Live from Sanford Stadium
posted by Brian Shoemaker, Saturday, September 08, 2007
1:40 p.m. - Some fans like to get to the game several hours before kickoff to have plenty of time to tailgate. Well, Scott likes to get to the stadium several hours before kickoff. We're in the press box and ready to go and it's only 1:40. Last week, Scott arrived at 2:30 for the 7 o'clock kickoff. We're pretty much the only writers here, although Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution just walked by.
We'll provide updates prior to and during the game. Scott will handle most of the pregame updates while I'll take care of most of the in-game updates. If you're not going to the game, keep this page open throughout the day and we'll try to keep you updated.
2:05 P.M. - I'm impressed by the number of people already out there tailgating, even a fair distance from the stadium. Downtown Athens is mobbed with people and cars. We've seen a fair number of USC fans, as well. It's still pretty quiet around the stadium. They're just starting a pee wee football game on the field between the hedges. They're showing the Alabama-Vandy game on the scoreboard. Bama leads 13-3 at halftime - Scott Hood.
2:30 P.M. - WE WERE JUST INFORMED BY THE USC EQUIPMENT STAFF THAT USC WILL WEAR GARNET PANTS TODAY. We just completed a dress rehearsal on how to get from the Sanford Stadium press box down to the media interview room following the game. The interview room is located adjacent to the locker room. USC equipment manager Chris Matlock was outside the locker room working on some shoes. We spoke with him for a few minutes. Fans may not appreciate how much time, effort and manpower it takes to transport all of the football team's equipment to a road game. Athens is a breeze, though, compared to Baton Rouge (12 hours) and Fayetteville (18 hours) - SCott Hood.
2:45 P.M.: There's one thing I like about Sanford Stadium. The press box is above the first level rather than high atop the stands like it is at Williams-Brice Stadium. Shoe and I are sitting at about the 45-yard line. We have a GREAT view of the game. This one should be fun. I've read the posts about Lee Corso's comments on 'College GameDay" that UGA would hammer USC. In my opinion, if they're going on last week's games, they're sadly mistaken. I watched the USC-ULL tape and USC did nothing on offense or defnese. They played conservatively on both sides of the ball. A couple of offensive players told me USC ran about 15 plays out of its playbook. The defense didn't blitz at all. Both the offense and the defense will be a lot more aggressive than last week. I'm looking forward to seeing the USC defense get after Stafford. They must becuase you can't give Stafford too much time. The Sanford Stadium press box is coming to life a bit. Rick Scoppe and Bart Wright from the Greenville News are here. Ken Burger from the Charleston P&C just arrived. I spoke with Tony Barnhart earlier. He's picking UGA to win a close one. He agrees with me that SOS has saved a few tricks for today. The HBC has been looking forward to this game for a long time. He knows he can silence many of the skeptics with a win over UGA tonight.
3:40 P.M: Exciting finish to the Nebraska-Wake Forest game, with the Huskers pulling out a 20-17 win. I have a feeling So. Cal is going to go to Lincoln, Neb. next Saturday and beat the "Children of the Corn" pretty handily. Here are the top storyline to the USC-Georgia game today:
1. Blake Mitchell - How will he perform in his first game of the season? How much will having a fifth-year senior QB help USC?
2. The Playbook – How much of the playbook did USC really show last week? How deep will Spurrier go? Will there be a few trick plays?
3. Running Game – How productive will USC's running game be after doing practically nothing on the ground againt Georgia the last 2 seasons? Conversely, will USC be able to contain Georgia's running game? The Bulldogs have had their way on the ground the last few years.
4. Close games - Will this be another close game between the SEC East rivals? USC has played Georgia close through the years but has, unfortunatly, fallen short time and again. Will the Gamecocks reverse that trend?
5. Barometer - Can USC handle the pressure of people saying this is a barometer game for the Gamecock program? USC must win to silence the skeptics or they will only grow louder.
3:50 P.M. The USC players have arrived at Sanford Stadium. They're strolling around the field right now. We hear the UGA band playing in the distance. UGA should be ready for their walk to the stadium. The weather is hot and humid at the stadium. Weather forecast have temperatures in the high 80's at game time. The wind is blowing about 6 mph from the East/Southeast.
