Live from Williams-Brice
posted by Brian Shoemaker, Friday, October 05, 2007
11:10 P.M.: There's a TD catch and run by Boyd! USC now leads 38-23 with 3:20 left. This one is looking good, although we do remember the final 5 minutes of the game last year in Lexington. USC needs to hold on and don't give up any big plays. USC could be 5-1 headng to UNC and with Vandy comingto Columbia in 2 weeks.
11:00 P.M.: A nice-looking 72-yard TD drive by UK. You can tell Woodson is a senior on that drive. This is a big possession for USC. There's a pass to Dion Lecorn! Great pass!
10:35 P.M.: The USC offense finally came up with a positive play when Smelley threw to Cook for a 21-yard gain. That's the first play made by the offense inthe 2H. The offense officially had minue-15 yards in the 3Q. There's a pass to Boyd. The offense is finally moving the ball!
10:25 P.M.: The USC offense isn't helping out the defense. UK is driving inside the red zone trailing 24-13. The USC looks a little tired. UK is having success on the perimeter, especially over the left side. There's the end of the 3Q. It's 24-13 USC but UK is lining up for a shirt FGA. If they make it, it would bring the Wildcats with 8 points. Goos stop by the defense inside the 10-yard line.
10:10 P.M.: USC had an opprtunity to add some points but two sacks doomed their chances. UK takes over at the 19. USC has minus-19 yards on its first two possession of the second half. That's not good. Gerrod Sinclair is hurt. He's being helped off the field. Sinclair has played well this season.
10:05 P.M.: Poor start to the 2H by the USC offense. But there's a fumble by Little on the punt. Munnelryn recovers! USC is set up at the 50. But again the offense is struggling. Here's a third-and-15. Timeout USC. The O-Line is really struggling right now. Garrett Andersonis playing right now. He came in for Seaver Brown.
10:00 P.M: Woodson recovers from his blunder t lead UK on a dribe to a FG. It's 24-13 with 10:49 left. USC will finally get the ball for the first time in the 2H.
9:50 P.M.: Another great defensive play by USC! Norwood fumble return for 53 yards on a lateral. Woodson credited with a fumble. USC Leads 24-10! Two TD's for Norwood tonight. Has a USC defensive player ever scored two TD's in a game?
9:35 P.M.: Here are the first half stats:
Total yards: USC 209, UK 173;
Team Rushing: USC 55, UK 77
Team Passing: USC 154, UK 96
QB's: Smelley 11/21, 154 yards; Woodson 10/16, 96 yards.
Ind. Rushing: USC, Boyd, 8-51, Davis 6-21; UK, Little 13-65, Dixon 3-29.
Ind. Receiving: USC, McKinley, 4-61, F. Brown 2-26; UK, Burtin 3-24, Tamme 2-35.
PlaysL USC 38, UK 33.
9:25 P.M.Most of the second period went UK's way but USC turned it around with that 89-yard drive for the go-ahead TD. Considering the circumstances, that might be the best drive of the season. USC leads, 17-10, at halftime. Overall, I wouldhave to say Spurrier's fairly happy with the proceedings. We're awaiting the 1H stats right now.
9:20 P.M.: Mike Davis polished off one of the more impressive drives of the season with a 2-yard TD plunge. It took just 10 plays to go 89 yards and took just 3:26. USC had 4 plays of 11+ yards on the drive. Smelley looked great, completing 3 of 4 passes on the drive. We're approaching halftime.
9:00 P.M.: The defense finally came up with a big play. Woodson floated a pass over the middle and Munnerlyn intercepted at the goal line. He almost broke it all the way. USC stalls out on offense. The USC offense is stagnant right now. The Gamecocks are struggling offensively.
8:50 P.M.: The USC O-Line can't protect Smelley right now. Almost a safety when Smelely was called for grounding. But a 52-yard punt gets USC out of trouble. That's a best case scenario for USC right there considering the circumstances.
8:45 P.M.: UK drives 71 yards in 9 plays to score a TD on a pass from Woodson to Tamme, a good looking TE who knows how to catch the FB. He caught the ball over Darian Stewart, who had his back to the ball and didn't see it coming. Tamme tied his leap perfectly. It's 10-10 with 12:13 left in the 2Q.
