see in my eyes, you would note that I don’t give a damn. After last year’s crushing loss to this team, I ain’t apologizing for nothing. I don’t expect Spurrier will either.

Tough row to hoe. The loss to Auburn last week stings a little more today. Georgia’s schedule is cake compared to ours, so we might eventually need help from Florida or Auburn to get back to the SECCG. That is provided we win three of our four remaining SEC games. (If it sounds like I’m conceding Arkansas, well, you got me.)

Hope you’ll join us for the podcast this week. Go Cocks!

Since Saturday night I’ve had roughly a million thoughts about the South Carolina football season, and all but about seven of them involve the quarterback position.  I’ve read opinions on Spurrier/Garcia/Shaw from good professional writers, bad professional writers, bloggers, blog commenters, message board hounds, emailers and texters.

So, for this edition of Tusings, I’ll flush my brain of a few of these thoughts, and even tack on a couple of non-QB thoughts at the end.

The change from Garcia to Shaw had to be made. What your eyes tell you are confirmed by the statistics – Stephen Garcia is having a rotten senior season. A completion percentage hovering around 50 percent and a staggering nine interceptions against four touchdowns stick out the most. Sure, you can blame a suddenly porous offensive line, you can nitpick our route running, or you can question our (lack of) game planning or play calling, but too many bad throws and too many bad decisions have ultimately been his downfall.

Nobody knows what Connor Shaw is as a college quarterback, but the majority of Gamecock fans are ready to find out. It begins on Saturday against Kentucky, and there will be 80,000 sets of crossed fingers in Williams-Brice.

The timing is right. A couple of writers floated the idea that Spurrier didn’t want to make the change with a critical three-game road stretch coming up after Kentucky. My thinking was the timing couldn’t be more perfect – give Shaw a chance to get comfortable in the home environment against an inferior (I hope) team. If Garcia starts this week, lays another egg, then where does that leave you going into Starkville, Knoxville and Fayettevile? At least this lets you know if you have a viable option in Shaw. Plus, I know Shaw threw two picks in the fourth quarter against Auburn last year, but his play in an extremely hostile environment, in an extremely difficult situation, was actually not bad.  

“Garcia is trying to do too much.” Probably true. He knows what this season means to the Gamecock faithful, and he knows no matter what it is his last in Columbia, and he wants to win. Bad. This makes him willing to take chances we sometimes can’t afford. His last interception against Vandy (the flip to Alshon at the goal line) proves that. But with two of the top offensive weapons in the country, we need more solid, and less spectacular.

“If Shaw was ready (or any good), he would’ve been in there by now.” Disagree with the premise, because I don’t think we know the answer yet. Maybe I’m naïve, but I just don’t think Spurrier would start a season opener with a quarterback whom he either has very little confidence in, or a quarterback who sucks. As we’ve said in this blog many times, Spurrier believed Garcia gave us the best chance to win based on something he saw early in the East Carolina game, and he stuck with it through Auburn. It’s obvious he no longer believes that.

With that said, the decision to start Shaw over Garcia against ECU was a bad one. Or at the very least, it was handled badly. I don’t know if Garcia’s feelings were hurt or confidence was shot when the decision was made to start Shaw. I don’t know if Shaw’s feelings were hurt or confidence was shot when he was pulled in favor of Garcia. But it sure is easy to come to that conclusion based on how Garcia has played and the fact that Shaw has not played a meaningful snap since.  

“Shaw is going to go the distance.” Sounds like the right thing to say, but I couldn’t help but think that Spurrier said the same thing about Garcia going into the Outback Bowl after Chris Smelley stunk it up against CTU. (You are welcome to virtually boo me for that.)

