Crucial Border Battle With Georgia
posted by Scott Hood on Friday, June 22, 2007
His message was unambiguous: Gamecocks v. Dawgs is a big game for both teams. Real big.
How important is it? It's as huge as Rosie O'Donut, er, O'Donnell is fat.
Now that's huge.
If South Carolina wants to compete for the SEC championship – Spurrier's goal for this season and every season hereafter – it must find a way to beat Georgia at Sanford Stadium. If they don't, it will merely provide college football pundits like Lee Corso with the ammunition they need to support their well-worn contention Spurrier won't win a conference title at USC.
I can assure you Spurrier intends to make Corso eat his words.
Corso is so confident in his prognostication he's told Spurrier he'll crawl across the field at Williams-Brice Stadium whenever the Gamecocks win the big game in Atlanta.
But if USC wants to see Corso on his hands and knees, they must win the Sept. 8 game against Georgia. With the first two conference games on the road, USC can't afford a 0-2 start in the league. Since the second conference game is in Baton Rouge, La., there is a sense of urgency surrounding the clash with the Bulldogs.
And Spurrier is leading the charge.
My research shows USC is just one of two SEC schools required to play their first two conference games on the road in 2007. Kentucky is the other.
If you're wondering when the SEC will level the playing field and force schools like Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Alabama or Auburn to go on the road for their first two conference games, here's a prediction – it will never happen.
Truth is, there's a pecking order in the SEC and, rest assured, USC isn't near the top. I've witnessed too many SEC games to think otherwise.
Okay, back to the Georgia game. In my opinion, the Gamecocks have a golden opportunity in 2-1/2 months to knock off the Bulldogs for the first time since 2001. Just like most years, Georgia probably has more talent than USC but the gap is closing quickly. In fact, I feel USC's defense should be just as good as Georgia's in 2007.
The Bulldogs must replace three starters on the defensive line, including All-SEC defensive ends Quentin Moses and Charles Johnson, and three linebackers. Basically, the Dawgs must rebuild their front seven on defense.
But, does Georgia ever rebuild, or do they just reload? The USC game will provide some answers. If it's the latter, the Gamecocks could be in trouble. If the USC offense is firing on all cylinders, it should be enough because I don't think Georgia will score many points.
USC has come excruciatingly close to beating Georgia on multiple occasions since its last win in the Border Battle in 2001. Andrew Pinnock fumbled twice inside the 2-yard line, including the infamous final pitch play, in 2002. USC had a 16-0 lead in the second quarter of the 2004 game before Lou Holtz went ultra-conservative and shutdown the offense.
There's more. In the most recent visit to Sanford Stadium in 2005, USC missed an extra point and a two-point conversion in a 17-15 loss. Finally, there were last year's bitter offensive maladies when USC came away empty from two trips inside the 2-yard line, just like in 2002. Anybody notice a pattern?
Georgia has won five games in a row over USC. All but one has been close. USC had chances to win four of those. Let's hope USC is able to finally bang the door down in 2007.
Frankly, with the game at LSU looming two weeks later, they don't have a choice.
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Never one to mince words, Steve Spurrier often skipped right past the season opener against Louisiana-Lafayette while speaking to the crowds during the spring Gamecock Club tour and wasn't afraid to talk up the nationally-televised SEC opener at Georgia Sept. 8.
His message was unambiguous: Gamecocks v. Dawgs is a big game for both teams. Real big.
How important is it? It's as huge as Rosie O'Donut, er, O'Donnell is fat.
Now that's huge.
If South Carolina wants to compete for the SEC championship – Spurrier's goal for this season and every season hereafter – it must find a way to beat Georgia at Sanford Stadium. If they don't, it will merely provide college football pundits like Lee Corso with the ammunition they need to support their well-worn contention Spurrier won't win a conference title at USC.
I can assure you Spurrier intends to make Corso eat his words.
Corso is so confident in his prognostication he's told Spurrier he'll crawl across the field at Williams-Brice Stadium whenever the Gamecocks win the big game in Atlanta.
But if USC wants to see Corso on his hands and knees, they must win the Sept. 8 game against Georgia. With the first two conference games on the road, USC can't afford a 0-2 start in the league. Since the second conference game is in Baton Rouge, La., there is a sense of urgency surrounding the clash with the Bulldogs.
And Spurrier is leading the charge.
My research shows USC is just one of two SEC schools required to play their first two conference games on the road in 2007. Kentucky is the other.
If you're wondering when the SEC will level the playing field and force schools like Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Alabama or Auburn to go on the road for their first two conference games, here's a prediction – it will never happen.
Truth is, there's a pecking order in the SEC and, rest assured, USC isn't near the top. I've witnessed too many SEC games to think otherwise.
Okay, back to the Georgia game. In my opinion, the Gamecocks have a golden opportunity in 2-1/2 months to knock off the Bulldogs for the first time since 2001. Just like most years, Georgia probably has more talent than USC but the gap is closing quickly. In fact, I feel USC's defense should be just as good as Georgia's in 2007.
The Bulldogs must replace three starters on the defensive line, including All-SEC defensive ends Quentin Moses and Charles Johnson, and three linebackers. Basically, the Dawgs must rebuild their front seven on defense.
But, does Georgia ever rebuild, or do they just reload? The USC game will provide some answers. If it's the latter, the Gamecocks could be in trouble. If the USC offense is firing on all cylinders, it should be enough because I don't think Georgia will score many points.
USC has come excruciatingly close to beating Georgia on multiple occasions since its last win in the Border Battle in 2001. Andrew Pinnock fumbled twice inside the 2-yard line, including the infamous final pitch play, in 2002. USC had a 16-0 lead in the second quarter of the 2004 game before Lou Holtz went ultra-conservative and shutdown the offense.
There's more. In the most recent visit to Sanford Stadium in 2005, USC missed an extra point and a two-point conversion in a 17-15 loss. Finally, there were last year's bitter offensive maladies when USC came away empty from two trips inside the 2-yard line, just like in 2002. Anybody notice a pattern?
Georgia has won five games in a row over USC. All but one has been close. USC had chances to win four of those. Let's hope USC is able to finally bang the door down in 2007.
Frankly, with the game at LSU looming two weeks later, they don't have a choice.
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.