Five Initial Thoughts About The USC-Clemson Game
posted by Scott Hood, Monday, November 24, 2008
1. INJURIES WILL PLAY A FACTOR AGAIN: The USC defense was forced to play without three established starters in last year’s Clemson game: Nathan Pepper, Jasper Brinkley and Captain Munnerlyn. The Gamecocks hung in for three quarters but simply couldn’t stop the Tigers on the final drive. Then-true freshman Addison Williams, all 5-foot-8 of him, was forced to cover Clemson’s Aaron Kelley in a key situation. Physically, it was a mismatch and the result was predictable. Clemson converted a fourth-down situation with a slant pass to Kelley. Minutes later, Clemson kicked the game-winning field goal. This year, the shoe may be on the other foot with Clemson DE Ricky Sapp out for the year with a partially torn ACL. How will that affect Clemson’s pass rush? In addition, senior S Chris Clemons is questionable with a sprained knee. Even if he plays, will he be 100 percent? As far as USC is concerned, the only injuries of note are to a trio of defensive backs – Akeem Auguste (hamstring), Captain Munnerlyn (toe) and Carlos Thomas (knee). All three are expected to play.
2. THE NOON KICKOFF IS A POSITIVE SIGN FOR USC: I’ve said for a while USC plays better on the road during the day than at night. I attribute that to the fact the players are forced to get up early, have breakfast and head to the stadium when it’s day game. They have little else to think about. But, when the game is at night, the players hang around their hotel rooms all day, go to meetings, watch TV and end up playing sluggishly. The USC-Clemson game two years ago provides a good example. USC rallied to score the final 17 points of the game and pull out a 31-28 victory when Clemson missed a field goal on the final snap. When did that game kickoff? Noon. In my opinion, that comeback would not have happened had the game been played at night.
3. SPECIAL TEAMS WON’T LOSE THE GAME FOR USC: While Clemson’s final drive towards the game-winning FG received most of the publicity, USC lost last year’s game largely because they allowed two blocked punts. One of them resulted in a TD for the Tigers. I’m convinced that’s when Spurrier decided he had to make a fundamental change on his staff and hire someone to oversee special teams. Three weeks later, Ray Rychleski was hired away from Maryland. Overall, USC’s special teams are much improved over last season in many areas. As Spurrier has noted, the special team players appear more motivated and energized this season. Rychleski’s strategy to play first-teamers has paid dividends for most of the season. No, we won’t see the “Titans Throwback” play that ended in disaster at Florida, and that’s a good thing.
4. CHRIS SMELLEY IS CAPABLE OF DOING THE JOB: Yes, I’m sure many Gamecock fans buried their heads in their hands when they heard Smelley would likely start and take most of the snaps against Clemson. The Pick-6 in the first quarter against Florida was still fresh on the minds of most of those same fans. But, at this point, Spurrier has determined Smelley offers USC the best chance to beat the Tigers. I’m sure he hopes for another performance like the one Smelley delivered against Ole Miss back in early October when he threw for a career high 322 yards. Remember, that game came a week after Garcia had taken most of the snaps against UAB. Is Smelley up to the task? I think so. He’s has enough experience at this point to lead USC to a key road win. Unfortunately, though, Smelley won’t be talking about it this week since he’s off-limits to the media.
5. IT SHOULD BE A CLOSE, HARD-FOUGHT GAME AGAIN: The first three USC-Clemson games of the Spurrier Era have been decided by four (13-9), three (31-28) and two (23-21) points. If the trend continues, this year’s game will be decided by one point. It’s evident the Gamecock lethargy that marked Lou Holtz’s final three contests against Clemson (2002-2004) is long gone. USC has battled hard, though they failed to make plays in key situations in 2005 and 2007. In terms of overall talent, USC and Clemson appear to be even. Clemson has the edge on offense with C.J. Spiller and James Davis running the football, while USC appears to be a little better defensively. The result? Another down-to-the-wire game that won’t be decided until the final possession.
