USC Has No. 10 Offense

posted by Brian Shoemaker on Monday, July 23, 2007

HeismanPundit.com, a college football blog, recently listed its top-10 offenses for 2007, and the Gamecocks came in at No. 10.

The 'ol ball coach's system is still superb, but it's been around the block a few times in the SEC, too. As a result, it doesn't run as smooth as it used to, though it still gives opposing defenses fits on occasion. A senior quarterback will help this year.

However, the site notes:

This is not just a list of the top-scoring teams, or the teams that pile up the most yards. Those are obviously important factors when looking at offensive effectiveness... Instead, this is a somewhat subjective list of the most innovative offenses in college football. It takes into account scheme, the soundness of the system, style of play and play calling. These offenses run unique, unpredictable attacks and runs them well.

Boise St. was No. 1 on the list followed by Louisville, Florida, California and West Virginia.

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According to an article in the Macon Telegraph, Georgia's athletic department budget for 2007-08 is $70 million. By comparison, USC's is $58 million, a 20.7 percent difference.

Here are the top-10 sources of projected revenue for the Georgia athletic department for the fiscal year that began July 1:

Gifts: $23,200,000#
Football tickets: $15,100,000
Sky Suites: $4,064,416
SEC TV - football: $3,700,000
Sponsorships: $3,200,000
Student fees: $3,000,000
Licensing: $2,325,000
SEC Bowls: $1,700,000
Radio profit split: $1,500,000
Concessions: $1,250,000

# Mostly tied to ticket priority giving

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The Jackson Clarion-Ledger published an article on Sunday about drug testing among NCAA schools. Apparently, schools in Mississippi aren't very eager to release the results:

MSU would not provide documents detailing positive drug tests, saying they are education records. Responding to a public records request, Ole Miss officials said documents detailing the number of positive tests do not exist, and Singletary declined to reveal figures. Southern Miss did not respond to a request seeking the number of positive tests, but Gray referred to the NCAA average of 4 percent when asked what percent of positive tests occur at his school.

Robbie Neiswanger, the author of the article, notes in his blog that not every school operates like that:

Interestingly, not every SEC school has been as resistant. Here are a few that I picked up in my research for the story:

• According to a story by The Associated Press that ran June 22, South Carolina conducted 41 tests for anabolic steroids and 200 for drugs of abuse during the past six months. Of those tests, there were six positive tests for marijuana and one for a prescription drug without an authorized prescription.

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This may be old news for some of you, but former USC offensive lineman Jonathan Alston recently signed with the Seattle Seahawks, according to a Seattle Times article. Alston was one of five former NFL Europa players that signed with the Seahawks when NFL Europa ceased operations.

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LSU has released its 2008 baseball schedule. The Gamecocks will play a three-game series in Baton Rouge: April 25 (7 p.m. CT), April 26 (3 p.m. CT) and April 27 (1 p.m. CT).

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