Five Things We Learned From The USC-Clemson Game
posted by Scott Hood, Sunday, November 30, 2008
1. A Change At Quarterback Was Clearly Warranted: If Chris Smelley doesn’t take another snap for USC, he’ll always have the Ole Miss game to remember, I guess. He was brilliant in that game, leading the Gamecocks to a key road win. Unfortunately, he hasn’t come close to matching that performance in his last five appearances. The last two games against Florida and Clemson prove Smelley is prone to making poor throws against fast, aggressive defenses. He missed several open receivers on Saturday. Maybe it’s his lack of mobility, something Stephen Garcia possesses in abundance. Is it all Smelley’s fault? No. The receivers deserve some of the blame as well. But the way defenses play in the SEC today, I question whether Smelley will ever become a successful QB in the SEC. At this point, Garcia deserves a chance to play an entire game. Hence, Sunday afternoon's announcement that Garcia will start in the bowl game. Obviously, Garcia doesn’t do everything Spurrier wants to see from his quarterback, but the HBC will have to learn to bite his tongue.
2. Jared Cook Shouldn‘t Turn Pro: But he probably will, anyways. Cook played like a guy who had already made up his mind on Saturday and was just trying to hang on until he says goodbye. But there’s no question he picked a bad time to play one of his worst games of the season. If Cook doesn’t think that Spurrier’s post-game comments related to his benching and the alleged lack of effort the preceded it won’t be used against him in contract negotiations, he’s more gullible than I thought. Simply, Cook cost himself huge sums of money with his performance and probably fell sharply in the minds of many pro scouts. NFL teams aren’t in the business of giving seven-figure signing bonuses to players accused of failing to give full effort. Will it convince Cook to return for his senior year? I doubt it.
3. Clemson Just Wants It More: Regrettably, in my 15 years residing in South Carolina, one of the disturbing tendencies I’ve noticed is that Clemson takes the rivalry with USC more seriously and pours more passion, energy and enthusiasm into it. For the Tigers and their legions of fans, it‘s personal. And they play like it too. I just don’t capture the same sense of urgency from the Gamecocks. By this point, watching Clemson and USC play football is a lot like watching a Scooby-Doo cartoon. It’s the same plot every time. Journalists have a term for it: tragic inevitability. But every year we still watch it, either live or on TV, hoping for a different outcome. Of course, the first three years of Spurrier’s tenure saw some of the most competitive games in recent years, but Clemson still won two of three. Unless USC starts matching the Tigers’ intensity from the outset, the losses will continue to pile up.
4. Weslye Saunders and Jason Barnes Are Just Scratching The Surface: One of the few bright spots coming out of the Clemson game were the performances of Saunders and Barnes. Saunders, as we know, replaced Jared Cook at the beginning of the second half when Spurrier became perturbed how his supposed All-World tight end was performing. So he put Saunders out there and he responded with a season-high four receptions for 58 yards and a touchdown. If Saunders is able to maintain that level of play into next season, the expected loss of Cook to the NFL Draft shouldn’t be a concern. As for Barnes, he had been barely heard from since a four-game stretch extending from UAB (9/27) to LSU (10/18) in which he caught 17 of his 19 passes on the season. But Barnes returned to the forefront with three receptions for 46 yards. With Kenny McKinley approaching the end of his stellar career, the coaches will be looking for someone to step up beginning with spring practice. Can Barnes be that guy? Yes.
5. The USC Defense Has Lost Its Mojo: Hopefully, whatever good vibrations the Gamecock defense was relying on earlier this season will return in time for the bowl game. Obviously, the defense we’ve watched for the last eight quarters pales in comparison to the one we saw dominate opponents earlier this season. In the last two games, USC has surrendered 902 yards of total offense and too many big plays to recount for fear of turning this blog into “War and Peace.” If there’s one area of the defense that’s fallen short of expectations in recent weeks it’s the secondary, which struggled mightily against the Gators and Tigers. Did they get overconfident? Possibly. Did they think with their high national ranking that they were better than they really were? Likely. Captain Munnerlyn, another player who thought he might turn pro after this season, has had an average season at best. More than once, Spurrier has asserted he needs to play better.
