Understanding The Beecher Decision
posted by Scott Hood, Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Seventy-two hours later, he stood up in front of a large crowd at the Laurens County Gamecock Club meeting and announced that if USC had a game tomorrow, redshirt junior Tommy Beecher would start at quarterback, effectively making him the No. 1 guy.
What happened?
In my opinion, a couple of things.
First, I believe Spurrier decided after thinking it over for a few days that he didn’t want the ‘quarterback cloud’ hanging over the entire Gamecock team.
In other words, he felt the team needed to know (and possibly deserved to know) who the No.1 guy was as a way of promoting team unity. He certainly didn’t want the team dividing into pro-Beecher and pro-Smelley camps.
This way, all 100-plus players on USC’s roster will get behind Beecher.
Second, Spurrier deciphered the numbers and analyzed the video from the spring game and the previous practices and two full-contact scrimmages and determined Beecher had outperformed Smelley when the heat was on.
Frankly, I can’t argue with that.
In the first scrimmage held March 29, Smelley completed 15 of 26 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns, while Beecher was 8-for-20 for 91 yards and one TD.
Advantage Smelley.
In the second full-contact scrimmage conducted April 7, Smelley was 14 of 19 for 143 yards and one TD, while Beecher was 13 of 19 for 142 yards and one TD.
Even.
Finally, in the spring game, Smelley completed 13 of 30 passes for 219 yards and three touchdowns and five interceptions (all in the first half). Beecher was 9-of-20 for 131 yards and one touchdown with three interceptions. Afterwards Spurrier said Beecher had performed better
Advantage Beecher.
So, after 15 practices, how much separation was there between the two quarterbacks? Not much.
But here’s the key difference between the two contenders: Beecher’s numbers were trending upward, while Smelley’s numbers were clearly spiraling downward.
Based on the relative inexperience of Beecher and Stephen Garcia, Smelley was the heavy favorite - in my view - heading into spring practice to emerge from the 15 practices as the top guy. In fact, I had projected Garcia second and Beecher third.
But, then again, that’s why I’m not coaching.
From that perspective, the naming of Beecher as the No.1 guy constitutes a mild upset. I'm sure when spring practice started that Beecher trailed in the fan polls by a wide margin.
Clearly, though, something has happened to Smelley.
Last Saturday afternoon was, technically anyways, the first time he had stepped onto the Williams-Brice Stadium turf wearing official USC football gear (scrimmage jerseys don’t count) in front of a large crowd since the Vanderbilt meltdown last October.
Taking those two appearances together, Smelley is 27 of 54 for 373 yards and three touchdowns and seven interceptions in his last two outings at Williams-Brice.
If you factor the Tennessee game into the equation, Smelley has strung together three consecutive poor outings while wearing the official USC uniform.
Negative nellies will contend, of course, Beecher is simply the lesser of two evils. I agree he certainly didn’t set the world on fire with his spring game performance.
However, somebody has to play quarterback.
With everything else being equal, Spurrier may have simply picked the guy who’s the better scrambler.
Or the guy who’s a little smarter, or studies the playbook a little harder, or watches more video. You can pick anything.
Of course, if you know anything about Spurrier, Tuesday’s events doesn’t mean Beecher will be the starter when USC faces N.C. State in the season opener Aug. 28.
There are still 29 practices to go before the Wolfpack come to town. Beecher will have to earn the right to be the guy when fall camp opens. In fact, come Aug. 15 – or possibly even earlier – he may have to fend off Garcia as well.
Thus, while Tuesday’s announcement will calm the waters for a couple of months, the stormy weather could return in August and we could all be back here at this same space arguing who the starting QB should be.
Beecher is sort of like the NASCAR driver who lays back and allows others to battle for the lead in the early going of a 500-mile race before starting his dash to the front over the second half of the race and than winning on fuel mileage.
Beecher deserves to be the No. 1 guy.
Now we’ll see if he can keep the crown.
