Tbone says:  USC 27, UGa 16.  Tough one to pick.  Most of the logical factors point to a Gamecock victory:  Their top playmaker is out, we return a ton of starters, they are breaking in a new defense, we’re at home, their QB has zero quality experience, etc.  With that said, the history of this rivalry is so full of bizarre kicks to USC’s gut, that muscle memory cramps up my stomach just for thinking that way.  Look for Richt to call a conservative contest with a lot of runs and short passes; not because of Redshirt Frosh QB Murray, but because that is how Mark rolls.  The Gamecock runstoppers will need to play tough.  Look for Carolina to struggle on offense from time to time as we adjust to the angles of defensive attack.  In the end, however, I think USC pulls away after halftime adjustments [CRAMP] and survives [CRAMP] a late Dawg rally.  [Whew].

Buck says:  USC 26, UGA 21.  I’m highly annoyed with a large percentage of my co-workers and have a perpetual pit in my stomach.  Must be Georgia week.  I agree with a lot of what Tbone says.  Without their primary vertical threat, I see Bobo dialing up a lot of slants, screens and dump-offs to keep Murray comfortable and compliment a pretty stout running game.  The UGA fullbacks and tight ends worry me the most, because they have two quality guys at each position, and I’m not sure we have the linebacker play to keep them in check.  First and second down when the ‘Dogs have the ball will be the key to the game.  We need to keep them in third-and-long situations to have a chance.  As far as the UGA defense, I have no idea.  If not for one busted play, they keep LaLa in double digits for total yardage last week.   But then again, it was LaLa.  We have more weapons than we’ve had in a long time, and I think the playbook will be wide open.  Look for a balanced attack with significant offensive contributions from about five or six guys.  We hold them off late for the win, and are halfway to an undefeated showdown on the Plains.

G-Man says:  USC 24 UGA 23.  I hate this game.  All I can think about is Harold Greene and Andrew Pinnock fumbling inside the five yard line to lose games against these jackwagons.  How about another Quincy Carter repeat?  That was one sweet victory.  Don’t know if we could be so fortunate again as to have one guy make that many boneheaded mistakes against us.  As for the game…I expect another contest that goes down to the wire.  Expect UGA to blitz Garcia on every play.  We will  need quick decisions from the QB to win.  For us, expect a strategy built around short passes to the wideouts.  I hope we can run the ball but expect us to pass to set up the run.  Methinks EJ held something back and will dial up some surprises for Mr. Murray.  I share Buck’s concern that our LB’s are not up to handling their RB’s and TE’s.  Need Cliff Matthews to come up big with pressure and need a solid game from the D-Line.  Have to win the return game as it killed us last year.  I’m predicting one explosive play from the Cocks in this area.  With the veterans we have and this being a home game, I’m predicting Lanning wins it for us late with a dagger field goal.

 

In case you missed it, word came down yesterday that South Carolina received an official “Letter of Inquiry” from the NCAA.  The letter references the eligibility issues surrounding some of the players, but drops an ominous hint that the enforcement types fully intend to find some other wrongdoing while they are in town,

My reaction?

Good.  Great.  It’s about freakin’ time.

I hope we take this tip from the home office and run with it.  I say we throw the rulebook out the window and get us some goody while we can.  Really get creative and find some new ways to cheat.  Hire a bunch of ringers from NFL practice squads, or start paying players to transfer from elsewhere, maybe win an SEC title or two and perhaps even grab some BCS crystal.

What’s that, you say?  We might get put on probation or have some victories stripped or lose some scholarships?

Big Motherlovin’ Deal.

Alabama is the defending BCS champion, right?  Does anybody even mention that those championship players were recruited and signed during a period when Bama had an illegal textbook sales program that netted their players hundreds and even thousands of dollars each?  No need to sell a game jersey, just get free textbooks and then resale them to your classmates at 100% profit.  And this was just after they came off probation for other violations.

What about Southern Cal?  You think they are going to give back the trophies they won with bought and paid for players?  You think they are finding it harder to recruit now that Ari Gold can’t openly bankroll their backfield?

And Tennessee?  I won’t even get in to the Lane Kiffin / David Reeves plan of sending grown women “escorts” to high school football games.  I’ll mention instead the scandal surrounding their National Championship Quarterback T Martin and all the academic shenanigans that were so blatant that the professors even started complaining.  Do you think Tennessee is ashamed of its championship?

What about Auburn?  The 1993 team went undefeated, and still trumpets the achievement from the rooftops despite the fact that those players were involved in such a morass of infractions that the NCAA banned them from TV and bowl games for two years.