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South Carolina fell to rival Clemson, 31-14, Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium in the Upstate. Here are five things we learned from that game:
1. A Change At Quarterback Was Clearly Warranted: If Chris Smelley doesn’t take another snap for USC, he’ll always have the Ole Miss game to remember, I guess. He was brilliant in that game, leading the Gamecocks to a key road win. Unfortunately, he hasn’t come close to matching that performance in his last five appearances. The last two games against Florida and Clemson prove Smelley is prone to making poor throws against fast, aggressive defenses. He missed several open receivers on Saturday. Maybe it’s his lack of mobility, something Stephen Garcia possesses in abundance. Is it all Smelley’s fault? No. The receivers deserve some of the blame as well. But the way defenses play in the SEC today, I question whether Smelley will ever become a successful QB in the SEC. At this point, Garcia deserves a chance to play an entire game. Hence, Sunday afternoon's announcement that Garcia will start in the bowl game. Obviously, Garcia doesn’t do everything Spurrier wants to see from his quarterback, but the HBC will have to learn to bite his tongue.
2. Jared Cook Shouldn‘t Turn Pro: But he probably will, anyways. Cook played like a guy who had already made up his mind on Saturday and was just trying to hang on until he says goodbye. But there’s no question he picked a bad time to play one of his worst games of the season. If Cook doesn’t think that Spurrier’s post-game comments related to his benching and the alleged lack of effort the preceded it won’t be used against him in contract negotiations, he’s more gullible than I thought. Simply, Cook cost himself huge sums of money with his performance and probably fell sharply in the minds of many pro scouts. NFL teams aren’t in the business of giving seven-figure signing bonuses to players accused of failing to give full effort. Will it convince Cook to return for his senior year? I doubt it.
3. Clemson Just Wants It More: Regrettably, in my 15 years residing in South Carolina, one of the disturbing tendencies I’ve noticed is that Clemson takes the rivalry with USC more seriously and pours more passion, energy and enthusiasm into it. For the Tigers and their legions of fans, it‘s personal. And they play like it too. I just don’t capture the same sense of urgency from the Gamecocks. By this point, watching Clemson and USC play football is a lot like watching a Scooby-Doo cartoon. It’s the same plot every time. Journalists have a term for it: tragic inevitability. But every year we still watch it, either live or on TV, hoping for a different outcome. Of course, the first three years of Spurrier’s tenure saw some of the most competitive games in recent years, but Clemson still won two of three. Unless USC starts matching the Tigers’ intensity from the outset, the losses will continue to pile up.
4. Weslye Saunders and Jason Barnes Are Just Scratching The Surface: One of the few bright spots coming out of the Clemson game were the performances of Saunders and Barnes. Saunders, as we know, replaced Jared Cook at the beginning of the second half when Spurrier became perturbed how his supposed All-World tight end was performing. So he put Saunders out there and he responded with a season-high four receptions for 58 yards and a touchdown. If Saunders is able to maintain that level of play into next season, the expected loss of Cook to the NFL Draft shouldn’t be a concern. As for Barnes, he had been barely heard from since a four-game stretch extending from UAB (9/27) to LSU (10/18) in which he caught 17 of his 19 passes on the season. But Barnes returned to the forefront with three receptions for 46 yards. With Kenny McKinley approaching the end of his stellar career, the coaches will be looking for someone to step up beginning with spring practice. Can Barnes be that guy? Yes.
5. The USC Defense Has Lost Its Mojo: Hopefully, whatever good vibrations the Gamecock defense was relying on earlier this season will return in time for the bowl game. Obviously, the defense we’ve watched for the last eight quarters pales in comparison to the one we saw dominate opponents earlier this season. In the last two games, USC has surrendered 902 yards of total offense and too many big plays to recount for fear of turning this blog into “War and Peace.” If there’s one area of the defense that’s fallen short of expectations in recent weeks it’s the secondary, which struggled mightily against the Gators and Tigers. Did they get overconfident? Possibly. Did they think with their high national ranking that they were better than they really were? Likely. Captain Munnerlyn, another player who thought he might turn pro after this season, has had an average season at best. More than once, Spurrier has asserted he needs to play better.
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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 @.