3:55 P.M.: A USC assistant coach has told us that Emanuel Cook will play a "little bit" today. One of USC's special teams players is on the field wearing the new garnet pants. They look pretty sharp. Georgia is wearing their standard red jersey and silver pants. USC is finishing up their stroll around the field. Most of the players have gone back into the locker room.
4:25 P.M.: Scott and I just finished eating. The menu included meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas, creamed corn, salad and cake. Not bad. Not good either. :-) I did manage to sneak in a second piece of cake. It may be a few minutes before Scott posts again. There was incident between his computer and a piece of cake. The cake won. But all is good now. Some of the Georgia players are on the field warming up. There appears a good number of recruits on the sideline.
4:30 P.M.: The Georgia marching band just entered the stadium. They just played their first GOOOO Geor-gia Bull-dogs. Make that twice now.
4:40 P.M.: About 4 or 5 USC players are on the field going through pre-game warm-ups. I've seen Ryan Succup nail a few FGA from beyond 40 yards. Tommy Beecher is out there practicing his holds. The rest of the team has not taken the field yet. Asst. Coach Fred Chatham is out there timing Succop on how fast he can get the kick off. It can't be anymore than 2 seconds from snap to kick. But I know they break it down to the hundredths of a second.
4:50 P.M.: The USC QB's have taken the field and are going through their preliminary warmups. As expected, the three QB's are Mitchell, Beecher and Garcia. Smelley did not travel becuse of the sprained shoulder in last week's game. I see Captain Munnelryn running around out there as well working on kicks.
4:51 P.M.: Below is a list of the players who are on the travel list. Please note that we have not confirmed that all of the players listed are actually here today.
CB Captain Munnerlyn
RB Cory Boyd
WR Jason Barnes
QB Stephen Garcia
CB Carlos Thomas
QB Tommy Beecher
LB Melvin Ingram
CB Addison Williams
WR Larry Freeman
WR Moe Brown
RB Brian Maddox
WR Kenny McKinley
QB Blake Mitchell
K Ryan Succop
WR Matt Clements
WR Chris Culliver
TE Nick Prochak
RB Taylor Rank
S Emanuel Cook
CB Mike West
RB Mike Davis
S Brandon Isaac
S Ty Erving
LB Gerrod Sinclair
S Darian Stewart
S Chris Hampton
S Douglas Peterson
LB Greg Wright
S Stoney Woodson
FB Lanard Stafford
CB Ranzino Valentine
DE Eric Norwood
DE Travian Robertson
CB Mike Newton
DE Ryan Brown
LB Dustin Lindsey
LB Rodney Paulk
FB Bryan Kingrey
FB Patrick DiMarco
LB Vandaral Shackleford
LB Casper Brinkley
LB Jasper Brinkley
LB Marvin Sapp
OG Lemuel Jeanpierre
LS Charles Turner
OG Seaver Brown
OT Hutch Eckerson
OG Garrett Anderson
C William Brown
OT Heath Batchelor
OT Gurminder Thind
C Jeremy Burgess
OT Jamon Meredith
OT Justin Sorensen
DT Marque Hall
TE Andy Boyd
DT Terrence Campbell
WR Paul Haile
WR Freddie Brown
DE Cliff Matthews
WR Scott Spurrier
TE Jared Cook
P Spencer Lanning
TE Weslye Saunders
DT Ladi Ajiboye
DT Nathan Pepper
DE Clifton Geathers
DT Kenrick Ellis
DT Joel Reaves
DL Jonathan Williams
The following scholarship are NOT on this week's travel list.