8:35 P.M.: There's the end of the 1Q with USC ahead, 10-3. Overall, it was a good 1Q for the Gamecocks. They're introducing Sidney Rice, Sheldon Brown, and Troy Williamson to the crowd. Huge roar. Brown had had a great career with the Eagles. I'm told the Eagles fans love him. Of course, he had that big hit on Reggie Bush last season. Woodson had 38 yards passing. The 1Q went exactly as USC planned. Theykept UK off the field.
8:30 P.M.: USC has a nice drive going thanks to a Pass int. penalty and a 23-yard pass to McKinley. But McKinley also had a couple of other passes go through his arms. Succop kicks the easy 30-yard FG. USC leads, 10-3. It was a 12-play, 58-yard drive.
8:15 P.M.: A dumb personal foul penalty on Carlos Thomas helped Kentucky get three points on their third possession of the game. UK played the field position game by punting from the USC 41. They held USC to 3-and-out. It's 7-3 USC. USC is now out beyond midfield.
8:05 P.M.: After a long run by Little, the USC defense stiffenes and stops UK at midfield. Great tackle by Paulk on Little. UK elected to punt, playing the field position game. Punt downs at the 6-yard line, so it works. USC leads 7-0 with 8:29 left in 1Q.
7:57 P.M.Great play by the UK defender to strip the ball from Saunders. You have to protect the ball in that situation. Touchback. The ball rolled through the end zone. Woodson is smacked by Williams. There's a fumble! Eric Norwood picks it up and rolls into the end zone. Unbelievable!
7:50 P.M.Oops. USC calls a timeout before the first snap. Some confusion. I saw SOS talking with J. Cook. He may have lined up wrong. USC coems back and he's not on the field. Great 3rd down pass to F. Brown. New life for the Gamecocks after a couple of poor plays.
7:45 P.M.: There's 2001. The USC captains for tonight's game are McKinley, E. Cook, A. Boyd, and Wells. UK won the toss and will defer to the 2H. USC will get the ball first, just like SOS likes it. It looks like the rain has stopped. The crowd is fired up. Let's get it on!
7:40 P.M.: MBB head coach Dave Odom is here in the press box along with SEC Commissionetr Michael Slive. As I look across to the East upper stands, I see some empty seats. But the fans are still filing in. The national anthem and USC alma mater have been played. We're almost ready for some football.
7:22 P.M.: Pregame drills continue and it appears that Jonathan Williams and Joel Reaves will be the starters at DT.
7:10 P.M.: The way the players are lined up for stretching, there are no surprises on offense. The OL is the same as last week - Sorenesen, Thompson, Brown, Brown, Meredith. WR's are McKinley, Lecorn and F. Brown. However, there is a surprise on defense. Jonathan Williams and Joel Reaves are lined up on the front row ahead of Marque Hall and Ladi Ajiboye. We'll see how they line up when the defense comes out for the first series.
7:00 P.M.: The rain has returned to W-B Stadium, as we're about 50 minutes to kickoff. The rain has intensified in the last few minutes. It's coming down pretty heavy right now. This is definitely the heaviest I've seen it all day. It looks like it isn't affecting the players, though. They're still going through the warmups. USC is starting the stetching right now.
6:40 P.M: USC's special teams players are on the field. The rain continues to stay away, so keep your fingers crossed. We're about 70 minutes away from kickoff. In case you were wondering, UK brought a pep band with them to the game tonight. It looks like there will be about 2,000 UK fans here. They're occupying two sections in the southeast corner. The USC band is still out in the Fairgrounds area. Here come the USC QB's. There are 4 dressed tonight - Smelley, Mitchell, Beecher and Garcia.
6:24 P.M.: Apparently, Jasper Brinkley will on the sideline tonight. He just walked onto the field, with the help of crutches.
6:00 P.M.: Some good eats in the press box tonight. Spaghetti, meat sauce, chicken cutlets, potatoes au gratin, green beans, salad, applie and cherry pie. Definitely one of the best this year.
I see a bunch of UK special team players on the field going through warm-ups. It looks like UK is wearing white uniforms with blue helmets. I don't see any USC players on the field yet. There are a few fans in the stands right now. Most are still out in the Fairgrounds tailgating.
The weather is fairly nice right now. No rain. But's still overcast. And there's some wind, as well.
This game tonight starts a huge weekend in the SEC. Georgia-Tennessee and UF-LSU play in Saturday. It will be interesting to see how the SEC standings look Sunday morning.
