Five Things We Learned From The USC-Ole Miss Game
posted by Scott Hood, Sunday, October 05, 2008
1. Steve Spurrier Knows What He’s Doing: That loud noise you heard this week was the gnashing of teeth by Gamecock fans angry with the decision to start Chris Smelley instead of Stephen Garcia against Ole Miss. But it wasn’t a decision Spurrier reached without a lot of consideration and practice snaps. In the end, Smelley’s experience and greater familiarity and knowledge with the offense proved to be the difference. When you go on the road in the SEC, those two intangibles are critically important. Smelley vindicated his head coach’s decision with one of the best performances of his career. Spurrier pointed out afterwards that he carefully watches the quarterbacks all week in practice before deciding who gives the Gamecocks the best chance to win that particular week’s game. At this level, rash decisions will get you beat.
2. USC Doesn’t Have A Quarterback Controversy. . .For Now: The next six days should be a lot quieter than the last two weeks considering Spurrier named Smelley the starting QB for Saturday’s game at Kentucky during his post-game press conference in Oxford. Contrary to perception, Spurrier doesn’t like to rotate quarterbacks at will. He’s just willing to give the second-team guys a chance when the starter falters far more quickly than most coaches. So, the fact Smelley has emerged as the unquestioned leader at QB pleases the HBC. Next Saturday’s crowd at Kentucky will certainly be more ruthless than what Smelley encountered in Oxford. Kentucky has a pretty good defense, too, possibly the best one in Rich Brooks’ tenure as head coach. But, based on his performance on Saturday, Smelely deserves every opportunity to direct the Gamecocks’ offense in Lexington. He showed his ‘Road Warrior’ mentality against the Rebels, and should get the chance to do it again.
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3. Big Plays On Third Down Mean Big Points On The Scoreboard: Next to turnover margin (USC finally won the turnover, 3-1), one of the most important statistics in football is third-down conversion rate. USC showed Saturday in Oxford what happens when you convert a majority of your third down chances, and you make big plays on third down. USC was 7-of-13 on third down against the Rebels and registered at least 20 first downs for the fourth straight game. The Gamecocks came into the game converting 46 percent (31 of 68) of their third down chances. Now, they’re the No. 1 team in the SEC in converting third downs. Saturday, nearly every big play by the USC offense occurred on third down. In the closing seconds of the first quarter, Smelley and Jared Cook hooked up for a 63-yard gain to the Ole Miss 7 on a third-and-9 play. Moments later, Smelley hit Jason Barnes for a 20-yard touchdown on third-and-goal from the 20. In the fourth quarter, Smelley’s scramble and TD pass to Joe Hills also came on third down. Special players make special plays on third down.
4. Eight Wins Is Still Possible: The win over the Rebels raises the stakes for next Saturday’s SEC East showdown at Kentucky. It was already a must-win situation for the Gamecocks (just like the Ole Miss game was), but the Wildcats are coming off a hard-fought 17-14 loss to Alabama, so they certainly don’t want to fall to 0-2 in the conference. But USC hasn’t lost to the Wildcats since 1999. Looking at the rest of USC’s schedule, you could make the argument every game on the second-half schedule is winnable. Even LSU with all of its team speed is beatable based on what we’ve seen thus far this season, though USC must bring it’s ‘A’ game to Williams-Brice on Oct. 18. Kentucky, LSU, Florida (hey, if Ole Miss can go into Gainesville and win, why not USC?) and Clemson are all toss-ups, while, at this point, I would say there is no excuse for losing at home to either Tennessee or Arkansas. Neither of those teams is very good. The Vols have major problems offensively right now and still must play Georgia and Alabama before they come to Columbia Nov. 1. Arkansas is just plain bad under first-year head coach Bobby Petrino.
5. Jason Barnes Is Just Scratching The Surface: It’s only been two games, but Jason Barnes has the look of a wide receiver with limitless potential. But Spurrier made an excellent point in Saturday’s post-game press conference – Barnes’ performance in the games has improved considerably since his practice habits got a lot better. It’s a difficult lesson for coaches to teach young players, but there is a direct link between practice performance and game performance. Like most young players, it took Barnes more than a year to learn that valuable lesson. Now that he understands the connection, there’s no reason Barnes shouldn’t take flight. Of course, with Kenny McKinley getting healthy, it would be unrealistic to expect seven receptions and two touchdown grabs every game. But Barnes has the potential to become a guy with 50 or 60 receptions a season. His one-handed grab of a Smelley along the sidelines in the third quarter was a thing of beauty. He also hung on to s TD pass despite being walloped in the back of the end zone. And his TD grab on the fade pass wasn’t too bad, either.