We haven’t seen the last of Stephen Garcia. I have mixed feelings about this. The two reasons Garcia would get to play again are a) Shaw is truly dreadful or b) Shaw gets hurt. I want neither for that young man. But at the same time, I desperately want Garcia to come in late against CTU, lead three touchdown drives, including one that ends in a brahma bull like run through CTU defenders to win the game with less than a minute to go. Then I want him to be the MVP of both the SEC Championship Game and our BCS game, after which he climbs on a white horse in the Superdome, and rides out a conquering hero. That’s the only way this CAN end, right?

And a couple of other notes…

Auburn is ruining Michael Dyer’s future NFL career by giving him too many carries. So many carries for that poor young man – 41! That’s four more than Marcus had against Navy!  When will the madness stop?!?

South Carolina is ruining Marcus Lattimore’s NFL career by giving him too many…NO WAIT…not enough carries. I think we can all agree 17 carries is not enough to showcase Marcus’ considerable talent, but 37 is WAY too many for his poor little body to handle. I’m going to start a petition that Marcus gets exactly 24 carries per game, portioned out accordingly over four quarters (six per quarter for you non-math majors.)  That should make EVERYBODY happy, right?

Go Cocks.

In the review of the Auburn game, Buck rambles, Gman is almost speechless, and Tbone joins us from a church picnic (seriously). All this and much more on TRC Unleashed – Episode 8!

As I sit and watch CTU dismantle VPI, making me even more bitter, here are some quick, barely researched, not fully formed thoughts from this afternoon’s abysmal 16-13 loss to Auburn:

It is finished. I am Buck, and my thoughts do not necessarily reflect those of the other members of TRC, but it is absolutely, positively time to bench Stephen Garcia. I was talked off the ledge last week, but after today I truly believe if we are going to meet ANY of our goals this season, it will not happen with #5 at the helm. I love the man, I love what he has done for our football program (the good stuff, that is), and I love the material he has given us for this blog.

But enough is enough. In this, the most important football season in our history, our offense has been, if I may quote the HBC, putrid. Even Alshon Jeffery in the post-game backed at least a tire of the bus over Garcia when he said (paraphrased), “we were open, I guess he didn’t have enough time or something.” I understand the OL hasn’t played very well. I also understand the play calling has been questionable at best. But the most high-profile, potentially high-impact change you can make is at the quarterback position, and at this point really shouldn’t be a difficult decision. Garcia has been awful, and there are no more acceptable excuses for sticking with him. Nobody is more sorry to say that than me.

HBC needs an OC. I know it will never happen, but I wish Steve Spurrier would completely relinquish the offense to someone. Every Saturday I watch offensive teams that are sharp, operate with a purpose and have some sort of an identity…and then I have to watch South Carolina. And I’ve watched it for seven years. Confusion. Penalties. Ill-timed timeouts. If we are going to fail offensively, I’d at least like to know what we are TRYING to be.

Speaking of ill-timed timeouts. Twelve seconds left, you just picked up a first down, and you call your final timeout – with the clock stopped. There’s no way to know what would’ve happened with ten seconds and one timeout versus the twelve second and no timeouts we wound up with, but it sure seemed like a stupid decision at the time. And actually, it seems like one now too. And don’t bitch about getting screwed by the refs. If we make a few plays earlier in the game we don’t have to worry about getting screwed in the first place.

“We’re not a very smart team.” I’m pretty damn tired of hearing that also.

Ingram for Heisman. Well, at least All-American. Losing to unranked teams at home on national television doesn’t do much for your Heisman campaign. Unfortunately, that pretty much dooms Marcus’ chances as well.

Byrd is the a word. Dameire Byrd touched it once that I recall on a reverse, and then was the intended target on a Garcia armpunt, but didn’t have quite the impact for which I was hoping. Bruce Ellington had one huge catch, but we’re still searching for another offensive option outside of #1 and #21.

All is not lost, but it sure feels like it at the moment. We still control our own destiny, but we’ve now lost our two-game edge over UGA, and absolutely need to take 2 out of 3 against MSU, UT and Arkansas. And not lose to Florida. And hope UGA loses another conference game.

Ah, hell, when does basketball baseball season start?