5:30 P.M.: It looks like the rain has stopped again at W-B Stadium. The Fairgrounds is starting to fill up. The players should be arriving at the stadium in about 15 minutes or so. Typically, the teams arrive about 2 hours before the game. With kickoff set for 7:45 p.m., we should see the players on the field fairly soon.
There's no doubt Kentucky has a good offense. My question is, how good? Frankly, they've gone up against some pretty miserable defenses so far. Out of the 4 Div. I teams they've faced, only one has a defense ranked among the top 70 (out of 119 teams) in total defense. Here's how they rank:
Kent State - 34th.
Louisville - 84th
Arkansas - 71st
Fla. Atl. - 90th.
In addition, Eastern Ky. is ranked 110th in total defense in Div. I-AA. Clearly, USC is by far the best defense UK has faced this season. We'll find out tonight how good the UK offense is. I's figuring that trying to throw against the USC secondary will prove to be a lot more difficult than throwing against Louisville's pathetic defense.
The players have arrived at the stadium. It looks like there's a drizzle coming down right now. They're milling around the field. No sign of UK yet.
4:45 P.M.: It's raining again at W-B Stadium. If it continues to rain throughout the game, I would give the USC offense a slight advantage.
If USC wins tonight, it would be USC's 8th win in the last 9 games dating back to last season. There's no question Spurrier is bringing a positive and winning attitude to the program. I have to admit, when the season began. I didn't think USC could potentially be in the Top 10 midway through the seaon.
Here's how huge tonight's game is: if USC wins, they should be 7-1 and ranked among the Top 8 teams when it's time to go to Knoxville in late October. Of course, you don't want to look too far ahead but I can't see the Gamecocks losing to either UNC or Vandy. Those final four games could really be fun. Talka bout some love from the national media.
One of the top storylines of tonight's USC-UK game is Spurrier's 14-0 career record against Kentucky. I'm sure they'll mention it a lot on TV tonight. Is there such a thing as a coach having a hex over a team? Maybe. I know Spurrier is confident when it comes to playing UK.
4:30 P.M.: Here are my five predictions for tonight's USC-UK football game.
USC will convert at least 50 percent of its third-downs: USC is fourth in the SEC in third-down conversion at 42 percent. But the Gamecocks are 50 percent the last 2 games. Kentucky is 11th in the SEC in defending third downs. The Wildcats are allowing their opponents to convert 43.8 percent of the time.
Cory Boyd and Mike Davis Will Run For 175 Yards/USC Will Outrush UK: UK is 11th in the league in rushing defense, USC is 10th. USC defends the run much better against conventional offenses. UK doesn't run the option, which is good news for Gamecock fans. Boyd and Davis should get the run game going and control the clock. USC is 9-2 under Spurrier when it rushes for 150 yards or more.
USC Will Hold UK Under 300 Yards Passing: UK QB Andre Woodson has thrown for 300 yards just once this season. Combine that statistic with the fact that the Gamecocks have the No. 1 passing defense in the country, and all signs point to UK struggling to throw the ball. Woodson will get some yards but not enough to win the game for the Wildcats.
USC Will Outscore UK In The Second Half: USC has outscored the opponents 64-23 in the second half this season, including 21-7 last week v. Miss. State. You can credit superior conditioning for that statistic. UK has been pretty good in the second half as well, but I predict the second half of Thursday's game will play out like last week's MSU game.
USC Will Have At Least 150 Return Yards: The kickoff return team is one of the most improved areas of the teams. Chris Culliver has been a shining light in the return game. Culliver had 109 yards last week v. Miss. State. He broke off a 44-yard return at LSU 2 weeks ago and had a couple of decent runs v. MSU.
3:30 P.M.: The rain has stopped here at the Williams-Brice Stadium after a brief shower. The field looks in pretty good shape right now. I believe there are three keys to a Gamecock win tonight:
1. Limit Turnovers. UK is plus-7 in turnover margin and has taken advantage of opponents' mistakes through the first five games. As long as USC wins the turnover battle or stays even, they'll be in good shape.
2. Make UK one-dimensional on offense. UK is effective both throwing and running the ball. USC will try to focus on stopping the run early. If they're successful stopping the run, they'll go after Andre Woodson.
3. Get the running game going with Cory Boyd and Mike Davis. USC needs to run the ball and control the clock and keep Woodson and the UK offense off the field. Steve Spurrier said this week that the team that runs the ball the best will win the game.