Alonzo Winfield (true freshman)
Chris Smelley (injured)
Jamire Williams (true freshman)
Mark Barnes (true freshman)
Dion Lecorn (true freshman)
Bobby Wallace (injured)
Cody Wells (injured)
Chris Hail
Yvan Banag (injured)
Clark Gaston
Damien Wright
Donte'e Nicholls (true freshman)
Pierre Andrews
Kevin Young (injured)
Ryan Broadhead (true freshman)
James Thompson (suspended)
Kyle Nunn (true freshman)
Quintin Richardson (true freshman)
Joseph Hills (true freshman)
Byron McKnight (true freshman)
Robert Pavlovic
5:00 P.M.: The USC wide receivers and running backs have taken the field as well. No defensive players are on the field right now. I am surprised Fr. Mark Barnes didn't make the trip. Paul Haile, a walk-on WR, made the trip. It appears they may try to redshirt Barnes. I'm also surprised Robert Pavlovic didn't make the trip. But they have A. Boyd, Saunders, Prochak and J. Cook dressed out. I guess they thought 5 TE's would be too much. The defense has just come onto the field. Th team is huddling and now breaking out into stretching.
5:10 P.M.: The top three WR's are McKinley, Freeman and F. Brown. M. Brown, Culliver and J. Barnes are the 2nd team WR's. The starting OL is what we expected: Meredith, Anderson, Brown, Jeanpierre and Sorensen. The 2nd team OL is (L2R)Eckerson, Thind, Burgess, Brown and Batchelor.
5:20 P.M. Wow, another shocker in the Big House. Oregon is leading Michigan, 32-7 in the 2Q. It's getting ugly in Ann Arbor. Lloyd Carr is definitely on the hottest seat in the country, with Phil Fulmer right behind if Tenn. loses to So. Miss. at home tonight. Warmups are continuing here at Sanford Stadium. We're about 25-30 minutes from kickoff.
5:45 P.M.: WE're just about resdy for kickoff. The teams are about to take the field. Here comes USC. Spurrier has been talking about this game for the last four or five months. He talked about it every night on the GC Tour. UGA has won the toss. We're going to find out what USC is made of over the next 3 hours. Buckle in.
THE GAME
5:55 P.M. - Very impressive first three plays was ruined by a stupid PF penalty. E. Cook was in on the third play. There's another dumb penalty. But UGA returns the favor with a holding penalty. Lots of flags early. FGA. No Good. USC survives.
6:02 P.M. True freshman Addison Williams played in the first defensive series.
6:05 P.M. - Not a good start for the USC offense. They ended up gainig zero yards. Poor punt coverage gives UGA good field position. The defense, though, rises up with a great stand. Georgia is finding out they actually play defense in the SEC, unlike the bottom half of the Big 12.
6:25: Nice drive (7 plays, 62 yards) by USC for the first TD of the game. Boyd ran in from 9 yards out. Defense stops UGA again. Defense is looking great right now. If USC can put together a nice drive here they might silence this crowd.
6:30 P.M. - USC just got a major break. Freddie Brown came close to committing a clipping penalty but the refs picked the flag up.
6:32 P.M. - End of 1Q. The game started badly with a pair of foolish penalties but USC dominated the final 13 minutes and scored the only TD. Defense looks a lot more spirited. They are FAR more aggressive, as I suspected. There's no question they were saving a lot of stuff for this game. If you're a USC fan, you hope it continues. Most of the passes by USC have been short.
6:40 P.M. - SOS is playing the field position game by punting on a 4th-and-5, taking a delay of game penalty. It looks like he's got a lot of confidence in the defense right now. UGA had just 40 yards inthe 1Q. USC had 80 yards. UGA ran 19 plays, giving them an average of barely 2 yards per play. That's pretty good D.
6:55 P.M. - USC allowed UGA to drive from the UGA 14 to the USC 12 but the defense held. Great play by Darian Stewart on third down. UGA settles for the FG. It's 7-3. It would be nice if USC could get a score here before halftime. They're on the march. We're seeing a completely different USC team from opening night. The energy level and enthusiasm is far greater. Just as I thought.
7:20 P.M. - It's halftime with USC leading, 10-3. Defensively, that might be the best half I've seen USC play in a long time. Unfortunately, a roughing the kicker penalty prevented USC from getting a good scoring chance near te end of the half. But USC is clearing outplaying UGA on both sides of the ball.
Wow! Oregon beats Michigan, 39-7. I'm hearing Lloyd Carr might be fired on Monday. A couple of ESPN guys are here.
We'll have 1H stats shortly.
7:30 P.M. FIRST HALF STATS:
Total Yardage: USC 138, UGA 118
Rushing: USC 74, UGA 63
Passing: USC 64, UGA 55.