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The annual South Carolina-Clemson grudge match is still five days away. However, it’s never too early to offer some thoughts on how the game will go. Here’s my five initial thoughts:
1. INJURIES WILL PLAY A FACTOR AGAIN: The USC defense was forced to play without three established starters in last year’s Clemson game: Nathan Pepper, Jasper Brinkley and Captain Munnerlyn. The Gamecocks hung in for three quarters but simply couldn’t stop the Tigers on the final drive. Then-true freshman Addison Williams, all 5-foot-8 of him, was forced to cover Clemson’s Aaron Kelley in a key situation. Physically, it was a mismatch and the result was predictable. Clemson converted a fourth-down situation with a slant pass to Kelley. Minutes later, Clemson kicked the game-winning field goal. This year, the shoe may be on the other foot with Clemson DE Ricky Sapp out for the year with a partially torn ACL. How will that affect Clemson’s pass rush? In addition, senior S Chris Clemons is questionable with a sprained knee. Even if he plays, will he be 100 percent? As far as USC is concerned, the only injuries of note are to a trio of defensive backs – Akeem Auguste (hamstring), Captain Munnerlyn (toe) and Carlos Thomas (knee). All three are expected to play.
2. THE NOON KICKOFF IS A POSITIVE SIGN FOR USC: I’ve said for a while USC plays better on the road during the day than at night. I attribute that to the fact the players are forced to get up early, have breakfast and head to the stadium when it’s day game. They have little else to think about. But, when the game is at night, the players hang around their hotel rooms all day, go to meetings, watch TV and end up playing sluggishly. The USC-Clemson game two years ago provides a good example. USC rallied to score the final 17 points of the game and pull out a 31-28 victory when Clemson missed a field goal on the final snap. When did that game kickoff? Noon. In my opinion, that comeback would not have happened had the game been played at night.
3. SPECIAL TEAMS WON’T LOSE THE GAME FOR USC: While Clemson’s final drive towards the game-winning FG received most of the publicity, USC lost last year’s game largely because they allowed two blocked punts. One of them resulted in a TD for the Tigers. I’m convinced that’s when Spurrier decided he had to make a fundamental change on his staff and hire someone to oversee special teams. Three weeks later, Ray Rychleski was hired away from Maryland. Overall, USC’s special teams are much improved over last season in many areas. As Spurrier has noted, the special team players appear more motivated and energized this season. Rychleski’s strategy to play first-teamers has paid dividends for most of the season. No, we won’t see the “Titans Throwback” play that ended in disaster at Florida, and that’s a good thing.
4. CHRIS SMELLEY IS CAPABLE OF DOING THE JOB: Yes, I’m sure many Gamecock fans buried their heads in their hands when they heard Smelley would likely start and take most of the snaps against Clemson. The Pick-6 in the first quarter against Florida was still fresh on the minds of most of those same fans. But, at this point, Spurrier has determined Smelley offers USC the best chance to beat the Tigers. I’m sure he hopes for another performance like the one Smelley delivered against Ole Miss back in early October when he threw for a career high 322 yards. Remember, that game came a week after Garcia had taken most of the snaps against UAB. Is Smelley up to the task? I think so. He’s has enough experience at this point to lead USC to a key road win. Unfortunately, though, Smelley won’t be talking about it this week since he’s off-limits to the media.
5. IT SHOULD BE A CLOSE, HARD-FOUGHT GAME AGAIN: The first three USC-Clemson games of the Spurrier Era have been decided by four (13-9), three (31-28) and two (23-21) points. If the trend continues, this year’s game will be decided by one point. It’s evident the Gamecock lethargy that marked Lou Holtz’s final three contests against Clemson (2002-2004) is long gone. USC has battled hard, though they failed to make plays in key situations in 2005 and 2007. In terms of overall talent, USC and Clemson appear to be even. Clemson has the edge on offense with C.J. Spiller and James Davis running the football, while USC appears to be a little better defensively. The result? Another down-to-the-wire game that won’t be decided until the final possession.
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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 @.