Most of you saw what transpired in Lexington, so I'll keep these pretty brief and we'll continue with more in-depth coverage this week.:
- This is the second straight game in which the offensive playcalling down the stretch was not good whatsoever for USC. When the Gamecocks came out for that final drive, the team had plenty of time to run the offense and try to tie the game. USC had a bunch of success running the football on the night. Heck, the Gamecocks used four different running backs and each averaged six yards a carry. Mike Davis didn't see a touch and he had 183 yards on the night. Shon Carson had his best game running the football ever including a 25 yard touchdown run. The offensive line opened up some gaps and USC's backs played well for the most part. There is no need to come out slinging it around there like there is 30 seconds left in the game. There was a full minute more on the clock remaining than in the Missouri game when USC did the same thing passing the ball. I just didn't understand that and never will.
- I'm not pinning the loss totally on the offense because scoring that many points on the road against a defense that's got some speed and talent *should* be enough. I mentioned it (the playcalling) so prominently because the bottom line is that USC had a chance at least to tie it late and couldn't do it because the offense was handcuffed at that point in my opinion.
- The defense, a week after playing well against Missouri, didn't play well in this one and I think that was pretty obvious. Watching JoJo Kemp run the wildcat with so much success when he could barely stand at one point was basically sad, that's the only word I can come up with at this time. It looked like a bunch of USC's defenders didn't have much interest in trying to tackle the ball carrier most of the night, or when they did it wasn't a very effective effort. I'm not bagging on Kemp, he's a good player, but he looked like one of the best backs in the conference at times last night because of USC not being able to tackle him.
- The offense certainly was not perfect on the night. Three turnovers to your opponent's one will get you beat a lot on the road, even outgaining them and winning time of possession. Again, in some situations I think USC should have run the football more and perhaps things turn out differently but Dylan Thompson made some extremely poor decisions that resulted in turnovers in key situations.
-I certainly understand why this team is driving some mad. I mean, this is a squad that could easily be 5-1 and right in the SEC East mix right now, or this team could be 0-6 right now. The team has found a way to win three games but looks like it has found a way almost to lose three as well. USC just has not made the plays down the stretch in the close losses the past two weeks. In the past years, USC has won a lot of close games and while the wins have been close this season, losing two games in which the team led by a pair of scores in the fourth quarter is devastating. It's not like you can point at this team and say "it's awful" (at times, portions of play have been bad for sure) because it's not like they've been blown off the field in any game except for A&M, but again - these guys could be 5-1 or 0-6 right now. It's just been that type of year.
- I sort of throw up my hands on what to think the rest of this season. If USC had held on to win the past two weeks, there would still be a lot of concerns with this team - and concerns that would be legitimate - but the picture would be a lot prettier. If a few plays had gone differently, the playcalling different, the execution different a couple of more wins could be on the schedule already. In my book, it's hard to look at the rest of the games and predict what may happen or which team could show up. If USC could make a few of the games down the stretch close and actually finish them, there could be more conference wins. If the Gamecocks continue to go away from the run late, have collapses on defense, turn the ball over on the road, then there will be a lot more losses. If this team doesn't play well against Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, and Clemson then I think all of those games will be losses. That's if this team plays around the same level that it's played the past two weeks (excepting 1st-3rd Q defensive performance against Missouri and some other spots on offense the past two weeks). On the other hand, USC has been in every game this season, or even winning late, in every game except A&M so if this team could actually play to its potential then there could be several wins out of those games as well. Auburn will be extremely difficult. If USC can't stop Kentucky (and nothing against them, UK has some good players and coaches) then it's hard to envision USC stopping a more talented Auburn team. The others all present their share of challenges whether it's a Tennessee team with excellent WRs that has nearly knocked off UGA and Florida, a Florida defense that can be really strong, or a Clemson team with talent that's desperate to finally beat USC at home.
We'll see how it plays out. I'm not even going to try to guess.
- This is the second straight game in which the offensive playcalling down the stretch was not good whatsoever for USC. When the Gamecocks came out for that final drive, the team had plenty of time to run the offense and try to tie the game. USC had a bunch of success running the football on the night. Heck, the Gamecocks used four different running backs and each averaged six yards a carry. Mike Davis didn't see a touch and he had 183 yards on the night. Shon Carson had his best game running the football ever including a 25 yard touchdown run. The offensive line opened up some gaps and USC's backs played well for the most part. There is no need to come out slinging it around there like there is 30 seconds left in the game. There was a full minute more on the clock remaining than in the Missouri game when USC did the same thing passing the ball. I just didn't understand that and never will.
- I'm not pinning the loss totally on the offense because scoring that many points on the road against a defense that's got some speed and talent *should* be enough. I mentioned it (the playcalling) so prominently because the bottom line is that USC had a chance at least to tie it late and couldn't do it because the offense was handcuffed at that point in my opinion.
- The defense, a week after playing well against Missouri, didn't play well in this one and I think that was pretty obvious. Watching JoJo Kemp run the wildcat with so much success when he could barely stand at one point was basically sad, that's the only word I can come up with at this time. It looked like a bunch of USC's defenders didn't have much interest in trying to tackle the ball carrier most of the night, or when they did it wasn't a very effective effort. I'm not bagging on Kemp, he's a good player, but he looked like one of the best backs in the conference at times last night because of USC not being able to tackle him.
- The offense certainly was not perfect on the night. Three turnovers to your opponent's one will get you beat a lot on the road, even outgaining them and winning time of possession. Again, in some situations I think USC should have run the football more and perhaps things turn out differently but Dylan Thompson made some extremely poor decisions that resulted in turnovers in key situations.
-I certainly understand why this team is driving some mad. I mean, this is a squad that could easily be 5-1 and right in the SEC East mix right now, or this team could be 0-6 right now. The team has found a way to win three games but looks like it has found a way almost to lose three as well. USC just has not made the plays down the stretch in the close losses the past two weeks. In the past years, USC has won a lot of close games and while the wins have been close this season, losing two games in which the team led by a pair of scores in the fourth quarter is devastating. It's not like you can point at this team and say "it's awful" (at times, portions of play have been bad for sure) because it's not like they've been blown off the field in any game except for A&M, but again - these guys could be 5-1 or 0-6 right now. It's just been that type of year.
- I sort of throw up my hands on what to think the rest of this season. If USC had held on to win the past two weeks, there would still be a lot of concerns with this team - and concerns that would be legitimate - but the picture would be a lot prettier. If a few plays had gone differently, the playcalling different, the execution different a couple of more wins could be on the schedule already. In my book, it's hard to look at the rest of the games and predict what may happen or which team could show up. If USC could make a few of the games down the stretch close and actually finish them, there could be more conference wins. If the Gamecocks continue to go away from the run late, have collapses on defense, turn the ball over on the road, then there will be a lot more losses. If this team doesn't play well against Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, and Clemson then I think all of those games will be losses. That's if this team plays around the same level that it's played the past two weeks (excepting 1st-3rd Q defensive performance against Missouri and some other spots on offense the past two weeks). On the other hand, USC has been in every game this season, or even winning late, in every game except A&M so if this team could actually play to its potential then there could be several wins out of those games as well. Auburn will be extremely difficult. If USC can't stop Kentucky (and nothing against them, UK has some good players and coaches) then it's hard to envision USC stopping a more talented Auburn team. The others all present their share of challenges whether it's a Tennessee team with excellent WRs that has nearly knocked off UGA and Florida, a Florida defense that can be really strong, or a Clemson team with talent that's desperate to finally beat USC at home.
We'll see how it plays out. I'm not even going to try to guess.
