Road To Knoxville Paved With Wins
posted by Scott Hood on Tuesday, September 25, 2007
If USC expects to win nine games (my prediction for this season), the Gamecocks had to conclude the first one-third of the season with no worse than a 3-1 mark. They did that.
Now comes the all-important middle one-third of the schedule. USC is, top to bottom, a better football team than every opponent it will face over the next four weeks.
Yes, that includes Kentucky.
It starts, of course, with this Saturday’s home game against Mississippi State. While the Bulldogs have a respectable defense (5th in the SEC in total defense), their offense is running on fumes with a two-quarterback platoon running the show with Michael Henig sidelined with a hand injury.
Their only true offensive weapon is running back Anthony Dixon, who has 349 yards and is averaging 4.1 yards per carry. The passing game will be D.O.A. with leading receiver Tony Burks grabbing just eight passes.
Not surprisingly, Mississippi State is ranked dead last in the SEC in passing offense.
Truthfully, the Bulldogs are the very definition of a one-dimensional offense. It may be good enough to beat Gardner-Webb, but it won’t get it done in the SEC.
I full expect the USC defense will shutdown the limited Bulldog offense and roll to a victory that will cause people to quickly forget the LSU loss.
Now we come to the Kentucky game.
I’ve sensed some trepidation among Gamecock fans about this game. My biggest concern is that its comes five days after the Gamecocks have faced a SEC opponent, while Kentucky gets the benefit of hosting Florida Atlantic.
I realize FAU beat Minnesota a couple of weeks ago but, hey, the Gophers are a member of the Big 10, annually the most overrated conference in college football.
Yes, Kentucky has a good offense. But its not like they’ve faced a Murderer’s Row of college defenses in their first four games. The Wildcats have beaten Eastern Kentucky, Kent State, Louisville and Arkansas in their first four games.
EKU is a I-AA program, while Kent State is a perennial bottom-feeder in the Mid-American Conference, which typically generates a fair amount of media attention by beating up on, you guessed it, Big 10 schools.
Louisville? After watching them on TV a couple of times, I’m convinced the Cardinals have the worst defense in the history of Western Civilization.
Yes, it’s true. The Incas had a better pass defense.
The Cardinals gave up 38 friggin’ points last Saturday to Syracuse! At home, no less.
Syracuse, possibly the worst BCS conference team in the country, scored 32 points TOTAL in their first three games.
Here’s how bad Syracuse is: the Orangemen were shutout, 35-0, by Iowa, which celebrated by going out the following week and losing to intrastate rival Iowa State, which opened the season with discouraging losses to Kent State (yes, the same one) and I-AA Northern Iowa.
Follow that? Good.
Arkansas, meanwhile, isn’t much better when it comes to the tackling part of football.
The Razorbacks are 10th in the SEC in total defense and 11th in passing defense. In other words, they really, really miss MLB Sam Olajubutu, who exhausted his eligibility after last season.
How good was Olajubutu? He had eight MORE tackles than Jasper Brinkley (107) last season.
Arkansas surrendered 41 points to Alabama two weeks ago. In their other two SEC games, the Crimson Tide scored 24 points against Vanderbilt and 20 against Georgia.
The difference? The Commodores and Bulldogs have a clue how to play defense.
In my opinion, the jury is still out on how good this Kentucky team is, especially the offense. Unquestionably, they have some very good skill position players led by QB Andre Woodson.
But they simply haven’t been tested yet.
Even without Jasper Brinkley, USC will clearly be the best defensive unit the Wildcats will have faced this season.
From that perspective, it will be an interesting game.
If USC overcomes the Kentucky hurdle, and I think they will, it’s downhill after that with games against hapless North Carolina and pesky Vanderbilt.
With upcoming games against Virginia Tech and Miami, the Tar Heels should be 1-5 when the Gamecocks arrive in Chapel Hill on Oct. 13.
If that’s the case, Keenan Stadium will be a mausoleum except for the 6,000 rowdy USC fans in attendance ready for a bloodletting.
Vanderbilt? Please.
If USC loses to the Commodores at home, they don’t deserve to go to a bowl game, plain and simple.
My prediction: USC will be 7-1 heading to Knoxville to face Tennessee on Oct. 27.
Hey Phil, get ready. Your buddy Steve is coming.