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Late Saturday afternoon, soon after the interception-filled spring football game, Steve Spurrier declined to name a number one quarterback heading into the summer months.
Seventy-two hours later, he stood up in front of a large crowd at the Laurens County Gamecock Club meeting and announced that if USC had a game tomorrow, redshirt junior Tommy Beecher would start at quarterback, effectively making him the No. 1 guy.
What happened?
In my opinion, a couple of things.
First, I believe Spurrier decided after thinking it over for a few days that he didn’t want the ‘quarterback cloud’ hanging over the entire Gamecock team.
In other words, he felt the team needed to know (and possibly deserved to know) who the No.1 guy was as a way of promoting team unity. He certainly didn’t want the team dividing into pro-Beecher and pro-Smelley camps.
This way, all 100-plus players on USC’s roster will get behind Beecher.
Second, Spurrier deciphered the numbers and analyzed the video from the spring game and the previous practices and two full-contact scrimmages and determined Beecher had outperformed Smelley when the heat was on.
Frankly, I can’t argue with that.
In the first scrimmage held March 29, Smelley completed 15 of 26 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns, while Beecher was 8-for-20 for 91 yards and one TD.
Advantage Smelley.
In the second full-contact scrimmage conducted April 7, Smelley was 14 of 19 for 143 yards and one TD, while Beecher was 13 of 19 for 142 yards and one TD.
Even.
Finally, in the spring game, Smelley completed 13 of 30 passes for 219 yards and three touchdowns and five interceptions (all in the first half). Beecher was 9-of-20 for 131 yards and one touchdown with three interceptions. Afterwards Spurrier said Beecher had performed better
Advantage Beecher.
So, after 15 practices, how much separation was there between the two quarterbacks? Not much.
But here’s the key difference between the two contenders: Beecher’s numbers were trending upward, while Smelley’s numbers were clearly spiraling downward.
Based on the relative inexperience of Beecher and Stephen Garcia, Smelley was the heavy favorite - in my view - heading into spring practice to emerge from the 15 practices as the top guy. In fact, I had projected Garcia second and Beecher third.
But, then again, that’s why I’m not coaching.
From that perspective, the naming of Beecher as the No.1 guy constitutes a mild upset. I'm sure when spring practice started that Beecher trailed in the fan polls by a wide margin.
Clearly, though, something has happened to Smelley.
Last Saturday afternoon was, technically anyways, the first time he had stepped onto the Williams-Brice Stadium turf wearing official USC football gear (scrimmage jerseys don’t count) in front of a large crowd since the Vanderbilt meltdown last October.
Taking those two appearances together, Smelley is 27 of 54 for 373 yards and three touchdowns and seven interceptions in his last two outings at Williams-Brice.
If you factor the Tennessee game into the equation, Smelley has strung together three consecutive poor outings while wearing the official USC uniform.
Negative nellies will contend, of course, Beecher is simply the lesser of two evils. I agree he certainly didn’t set the world on fire with his spring game performance.
However, somebody has to play quarterback.
With everything else being equal, Spurrier may have simply picked the guy who’s the better scrambler.
Or the guy who’s a little smarter, or studies the playbook a little harder, or watches more video. You can pick anything.
Of course, if you know anything about Spurrier, Tuesday’s events doesn’t mean Beecher will be the starter when USC faces N.C. State in the season opener Aug. 28.
There are still 29 practices to go before the Wolfpack come to town. Beecher will have to earn the right to be the guy when fall camp opens. In fact, come Aug. 15 – or possibly even earlier – he may have to fend off Garcia as well.
Thus, while Tuesday’s announcement will calm the waters for a couple of months, the stormy weather could return in August and we could all be back here at this same space arguing who the starting QB should be.
Beecher is sort of like the NASCAR driver who lays back and allows others to battle for the lead in the early going of a 500-mile race before starting his dash to the front over the second half of the race and than winning on fuel mileage.
Beecher deserves to be the No. 1 guy.
Now we’ll see if he can keep the crown.
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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 @.