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GamecockCentral.com beat writer Scott Hood will provide updates prior to and during the game from Williams-Brice Stadium. Refresh this page to see the latest updates.
11:10 P.M.: There's a TD catch and run by Boyd! USC now leads 38-23 with 3:20 left. This one is looking good, although we do remember the final 5 minutes of the game last year in Lexington. USC needs to hold on and don't give up any big plays. USC could be 5-1 headng to UNC and with Vandy comingto Columbia in 2 weeks.
11:00 P.M.: A nice-looking 72-yard TD drive by UK. You can tell Woodson is a senior on that drive. This is a big possession for USC. There's a pass to Dion Lecorn! Great pass!
10:35 P.M.: The USC offense finally came up with a positive play when Smelley threw to Cook for a 21-yard gain. That's the first play made by the offense inthe 2H. The offense officially had minue-15 yards in the 3Q. There's a pass to Boyd. The offense is finally moving the ball!
10:25 P.M.: The USC offense isn't helping out the defense. UK is driving inside the red zone trailing 24-13. The USC looks a little tired. UK is having success on the perimeter, especially over the left side. There's the end of the 3Q. It's 24-13 USC but UK is lining up for a shirt FGA. If they make it, it would bring the Wildcats with 8 points. Goos stop by the defense inside the 10-yard line.
10:10 P.M.: USC had an opprtunity to add some points but two sacks doomed their chances. UK takes over at the 19. USC has minus-19 yards on its first two possession of the second half. That's not good. Gerrod Sinclair is hurt. He's being helped off the field. Sinclair has played well this season.
10:05 P.M.: Poor start to the 2H by the USC offense. But there's a fumble by Little on the punt. Munnelryn recovers! USC is set up at the 50. But again the offense is struggling. Here's a third-and-15. Timeout USC. The O-Line is really struggling right now. Garrett Andersonis playing right now. He came in for Seaver Brown.
10:00 P.M: Woodson recovers from his blunder t lead UK on a dribe to a FG. It's 24-13 with 10:49 left. USC will finally get the ball for the first time in the 2H.
9:50 P.M.: Another great defensive play by USC! Norwood fumble return for 53 yards on a lateral. Woodson credited with a fumble. USC Leads 24-10! Two TD's for Norwood tonight. Has a USC defensive player ever scored two TD's in a game?
9:35 P.M.: Here are the first half stats:
Total yards: USC 209, UK 173;
Team Rushing: USC 55, UK 77
Team Passing: USC 154, UK 96
QB's: Smelley 11/21, 154 yards; Woodson 10/16, 96 yards.
Ind. Rushing: USC, Boyd, 8-51, Davis 6-21; UK, Little 13-65, Dixon 3-29.
Ind. Receiving: USC, McKinley, 4-61, F. Brown 2-26; UK, Burtin 3-24, Tamme 2-35.
PlaysL USC 38, UK 33.
9:25 P.M.Most of the second period went UK's way but USC turned it around with that 89-yard drive for the go-ahead TD. Considering the circumstances, that might be the best drive of the season. USC leads, 17-10, at halftime. Overall, I wouldhave to say Spurrier's fairly happy with the proceedings. We're awaiting the 1H stats right now.
9:20 P.M.: Mike Davis polished off one of the more impressive drives of the season with a 2-yard TD plunge. It took just 10 plays to go 89 yards and took just 3:26. USC had 4 plays of 11+ yards on the drive. Smelley looked great, completing 3 of 4 passes on the drive. We're approaching halftime.
9:00 P.M.: The defense finally came up with a big play. Woodson floated a pass over the middle and Munnerlyn intercepted at the goal line. He almost broke it all the way. USC stalls out on offense. The USC offense is stagnant right now. The Gamecocks are struggling offensively.
8:50 P.M.: The USC O-Line can't protect Smelley right now. Almost a safety when Smelely was called for grounding. But a 52-yard punt gets USC out of trouble. That's a best case scenario for USC right there considering the circumstances.
8:45 P.M.: UK drives 71 yards in 9 plays to score a TD on a pass from Woodson to Tamme, a good looking TE who knows how to catch the FB. He caught the ball over Darian Stewart, who had his back to the ball and didn't see it coming. Tamme tied his leap perfectly. It's 10-10 with 12:13 left in the 2Q.
