Team Notes
Here's my observations from the Georgia game:
One of the bigger surprises during the course of the game for me was that South Carolina failed to get a lot of pressure on Joe Cox. Georgia did a pretty good job in protection as they only gave up one sack, but I thought that the Gamecocks would get more. For the most part, Georgia got rid of the ball quickly and that played a part in the lack of pressure.
No big secret here, but special teams was the main undoing in this game. Carolina was very good against NC State the week before in coverage but had a couple of blunders in this contest, and it ended up costing them badly.
Stephen Garcia really grew up during this game and it was a definite positive you can take away even despite the loss. The throw he made to Tori Gurley that was called back for the touchdown was one of the best he has made in a Gamecock uniform and it was an excellent grab by the receiver as well. He made one mistake on the interception but other than that he did a very good job. I was impressed by his eluding the rush and getting out of the pocket.
South Carolina's run game was again not stellar, as Garcia was the leading rusher yards-wise. It has to be noted, however, that Carolina was making a concerted effort to throw the ball more (53 attempts) and that accrued to their benefit. I was surprised again that we did not see Kenny Miles run the ball and Jarvis Giles played a lot of snaps.
Weslye Saunders had a tremendous game and he is outstanding in the passing game. Garcia has always liked looking for him and he has proven himself to be a reliable target. He gets open a lot and Carolina had success looking underneath against Georgia, and I think they will continue having success against other teams when they look for the big tight end.
South Carolina's defense was not bad in this game; they did miss some tackles and assignments, yes. But they had to play with a short field on a few occasions and certainly allowing a kick return for a touchdown doesn't help you win the game either. Losing Nathan Pepper for the second half hurt as they had to switch to the three-man front, but they still nearly made enough plays to win.
The bottom line: This is a game that USC should have won; they got the better of Georgia in the major statistical categories but just gave up too many big plays and came up a bit short in the end. There is a lot of positives that Gamecock fans can take away from the game; the offense showed a lot of life and Garcia seemed to come into his own. The protection from the offensive line was also pretty good in the game, though Garcia scrambled out and made some plays on his own at times. I expect that USC might be throwing the ball more now over the course of the season now.
Football Recruiting
Spoke to several recruits who watched the game this weekend, here were their impressions:
Nick Jones: "It was a great game and I thought South Carolina could have won the game." Additional note on Jones - he said that his leg is doing well and that he should be back soon.
Cody Gibson: "It was a great game, I was very impressed with South Carolina."
Antoine Pozniak: "USC really opened up the offense. Last week they played a bit conservative. Garcia played well and made good adjustments. Norwood and Taylor are something special and Saunders has been stepping up."
Torian Richardson: "They played real good; the offense looked good."
Charone Peake: "It was a good game. USC played pretty good; they ended up throwing it like 53 times."
Jacob Baxter: "I enjoyed it. It was a pretty good game with lots of penalties."
J.T. Surratt: "It came down the wire; if I was Garcia I would have kept running for the first but I don't know."
Curtis Grant: "It was a good game; both teams played well but UGA just came out with the victory."
Chris Black: "They looked pretty good; it was a close game I was hoping USC could pull it off."
Gabriel Wright: "It was great; I was kind of going for UGA but I love how SC played; never gave up and showed they could keep up with the SEC big boys. I hope to get up to SC."
Ed Christian: "USC played great; the quarterback really stepped up and performed."
Dan Foose: "The South Carolina game was awesome; I wanted to see them upset Georgia but they are looking better."
Chris Johnson: "USC lost but they never gave up; it was a good game though."
Here's my observations from the Georgia game:
One of the bigger surprises during the course of the game for me was that South Carolina failed to get a lot of pressure on Joe Cox. Georgia did a pretty good job in protection as they only gave up one sack, but I thought that the Gamecocks would get more. For the most part, Georgia got rid of the ball quickly and that played a part in the lack of pressure.
No big secret here, but special teams was the main undoing in this game. Carolina was very good against NC State the week before in coverage but had a couple of blunders in this contest, and it ended up costing them badly.
Stephen Garcia really grew up during this game and it was a definite positive you can take away even despite the loss. The throw he made to Tori Gurley that was called back for the touchdown was one of the best he has made in a Gamecock uniform and it was an excellent grab by the receiver as well. He made one mistake on the interception but other than that he did a very good job. I was impressed by his eluding the rush and getting out of the pocket.
South Carolina's run game was again not stellar, as Garcia was the leading rusher yards-wise. It has to be noted, however, that Carolina was making a concerted effort to throw the ball more (53 attempts) and that accrued to their benefit. I was surprised again that we did not see Kenny Miles run the ball and Jarvis Giles played a lot of snaps.
Weslye Saunders had a tremendous game and he is outstanding in the passing game. Garcia has always liked looking for him and he has proven himself to be a reliable target. He gets open a lot and Carolina had success looking underneath against Georgia, and I think they will continue having success against other teams when they look for the big tight end.
South Carolina's defense was not bad in this game; they did miss some tackles and assignments, yes. But they had to play with a short field on a few occasions and certainly allowing a kick return for a touchdown doesn't help you win the game either. Losing Nathan Pepper for the second half hurt as they had to switch to the three-man front, but they still nearly made enough plays to win.
The bottom line: This is a game that USC should have won; they got the better of Georgia in the major statistical categories but just gave up too many big plays and came up a bit short in the end. There is a lot of positives that Gamecock fans can take away from the game; the offense showed a lot of life and Garcia seemed to come into his own. The protection from the offensive line was also pretty good in the game, though Garcia scrambled out and made some plays on his own at times. I expect that USC might be throwing the ball more now over the course of the season now.
Football Recruiting
Spoke to several recruits who watched the game this weekend, here were their impressions:
Nick Jones: "It was a great game and I thought South Carolina could have won the game." Additional note on Jones - he said that his leg is doing well and that he should be back soon.
Cody Gibson: "It was a great game, I was very impressed with South Carolina."
Antoine Pozniak: "USC really opened up the offense. Last week they played a bit conservative. Garcia played well and made good adjustments. Norwood and Taylor are something special and Saunders has been stepping up."
Torian Richardson: "They played real good; the offense looked good."
Charone Peake: "It was a good game. USC played pretty good; they ended up throwing it like 53 times."
Jacob Baxter: "I enjoyed it. It was a pretty good game with lots of penalties."
J.T. Surratt: "It came down the wire; if I was Garcia I would have kept running for the first but I don't know."
Curtis Grant: "It was a good game; both teams played well but UGA just came out with the victory."
Chris Black: "They looked pretty good; it was a close game I was hoping USC could pull it off."
Gabriel Wright: "It was great; I was kind of going for UGA but I love how SC played; never gave up and showed they could keep up with the SEC big boys. I hope to get up to SC."
Ed Christian: "USC played great; the quarterback really stepped up and performed."
Dan Foose: "The South Carolina game was awesome; I wanted to see them upset Georgia but they are looking better."
Chris Johnson: "USC lost but they never gave up; it was a good game though."