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Behind the outstanding performance of quarterback Chris Smelley and the USC offense, South Carolina dominated Ole Miss in the second half of a 31-24 victory Saturday afternoon at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford. The victory gave USC a 4-2 record heading into next week’s game at Kentucky. Here are five things we learned from the much-needed win over the Rebels:
1. Steve Spurrier Knows What He’s Doing: That loud noise you heard this week was the gnashing of teeth by Gamecock fans angry with the decision to start Chris Smelley instead of Stephen Garcia against Ole Miss. But it wasn’t a decision Spurrier reached without a lot of consideration and practice snaps. In the end, Smelley’s experience and greater familiarity and knowledge with the offense proved to be the difference. When you go on the road in the SEC, those two intangibles are critically important. Smelley vindicated his head coach’s decision with one of the best performances of his career. Spurrier pointed out afterwards that he carefully watches the quarterbacks all week in practice before deciding who gives the Gamecocks the best chance to win that particular week’s game. At this level, rash decisions will get you beat.
2. USC Doesn’t Have A Quarterback Controversy. . .For Now: The next six days should be a lot quieter than the last two weeks considering Spurrier named Smelley the starting QB for Saturday’s game at Kentucky during his post-game press conference in Oxford. Contrary to perception, Spurrier doesn’t like to rotate quarterbacks at will. He’s just willing to give the second-team guys a chance when the starter falters far more quickly than most coaches. So, the fact Smelley has emerged as the unquestioned leader at QB pleases the HBC. Next Saturday’s crowd at Kentucky will certainly be more ruthless than what Smelley encountered in Oxford. Kentucky has a pretty good defense, too, possibly the best one in Rich Brooks’ tenure as head coach. But, based on his performance on Saturday, Smelely deserves every opportunity to direct the Gamecocks’ offense in Lexington. He showed his ‘Road Warrior’ mentality against the Rebels, and should get the chance to do it again.
.
3. Big Plays On Third Down Mean Big Points On The Scoreboard: Next to turnover margin (USC finally won the turnover, 3-1), one of the most important statistics in football is third-down conversion rate. USC showed Saturday in Oxford what happens when you convert a majority of your third down chances, and you make big plays on third down. USC was 7-of-13 on third down against the Rebels and registered at least 20 first downs for the fourth straight game. The Gamecocks came into the game converting 46 percent (31 of 68) of their third down chances. Now, they’re the No. 1 team in the SEC in converting third downs. Saturday, nearly every big play by the USC offense occurred on third down. In the closing seconds of the first quarter, Smelley and Jared Cook hooked up for a 63-yard gain to the Ole Miss 7 on a third-and-9 play. Moments later, Smelley hit Jason Barnes for a 20-yard touchdown on third-and-goal from the 20. In the fourth quarter, Smelley’s scramble and TD pass to Joe Hills also came on third down. Special players make special plays on third down.
4. Eight Wins Is Still Possible: The win over the Rebels raises the stakes for next Saturday’s SEC East showdown at Kentucky. It was already a must-win situation for the Gamecocks (just like the Ole Miss game was), but the Wildcats are coming off a hard-fought 17-14 loss to Alabama, so they certainly don’t want to fall to 0-2 in the conference. But USC hasn’t lost to the Wildcats since 1999. Looking at the rest of USC’s schedule, you could make the argument every game on the second-half schedule is winnable. Even LSU with all of its team speed is beatable based on what we’ve seen thus far this season, though USC must bring it’s ‘A’ game to Williams-Brice on Oct. 18. Kentucky, LSU, Florida (hey, if Ole Miss can go into Gainesville and win, why not USC?) and Clemson are all toss-ups, while, at this point, I would say there is no excuse for losing at home to either Tennessee or Arkansas. Neither of those teams is very good. The Vols have major problems offensively right now and still must play Georgia and Alabama before they come to Columbia Nov. 1. Arkansas is just plain bad under first-year head coach Bobby Petrino.
5. Jason Barnes Is Just Scratching The Surface: It’s only been two games, but Jason Barnes has the look of a wide receiver with limitless potential. But Spurrier made an excellent point in Saturday’s post-game press conference – Barnes’ performance in the games has improved considerably since his practice habits got a lot better. It’s a difficult lesson for coaches to teach young players, but there is a direct link between practice performance and game performance. Like most young players, it took Barnes more than a year to learn that valuable lesson. Now that he understands the connection, there’s no reason Barnes shouldn’t take flight. Of course, with Kenny McKinley getting healthy, it would be unrealistic to expect seven receptions and two touchdown grabs every game. But Barnes has the potential to become a guy with 50 or 60 receptions a season. His one-handed grab of a Smelley along the sidelines in the third quarter was a thing of beauty. He also hung on to s TD pass despite being walloped in the back of the end zone. And his TD grab on the fade pass wasn’t too bad, either.
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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 @.