3rd Downs: USC 1 of 4, UGA 1 of 9.
USC: Boyd 6-38, Culliver 2-21, Davis 4-18
Passing - Mitchell, 8-of-11, 64 yards.
UGA: Brown 11-49, Moreno 5-29
Passing - Stafford, 8-17, 55 yards.
There are no turnovers in the game.
7:35 P.M.: I think it's key for USC to take the 2nd half kickoff and drive down the field for points to go up by at least two scores. If they can do that, the crowd may get a lot more silent. The teams are on the field. Funny moment - As Spurrier was walking off the field at halftime, he was loudly booed by the UGA fans. But SOS gave a friendly wave and the boos got only louder.
7:50 P.M.: Here' the key stat in the game - UGA is 1 for 10 on third downs. The defense is playing super.
7:55 P.M.: I'm sure Kenny McKinley wants that one back. He should have made the catch on 3rd down. USC has UGA pined inside the 10. Need some defense here.
8:25 P.M.: You can cut the tension here with a knife. The UGA crowd is still loud. Nobody has left. Both teams had a FG in the 3Q. A botched toss sweep has UGA backed up here. But UGA escapes with a 25-yard pass on 3rd-and-23. Unfortunately, we've seen that before.
8:30 P.M.: Timeout with 12:54 left in the game. USC leads 13-6. UGA has 3rd-and-9 at the 50. Huge play coming up.
8:50 P.M.: UGA has just kicked a FG. It's 16-9 with seven minutes left. Key possession for USC. The defense has held UGA without a TD. There's now a challenge on a passplay to F. Brown. Time to take a breath. It's been hectic up here in the press box tonight. USC coul dput this game away with some points right here.
12:15 A.M.: We're getting ready to leave the press box and head to the hotel in Madison (40 miles south of Athens). There will still be work to do when we get there. Scott will do a notebook. I'll create the first photo gallery. I hope everyone has/had a wonderful night. As always, thanks for visiting Gamecock Central.
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GamecockCentral.com's Scott Hood and Brian Shoemaker are in the Sanford Stadium press box to provide updates prior to and during the game.
1:40 p.m. - Some fans like to get to the game several hours before kickoff to have plenty of time to tailgate. Well, Scott likes to get to the stadium several hours before kickoff. We're in the press box and ready to go and it's only 1:40. Last week, Scott arrived at 2:30 for the 7 o'clock kickoff. We're pretty much the only writers here, although Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution just walked by.
We'll provide updates prior to and during the game. Scott will handle most of the pregame updates while I'll take care of most of the in-game updates. If you're not going to the game, keep this page open throughout the day and we'll try to keep you updated.
2:05 P.M. - I'm impressed by the number of people already out there tailgating, even a fair distance from the stadium. Downtown Athens is mobbed with people and cars. We've seen a fair number of USC fans, as well. It's still pretty quiet around the stadium. They're just starting a pee wee football game on the field between the hedges. They're showing the Alabama-Vandy game on the scoreboard. Bama leads 13-3 at halftime - Scott Hood.
2:30 P.M. - WE WERE JUST INFORMED BY THE USC EQUIPMENT STAFF THAT USC WILL WEAR GARNET PANTS TODAY. We just completed a dress rehearsal on how to get from the Sanford Stadium press box down to the media interview room following the game. The interview room is located adjacent to the locker room. USC equipment manager Chris Matlock was outside the locker room working on some shoes. We spoke with him for a few minutes. Fans may not appreciate how much time, effort and manpower it takes to transport all of the football team's equipment to a road game. Athens is a breeze, though, compared to Baton Rouge (12 hours) and Fayetteville (18 hours) - SCott Hood.