What about our friends up at C.T.U.?  In the late 1970s, they set up a virtual professional sports team in the Upstate under Charlie Pell and Danny Ford.  They paid players, violated recruiting rules, and broke so many NCAA mandates that the school received the harshest penalties ever imposed by the sanctioning body at that time. They won a MNC over a punchless Nebraska team with all those illegal players, and have the championship banner displayed in the stadium to this day.   Thirty years down the road, I still see 1981 National Champ t-shirts and hats everywhere on rednecks in the upstate, so apparently they don’t care that it was all an ill-gotten gain.  It hasn’t ended either, with further probation following in the 90’s for, guess what?  Payin’ Playas. 

Also, keep in mind that the NCAA spends very little time poking around in programs that are losing, so take it all as a good sign.

I just wish we would really cheat in earnest, go get our store-bought title, and then brag about if for the next thirty years.

 

I’ve read a few articles today about the A.J. Green situation that have left me scratching my head, particularly this one from Tony Barnhardt of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  I don’t frequent the Georgia blogs or message boards, so I can’t honestly tell you what side the majority of fans are taking on the issue.  But of the few columns I have read, the writers seem to come down soft on the one person who could have prevented this whole situation:

A.J. Green.

Green’s statement said something about a “mistake in judgment” he made. 

Translation:  I knew it was wrong, I did it anyway.

Now tell me, why WOULDN’T you be mad at him if you’re a Georgia fan?  He sold his jersey for $1000 to a guy who might or might not be an agent, knowing it could get him and the university in trouble.  That’s not a mistake in judgment, that’s blatant disregard for the rules that are constantly hammered into these athletes not to break.      

It is certainly well within everyone’s right to demonize the NCAA – been there, done that, sold the game-worn jersey – but until someone comes up with a fair and equitable way to pay college athletes for their services, those athletes need to play by the rules, or be prepared to suffer the consequences. 

And while we’re on the subject, has anyone actually come up with an idea for a fair and equitable way to pay college athletes?  Should they pay just the revenue generators?  Would the money be split evenly among the entire team?  Just the scholarship players?  Would the fourth-teamers get the same amount as the first-teamers?  What if 5000 Alshon Jeffery jerseys sell, but zero Rokevious Watkins jerseys sell?  Does Alshon get a cut of that and Rok not?  What about FCS schools?  Do the same rules and payment schedules apply to them?

When somebody can piece that together along with the thousands of other questions that would be raised, then we can talk.  Until then, let’s hope the kids do the best they can with their scholarship that is worth tens of thousands of dollars. 

Yes, to some degree I would agree these kids are “used”.  They work hard, more is expected of them than a typical college student, and millions could potentially be made off their likeness over four years without them ever seeing a red cent.

That said, put me in a time machine today, take me back 22 years, and give me a football scholarship to the University of South Carolina.  Sell my posters, jersey, signature, and use my likeness anywhere you see fit.  I don’t want anything in return but to be able to run through that tunnel and play football on Saturdays. 

But that’s just me.

Since there is already a column out there called This Week in Schadenfreude, I am relegated to calling this column the much more pedestrian The Comeuppance Report; or, Who I’m Pulling Against this Week. 

After week one, here are just a few choices

Georgia – an obvious selection, I know.  I hate them and their smuggery so much.  But make no mistake, Georgia hates us back in a big way.  They always say their rival tank is full, with the likes of Florida, Tennessee, Auburn and Georgia Tech on the schedule.  They just don’t have time to hate us, but thanks for asking (pat on the head, run along and play now).  They want us to be Kentucky or Vanderbilt so bad they can’t stand it.  But we just won’t oblige.  While they beat us more often than not, it’s always a nail biter, and losses to us are much more crushing to them than they let on.  A deep-seated hatred for South Carolina bubbles just below the surface of every Georgia fan.  Let’s hope this year we can break their spirits again.    

Jamie Harper and Andre Ellington – The backfield duo of CTU have announced to the world they want to be known as “New Storm”.  Yeah, and I want to be known as Sergeant Badass Chickmagnet Superman, but it ain’t gonna happen.  As the saying goes, if you have to give yourself a nickname, then it’s not really a nickname.  And if you ask for that nickname after rushing for 100 yards each against NORTH FREAKIN’ TEXAS (best known for their courageous performance against the guards in The Longest Yard), then the NCAA should be investigating you for narcissism-enhancing drugs. 