8:35 P.M.: There's the end of the 1Q with USC ahead, 10-3. Overall, it was a good 1Q for the Gamecocks. They're introducing Sidney Rice, Sheldon Brown, and Troy Williamson to the crowd. Huge roar. Brown had had a great career with the Eagles. I'm told the Eagles fans love him. Of course, he had that big hit on Reggie Bush last season. Woodson had 38 yards passing. The 1Q went exactly as USC planned. Theykept UK off the field.
8:30 P.M.: USC has a nice drive going thanks to a Pass int. penalty and a 23-yard pass to McKinley. But McKinley also had a couple of other passes go through his arms. Succop kicks the easy 30-yard FG. USC leads, 10-3. It was a 12-play, 58-yard drive.
8:15 P.M.: A dumb personal foul penalty on Carlos Thomas helped Kentucky get three points on their third possession of the game. UK played the field position game by punting from the USC 41. They held USC to 3-and-out. It's 7-3 USC. USC is now out beyond midfield.
8:05 P.M.: After a long run by Little, the USC defense stiffenes and stops UK at midfield. Great tackle by Paulk on Little. UK elected to punt, playing the field position game. Punt downs at the 6-yard line, so it works. USC leads 7-0 with 8:29 left in 1Q.
7:57 P.M.Great play by the UK defender to strip the ball from Saunders. You have to protect the ball in that situation. Touchback. The ball rolled through the end zone. Woodson is smacked by Williams. There's a fumble! Eric Norwood picks it up and rolls into the end zone. Unbelievable!
7:50 P.M.Oops. USC calls a timeout before the first snap. Some confusion. I saw SOS talking with J. Cook. He may have lined up wrong. USC coems back and he's not on the field. Great 3rd down pass to F. Brown. New life for the Gamecocks after a couple of poor plays.
7:45 P.M.: There's 2001. The USC captains for tonight's game are McKinley, E. Cook, A. Boyd, and Wells. UK won the toss and will defer to the 2H. USC will get the ball first, just like SOS likes it. It looks like the rain has stopped. The crowd is fired up. Let's get it on!
7:40 P.M.: MBB head coach Dave Odom is here in the press box along with SEC Commissionetr Michael Slive. As I look across to the East upper stands, I see some empty seats. But the fans are still filing in. The national anthem and USC alma mater have been played. We're almost ready for some football.
7:22 P.M.: Pregame drills continue and it appears that Jonathan Williams and Joel Reaves will be the starters at DT.
7:10 P.M.: The way the players are lined up for stretching, there are no surprises on offense. The OL is the same as last week - Sorenesen, Thompson, Brown, Brown, Meredith. WR's are McKinley, Lecorn and F. Brown. However, there is a surprise on defense. Jonathan Williams and Joel Reaves are lined up on the front row ahead of Marque Hall and Ladi Ajiboye. We'll see how they line up when the defense comes out for the first series.
7:00 P.M.: The rain has returned to W-B Stadium, as we're about 50 minutes to kickoff. The rain has intensified in the last few minutes. It's coming down pretty heavy right now. This is definitely the heaviest I've seen it all day. It looks like it isn't affecting the players, though. They're still going through the warmups. USC is starting the stetching right now.
6:40 P.M: USC's special teams players are on the field. The rain continues to stay away, so keep your fingers crossed. We're about 70 minutes away from kickoff. In case you were wondering, UK brought a pep band with them to the game tonight. It looks like there will be about 2,000 UK fans here. They're occupying two sections in the southeast corner. The USC band is still out in the Fairgrounds area. Here come the USC QB's. There are 4 dressed tonight - Smelley, Mitchell, Beecher and Garcia.
6:24 P.M.: Apparently, Jasper Brinkley will on the sideline tonight. He just walked onto the field, with the help of crutches.
6:00 P.M.: Some good eats in the press box tonight. Spaghetti, meat sauce, chicken cutlets, potatoes au gratin, green beans, salad, applie and cherry pie. Definitely one of the best this year.
I see a bunch of UK special team players on the field going through warm-ups. It looks like UK is wearing white uniforms with blue helmets. I don't see any USC players on the field yet. There are a few fans in the stands right now. Most are still out in the Fairgrounds tailgating.
The weather is fairly nice right now. No rain. But's still overcast. And there's some wind, as well.
This game tonight starts a huge weekend in the SEC. Georgia-Tennessee and UF-LSU play in Saturday. It will be interesting to see how the SEC standings look Sunday morning.