2:45 P.M.: There's one thing I like about Sanford Stadium. The press box is above the first level rather than high atop the stands like it is at Williams-Brice Stadium. Shoe and I are sitting at about the 45-yard line. We have a GREAT view of the game. This one should be fun. I've read the posts about Lee Corso's comments on 'College GameDay" that UGA would hammer USC. In my opinion, if they're going on last week's games, they're sadly mistaken. I watched the USC-ULL tape and USC did nothing on offense or defnese. They played conservatively on both sides of the ball. A couple of offensive players told me USC ran about 15 plays out of its playbook. The defense didn't blitz at all. Both the offense and the defense will be a lot more aggressive than last week. I'm looking forward to seeing the USC defense get after Stafford. They must becuase you can't give Stafford too much time. The Sanford Stadium press box is coming to life a bit. Rick Scoppe and Bart Wright from the Greenville News are here. Ken Burger from the Charleston P&C just arrived. I spoke with Tony Barnhart earlier. He's picking UGA to win a close one. He agrees with me that SOS has saved a few tricks for today. The HBC has been looking forward to this game for a long time. He knows he can silence many of the skeptics with a win over UGA tonight.
3:40 P.M: Exciting finish to the Nebraska-Wake Forest game, with the Huskers pulling out a 20-17 win. I have a feeling So. Cal is going to go to Lincoln, Neb. next Saturday and beat the "Children of the Corn" pretty handily. Here are the top storyline to the USC-Georgia game today:
1. Blake Mitchell - How will he perform in his first game of the season? How much will having a fifth-year senior QB help USC?
2. The Playbook – How much of the playbook did USC really show last week? How deep will Spurrier go? Will there be a few trick plays?
3. Running Game – How productive will USC's running game be after doing practically nothing on the ground againt Georgia the last 2 seasons? Conversely, will USC be able to contain Georgia's running game? The Bulldogs have had their way on the ground the last few years.
4. Close games - Will this be another close game between the SEC East rivals? USC has played Georgia close through the years but has, unfortunatly, fallen short time and again. Will the Gamecocks reverse that trend?
5. Barometer - Can USC handle the pressure of people saying this is a barometer game for the Gamecock program? USC must win to silence the skeptics or they will only grow louder.
3:50 P.M. The USC players have arrived at Sanford Stadium. They're strolling around the field right now. We hear the UGA band playing in the distance. UGA should be ready for their walk to the stadium. The weather is hot and humid at the stadium. Weather forecast have temperatures in the high 80's at game time. The wind is blowing about 6 mph from the East/Southeast.
3:55 P.M.: A USC assistant coach has told us that Emanuel Cook will play a "little bit" today. One of USC's special teams players is on the field wearing the new garnet pants. They look pretty sharp. Georgia is wearing their standard red jersey and silver pants. USC is finishing up their stroll around the field. Most of the players have gone back into the locker room.
4:25 P.M.: Scott and I just finished eating. The menu included meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas, creamed corn, salad and cake. Not bad. Not good either. :-) I did manage to sneak in a second piece of cake. It may be a few minutes before Scott posts again. There was incident between his computer and a piece of cake. The cake won. But all is good now. Some of the Georgia players are on the field warming up. There appears a good number of recruits on the sideline.
4:30 P.M.: The Georgia marching band just entered the stadium. They just played their first GOOOO Geor-gia Bull-dogs. Make that twice now.
4:40 P.M.: About 4 or 5 USC players are on the field going through pre-game warm-ups. I've seen Ryan Succup nail a few FGA from beyond 40 yards. Tommy Beecher is out there practicing his holds. The rest of the team has not taken the field yet. Asst. Coach Fred Chatham is out there timing Succop on how fast he can get the kick off. It can't be anymore than 2 seconds from snap to kick. But I know they break it down to the hundredths of a second.
4:50 P.M.: The USC QB's have taken the field and are going through their preliminary warmups. As expected, the three QB's are Mitchell, Beecher and Garcia. Smelley did not travel becuse of the sprained shoulder in last week's game. I see Captain Munnelryn running around out there as well working on kicks.
4:51 P.M.: Below is a list of the players who are on the travel list. Please note that we have not confirmed that all of the players listed are actually here today.