Cam Newton – Simply because I don’t want him to be that good (and I don’t think he is: see Texas, North).  The Auburn fans I work and play with have come out of the woodwork like cockroaches when the kitchen lights have been turned off and a month-old loaf of bread has been scattered across the floor.  One guy actually danced in my office this morning out of giddiness.  Danced.  In my office.  Turn on the lights Dan Mullen, turn on the lights.    

North Carolina – News flash, YOU LOST.  Stop throwing around the words courage and spirit and determination, and mix in the words “blew it”.  You took LSU and The Hat down to the wire.  In the SEC we call that “Saturday”.  Get over yourselves.    

Tulane (who is hosting Ole Miss) – We’ve all had a good laugh, now it’s time to move on.  You know you thought “what if that happened to us?”  You know you did.  And how did it feel?  Horrifying, right?  Now let’s leave the Ackbars alone and let them regain some of their dignity.

Brent Musburger – if you listened to last night’s Boise State-Virginia Tech game, this requires no explanation whatsoever.

– Texas A&M admits it – they were scared away from joining the SEC because of the level of competition. Further proof that the SEC is the premier conference in the land (recent FCS faceplants notwithstanding).

– Florida had Tebow. Tebow left. Tebow apparently took Florida’s heart away with him, cause its gone, baby gone. Or maybe Florida gave their heart to Maurice Mike Pouncey, and he snapped it over the quarterback’s head so high that it was never seen again.

– Elsewhere in the SEC this weekend, Georgia smacked La La around, Arkansas put the beatdown on Tinky Winky, and Ole Miss inexplicably got punked by Po.

– North Texas defeated CTU 10-35.  The Mean Green exposed the Tigers in multiple ways, and the stats don’t lie:  over 41 minutes in time of possession, a 100 yard rusher, 25 first downs, and 10 different Mean Green players catching a pass.  Apparently a small technicality in the NCAA handbook still allows the Tigers to count this game as a victory, but even the Tigers themselves are realizing how delusional they’ve been.

– Oh, and since its Georgia week, some earlier stuff from the blog you may have missed:  Athens is Drunken Zombieland, and Mark Richt is a Zombiegoob.

Since the afterglow from a dominant victory over a Conference USA team only lasts a couple of hours:

so much depends
upon

receiver randall
cobb

lined up in the
shotgun

behind the stooped
center.

I keep telling myself to keep it in perspective.  It’s only week one.  It was only Southern Miss. 

But don’t it feel good? 

There was a 50-gallon drum full of reasons to wring our hands leading up to the game – Agentgate, Whitneygate, who was going to be eligible, who wasn’t; Southern Miss was a more formidable opponent than N.C. State; Andre Brown was 7-feet tall and ran a sub-4 40; Austin Davis was the second coming of Brett Favre; our defense wasn’t ready for the fast-paced USM offense; Larry Fedora was SOS Lite, etc. etc.

T-bone gave us fair warning – do not fear a C-USA team only returning four starters on offense and that gave up 42 points against Middle Tennessee in a bowl game more pathetic than that bowl-that-shall-no-longer-be-named.  But we did not listen.  And after the first three and out, our fingernails were bit to the quick and leprous sores were forming on our hands. 

But then something odd happened.  The University of South Carolina started to look crisp in a season opener. 

Steve Spurrier mixed it up with the playcalling, not giving a crap that he may be “showing his hand.”  Stephen Garcia was all at once sharp, daring, fearless, and best of all, a leader.  Stephon Gilmore flashed his freakish talent on both sides of the ball.  Alshon Jeffery looked like a varsity player getting reps against the JV’s.  Marcus Lattimore, while he didn’t put up spectacular numbers, energized the other players and the crowd.  Ace Sanders looked like he belonged on the Bonneville Salt Flats.  Connor Shaw was as advertised. 

Sure, there were a few rough spots, mainly on defense.  A busted assignment led to USM’s first score.  The D wasn’t as havoc-wreaking as we would’ve liked, and they gave up a lot of yards in the final quarter.  There wasn’t a great push from the front four, and some of the back-ups made us thankful for the first-teamers. 

But come on, aren’t we nitpicking at that point?  We apparently survived a pre-game nuking at the hands of the NCAA, and then went on to soundly beat a team that most experts expected to give us a game well into the second half.  That’s a heckuva lot better start than we’re used to, I can tell you that.

At least for one week, we were who we are supposed to be – a contender for the SEC East crown pounding a good but overmatched mid-major.  So I’d call the feeling right now cautious giddiness.

Lose next week to Georgia, and we’re back to being good ol’ South Carolina.

Win next week against Georgia, and a universe of possibilities opens up.