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The LSU loss notwithstanding, South Carolina accomplished what it had to in the first four games of the season.
If USC expects to win nine games (my prediction for this season), the Gamecocks had to conclude the first one-third of the season with no worse than a 3-1 mark. They did that.
Now comes the all-important middle one-third of the schedule. USC is, top to bottom, a better football team than every opponent it will face over the next four weeks.
Yes, that includes Kentucky.
It starts, of course, with this Saturday’s home game against Mississippi State. While the Bulldogs have a respectable defense (5th in the SEC in total defense), their offense is running on fumes with a two-quarterback platoon running the show with Michael Henig sidelined with a hand injury.
Their only true offensive weapon is running back Anthony Dixon, who has 349 yards and is averaging 4.1 yards per carry. The passing game will be D.O.A. with leading receiver Tony Burks grabbing just eight passes.
Not surprisingly, Mississippi State is ranked dead last in the SEC in passing offense.
Truthfully, the Bulldogs are the very definition of a one-dimensional offense. It may be good enough to beat Gardner-Webb, but it won’t get it done in the SEC.
I full expect the USC defense will shutdown the limited Bulldog offense and roll to a victory that will cause people to quickly forget the LSU loss.
Now we come to the Kentucky game.
I’ve sensed some trepidation among Gamecock fans about this game. My biggest concern is that its comes five days after the Gamecocks have faced a SEC opponent, while Kentucky gets the benefit of hosting Florida Atlantic.
I realize FAU beat Minnesota a couple of weeks ago but, hey, the Gophers are a member of the Big 10, annually the most overrated conference in college football.
Yes, Kentucky has a good offense. But its not like they’ve faced a Murderer’s Row of college defenses in their first four games. The Wildcats have beaten Eastern Kentucky, Kent State, Louisville and Arkansas in their first four games.
EKU is a I-AA program, while Kent State is a perennial bottom-feeder in the Mid-American Conference, which typically generates a fair amount of media attention by beating up on, you guessed it, Big 10 schools.
Louisville? After watching them on TV a couple of times, I’m convinced the Cardinals have the worst defense in the history of Western Civilization.
Yes, it’s true. The Incas had a better pass defense.
The Cardinals gave up 38 friggin’ points last Saturday to Syracuse! At home, no less.
Syracuse, possibly the worst BCS conference team in the country, scored 32 points TOTAL in their first three games.
Here’s how bad Syracuse is: the Orangemen were shutout, 35-0, by Iowa, which celebrated by going out the following week and losing to intrastate rival Iowa State, which opened the season with discouraging losses to Kent State (yes, the same one) and I-AA Northern Iowa.
Follow that? Good.
Arkansas, meanwhile, isn’t much better when it comes to the tackling part of football.
The Razorbacks are 10th in the SEC in total defense and 11th in passing defense. In other words, they really, really miss MLB Sam Olajubutu, who exhausted his eligibility after last season.
How good was Olajubutu? He had eight MORE tackles than Jasper Brinkley (107) last season.
Arkansas surrendered 41 points to Alabama two weeks ago. In their other two SEC games, the Crimson Tide scored 24 points against Vanderbilt and 20 against Georgia.
The difference? The Commodores and Bulldogs have a clue how to play defense.
In my opinion, the jury is still out on how good this Kentucky team is, especially the offense. Unquestionably, they have some very good skill position players led by QB Andre Woodson.
But they simply haven’t been tested yet.
Even without Jasper Brinkley, USC will clearly be the best defensive unit the Wildcats will have faced this season.
From that perspective, it will be an interesting game.
If USC overcomes the Kentucky hurdle, and I think they will, it’s downhill after that with games against hapless North Carolina and pesky Vanderbilt.
With upcoming games against Virginia Tech and Miami, the Tar Heels should be 1-5 when the Gamecocks arrive in Chapel Hill on Oct. 13.
If that’s the case, Keenan Stadium will be a mausoleum except for the 6,000 rowdy USC fans in attendance ready for a bloodletting.
Vanderbilt? Please.
If USC loses to the Commodores at home, they don’t deserve to go to a bowl game, plain and simple.
My prediction: USC will be 7-1 heading to Knoxville to face Tennessee on Oct. 27.
Hey Phil, get ready. Your buddy Steve is coming.
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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 @.