CB Captain Munnerlyn
RB Cory Boyd
WR Jason Barnes
QB Stephen Garcia
CB Carlos Thomas
QB Tommy Beecher
LB Melvin Ingram
CB Addison Williams
WR Larry Freeman
WR Moe Brown
RB Brian Maddox
WR Kenny McKinley
QB Blake Mitchell
K Ryan Succop
WR Matt Clements
WR Chris Culliver
TE Nick Prochak
RB Taylor Rank
S Emanuel Cook
CB Mike West
RB Mike Davis
S Brandon Isaac
S Ty Erving
LB Gerrod Sinclair
S Darian Stewart
S Chris Hampton
S Douglas Peterson
LB Greg Wright
S Stoney Woodson
FB Lanard Stafford
CB Ranzino Valentine
DE Eric Norwood
DE Travian Robertson
CB Mike Newton
DE Ryan Brown
LB Dustin Lindsey
LB Rodney Paulk
FB Bryan Kingrey
FB Patrick DiMarco
LB Vandaral Shackleford
LB Casper Brinkley
LB Jasper Brinkley
LB Marvin Sapp
OG Lemuel Jeanpierre
LS Charles Turner
OG Seaver Brown
OT Hutch Eckerson
OG Garrett Anderson
C William Brown
OT Heath Batchelor
OT Gurminder Thind
C Jeremy Burgess
OT Jamon Meredith
OT Justin Sorensen
DT Marque Hall
TE Andy Boyd
DT Terrence Campbell
WR Paul Haile
WR Freddie Brown
DE Cliff Matthews
WR Scott Spurrier
TE Jared Cook
P Spencer Lanning
TE Weslye Saunders
DT Ladi Ajiboye
DT Nathan Pepper
DE Clifton Geathers
DT Kenrick Ellis
DT Joel Reaves
DL Jonathan Williams
The following scholarship are NOT on this week's travel list.
Alonzo Winfield (true freshman)
Chris Smelley (injured)
Jamire Williams (true freshman)
Mark Barnes (true freshman)
Dion Lecorn (true freshman)
Bobby Wallace (injured)
Cody Wells (injured)
Chris Hail
Yvan Banag (injured)
Clark Gaston
Damien Wright
Donte'e Nicholls (true freshman)
Pierre Andrews
Kevin Young (injured)
Ryan Broadhead (true freshman)
James Thompson (suspended)
Kyle Nunn (true freshman)
Quintin Richardson (true freshman)
Joseph Hills (true freshman)
Byron McKnight (true freshman)
Robert Pavlovic
5:00 P.M.: The USC wide receivers and running backs have taken the field as well. No defensive players are on the field right now. I am surprised Fr. Mark Barnes didn't make the trip. Paul Haile, a walk-on WR, made the trip. It appears they may try to redshirt Barnes. I'm also surprised Robert Pavlovic didn't make the trip. But they have A. Boyd, Saunders, Prochak and J. Cook dressed out. I guess they thought 5 TE's would be too much. The defense has just come onto the field. Th team is huddling and now breaking out into stretching.
5:10 P.M.: The top three WR's are McKinley, Freeman and F. Brown. M. Brown, Culliver and J. Barnes are the 2nd team WR's. The starting OL is what we expected: Meredith, Anderson, Brown, Jeanpierre and Sorensen. The 2nd team OL is (L2R)Eckerson, Thind, Burgess, Brown and Batchelor.
5:20 P.M. Wow, another shocker in the Big House. Oregon is leading Michigan, 32-7 in the 2Q. It's getting ugly in Ann Arbor. Lloyd Carr is definitely on the hottest seat in the country, with Phil Fulmer right behind if Tenn. loses to So. Miss. at home tonight. Warmups are continuing here at Sanford Stadium. We're about 25-30 minutes from kickoff.
5:45 P.M.: WE're just about resdy for kickoff. The teams are about to take the field. Here comes USC. Spurrier has been talking about this game for the last four or five months. He talked about it every night on the GC Tour. UGA has won the toss. We're going to find out what USC is made of over the next 3 hours. Buckle in.
THE GAME
5:55 P.M. - Very impressive first three plays was ruined by a stupid PF penalty. E. Cook was in on the third play. There's another dumb penalty. But UGA returns the favor with a holding penalty. Lots of flags early. FGA. No Good. USC survives.
6:02 P.M. True freshman Addison Williams played in the first defensive series.