5:30 P.M.: It looks like the rain has stopped again at W-B Stadium. The Fairgrounds is starting to fill up. The players should be arriving at the stadium in about 15 minutes or so. Typically, the teams arrive about 2 hours before the game. With kickoff set for 7:45 p.m., we should see the players on the field fairly soon.
There's no doubt Kentucky has a good offense. My question is, how good? Frankly, they've gone up against some pretty miserable defenses so far. Out of the 4 Div. I teams they've faced, only one has a defense ranked among the top 70 (out of 119 teams) in total defense. Here's how they rank:
Kent State - 34th.
Louisville - 84th
Arkansas - 71st
Fla. Atl. - 90th.
In addition, Eastern Ky. is ranked 110th in total defense in Div. I-AA. Clearly, USC is by far the best defense UK has faced this season. We'll find out tonight how good the UK offense is. I's figuring that trying to throw against the USC secondary will prove to be a lot more difficult than throwing against Louisville's pathetic defense.
The players have arrived at the stadium. It looks like there's a drizzle coming down right now. They're milling around the field. No sign of UK yet.
4:45 P.M.: It's raining again at W-B Stadium. If it continues to rain throughout the game, I would give the USC offense a slight advantage.
If USC wins tonight, it would be USC's 8th win in the last 9 games dating back to last season. There's no question Spurrier is bringing a positive and winning attitude to the program. I have to admit, when the season began. I didn't think USC could potentially be in the Top 10 midway through the seaon.
Here's how huge tonight's game is: if USC wins, they should be 7-1 and ranked among the Top 8 teams when it's time to go to Knoxville in late October. Of course, you don't want to look too far ahead but I can't see the Gamecocks losing to either UNC or Vandy. Those final four games could really be fun. Talka bout some love from the national media.
One of the top storylines of tonight's USC-UK game is Spurrier's 14-0 career record against Kentucky. I'm sure they'll mention it a lot on TV tonight. Is there such a thing as a coach having a hex over a team? Maybe. I know Spurrier is confident when it comes to playing UK.
4:30 P.M.: Here are my five predictions for tonight's USC-UK football game.
USC will convert at least 50 percent of its third-downs: USC is fourth in the SEC in third-down conversion at 42 percent. But the Gamecocks are 50 percent the last 2 games. Kentucky is 11th in the SEC in defending third downs. The Wildcats are allowing their opponents to convert 43.8 percent of the time.
Cory Boyd and Mike Davis Will Run For 175 Yards/USC Will Outrush UK: UK is 11th in the league in rushing defense, USC is 10th. USC defends the run much better against conventional offenses. UK doesn't run the option, which is good news for Gamecock fans. Boyd and Davis should get the run game going and control the clock. USC is 9-2 under Spurrier when it rushes for 150 yards or more.
USC Will Hold UK Under 300 Yards Passing: UK QB Andre Woodson has thrown for 300 yards just once this season. Combine that statistic with the fact that the Gamecocks have the No. 1 passing defense in the country, and all signs point to UK struggling to throw the ball. Woodson will get some yards but not enough to win the game for the Wildcats.
USC Will Outscore UK In The Second Half: USC has outscored the opponents 64-23 in the second half this season, including 21-7 last week v. Miss. State. You can credit superior conditioning for that statistic. UK has been pretty good in the second half as well, but I predict the second half of Thursday's game will play out like last week's MSU game.
USC Will Have At Least 150 Return Yards: The kickoff return team is one of the most improved areas of the teams. Chris Culliver has been a shining light in the return game. Culliver had 109 yards last week v. Miss. State. He broke off a 44-yard return at LSU 2 weeks ago and had a couple of decent runs v. MSU.
3:30 P.M.: The rain has stopped here at the Williams-Brice Stadium after a brief shower. The field looks in pretty good shape right now. I believe there are three keys to a Gamecock win tonight:
1. Limit Turnovers. UK is plus-7 in turnover margin and has taken advantage of opponents' mistakes through the first five games. As long as USC wins the turnover battle or stays even, they'll be in good shape.
2. Make UK one-dimensional on offense. UK is effective both throwing and running the ball. USC will try to focus on stopping the run early. If they're successful stopping the run, they'll go after Andre Woodson.
3. Get the running game going with Cory Boyd and Mike Davis. USC needs to run the ball and control the clock and keep Woodson and the UK offense off the field. Steve Spurrier said this week that the team that runs the ball the best will win the game.
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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 @.