6:05 P.M. - Not a good start for the USC offense. They ended up gainig zero yards. Poor punt coverage gives UGA good field position. The defense, though, rises up with a great stand. Georgia is finding out they actually play defense in the SEC, unlike the bottom half of the Big 12.
6:25: Nice drive (7 plays, 62 yards) by USC for the first TD of the game. Boyd ran in from 9 yards out. Defense stops UGA again. Defense is looking great right now. If USC can put together a nice drive here they might silence this crowd.
6:30 P.M. - USC just got a major break. Freddie Brown came close to committing a clipping penalty but the refs picked the flag up.
6:32 P.M. - End of 1Q. The game started badly with a pair of foolish penalties but USC dominated the final 13 minutes and scored the only TD. Defense looks a lot more spirited. They are FAR more aggressive, as I suspected. There's no question they were saving a lot of stuff for this game. If you're a USC fan, you hope it continues. Most of the passes by USC have been short.
6:40 P.M. - SOS is playing the field position game by punting on a 4th-and-5, taking a delay of game penalty. It looks like he's got a lot of confidence in the defense right now. UGA had just 40 yards inthe 1Q. USC had 80 yards. UGA ran 19 plays, giving them an average of barely 2 yards per play. That's pretty good D.
6:55 P.M. - USC allowed UGA to drive from the UGA 14 to the USC 12 but the defense held. Great play by Darian Stewart on third down. UGA settles for the FG. It's 7-3. It would be nice if USC could get a score here before halftime. They're on the march. We're seeing a completely different USC team from opening night. The energy level and enthusiasm is far greater. Just as I thought.
7:20 P.M. - It's halftime with USC leading, 10-3. Defensively, that might be the best half I've seen USC play in a long time. Unfortunately, a roughing the kicker penalty prevented USC from getting a good scoring chance near te end of the half. But USC is clearing outplaying UGA on both sides of the ball.
Wow! Oregon beats Michigan, 39-7. I'm hearing Lloyd Carr might be fired on Monday. A couple of ESPN guys are here.
We'll have 1H stats shortly.
7:30 P.M. FIRST HALF STATS:
Total Yardage: USC 138, UGA 118
Rushing: USC 74, UGA 63
Passing: USC 64, UGA 55.
3rd Downs: USC 1 of 4, UGA 1 of 9.
USC: Boyd 6-38, Culliver 2-21, Davis 4-18
Passing - Mitchell, 8-of-11, 64 yards.
UGA: Brown 11-49, Moreno 5-29
Passing - Stafford, 8-17, 55 yards.
There are no turnovers in the game.
7:35 P.M.: I think it's key for USC to take the 2nd half kickoff and drive down the field for points to go up by at least two scores. If they can do that, the crowd may get a lot more silent. The teams are on the field. Funny moment - As Spurrier was walking off the field at halftime, he was loudly booed by the UGA fans. But SOS gave a friendly wave and the boos got only louder.
7:50 P.M.: Here' the key stat in the game - UGA is 1 for 10 on third downs. The defense is playing super.
7:55 P.M.: I'm sure Kenny McKinley wants that one back. He should have made the catch on 3rd down. USC has UGA pined inside the 10. Need some defense here.
8:25 P.M.: You can cut the tension here with a knife. The UGA crowd is still loud. Nobody has left. Both teams had a FG in the 3Q. A botched toss sweep has UGA backed up here. But UGA escapes with a 25-yard pass on 3rd-and-23. Unfortunately, we've seen that before.
8:30 P.M.: Timeout with 12:54 left in the game. USC leads 13-6. UGA has 3rd-and-9 at the 50. Huge play coming up.
8:50 P.M.: UGA has just kicked a FG. It's 16-9 with seven minutes left. Key possession for USC. The defense has held UGA without a TD. There's now a challenge on a passplay to F. Brown. Time to take a breath. It's been hectic up here in the press box tonight. USC coul dput this game away with some points right here.
12:15 A.M.: We're getting ready to leave the press box and head to the hotel in Madison (40 miles south of Athens). There will still be work to do when we get there. Scott will do a notebook. I'll create the first photo gallery. I hope everyone has/had a wonderful night. As always, thanks for visiting Gamecock Central.
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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 @.