Spurrier Call-In Show Blog
posted by Scott Hood, Wednesday, November 19, 2008
SIXTH SEGMENT:
7:55 - SOS said he had no preference when USC and Clemson played. He said he wished Smelley was a little bit more accurate. Again, Spurrier said Garcia wasn't ready to play.
FIFTH SEGMENT:
7:50 - A caller criticized the O-Line and the lack of protection and USC's historical failure to close out games by running the ball. SOS said USC hasn't run the ball very well. SOS pointed out USC hasn't had a O-Lineman drafted in Spurrier's tenure. He said USC must improve with the "big guys." Games are won and lost on the LOS. UF's linemen are better this year than the national championship team in 2006.
FOURTH SEGMENT:
7:40 - USC will try to win consecutive games at Clemson for the first time since 1994-96. The Nov. 29 date is the latest ever for the USC-Clemson game.
A caller asked if now that Tommy Bowden has been fired at CU, would USC prepare differently for interim HC Dabo Swinney. SOS said no. USC doesn't prepare for coaches, but for schemes and players. USC had "a pretty decent" practice today. Secondary is banged up with Munnerlyn, August and Thomas nursing injuries. USC should be healthy for the most part. SOS said Munnerlyn has to play better. He has no INT but a couple of facemasks and holding penalties.
THIRD SEGMENT:
7:30 - The second caller asked about dumping the ball off to the RB's to take pressure off the QB. SOS said the protection v. UF was "decent." He said Garcia took off running too much. UF typically rushed 5-6 guys. QB must trust the protection.
SOS was asked about the matchup between the Clemson offense and USC defense. He didn't think the Clemson offense was the strength of the team. The CU defense is pretty good too. SOS said USC has to play a good, well-rounded game. Will the noise at Clemson be as loud as the Swamp? SOS said a few false starts on USC were caused by LB's jumping and that's illegal. The officials are supposed to enforce that rule. But they "may have missed it."
SECOND SEGMENT:
7:20: SOS said USC has started watching Clemson tapes. Clemson is a good team. Pre-season Top 10.
First caller asked what SOS could do to light a fire under the offense. He also asked about the pass rush. SOS noted Eric Norwood has 9 sacks. Defense gave up some big rushing yards. SOS said the 2006 Clemson game was one of the best offensive games USC has played in SOS's tenure. He showed the tape to the team today. Blake Mitchell would hang in the pocket and make the throw. Current QB's either rush out of the pocket or something else. SOS said Smelley is capable and practices well during the week. Garcia panics too much back there. He needs a spring practice to work on staying in the pocket and throwing the ball.
OPENING SEGMENT
7:05 - Spurrier said he hopes USC has moved on. UF could have beaten USC by 65-70 points if they wanted. No excuses, though. Probably couldn't have beaten them even USC had played its best game. 4 turnovers led to 28 UF points. SOS feels fortunate USC won the close one against Ole Miss and UK. USC made some errors, Smelley threw some bad passes. The USC defense forced six punts. At Duke, SOS said he wanted his team to get 3-5 punts. But the USC offense was "sorry." He watched the tape with Garcia today. There were no open receivers most of the time. UF DC Charlie Strong had a great game plan.
6:50 - We're awaiting the start of the show. I'm sure SOS will talk about the QB position. He said after practice today that Chris Smelley is expected to take most of the snaps at Clemson.
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Steve Spurrier held his weekly call-in show on Wednesday night. USC has a bye this week before facing Clemson on Nov. 29. USC is 7-4 heading into the final regular season game.
SIXTH SEGMENT:
7:55 - SOS said he had no preference when USC and Clemson played. He said he wished Smelley was a little bit more accurate. Again, Spurrier said Garcia wasn't ready to play.
FIFTH SEGMENT:
7:50 - A caller criticized the O-Line and the lack of protection and USC's historical failure to close out games by running the ball. SOS said USC hasn't run the ball very well. SOS pointed out USC hasn't had a O-Lineman drafted in Spurrier's tenure. He said USC must improve with the "big guys." Games are won and lost on the LOS. UF's linemen are better this year than the national championship team in 2006.
FOURTH SEGMENT:
7:40 - USC will try to win consecutive games at Clemson for the first time since 1994-96. The Nov. 29 date is the latest ever for the USC-Clemson game.
A caller asked if now that Tommy Bowden has been fired at CU, would USC prepare differently for interim HC Dabo Swinney. SOS said no. USC doesn't prepare for coaches, but for schemes and players. USC had "a pretty decent" practice today. Secondary is banged up with Munnerlyn, August and Thomas nursing injuries. USC should be healthy for the most part. SOS said Munnerlyn has to play better. He has no INT but a couple of facemasks and holding penalties.
THIRD SEGMENT:
7:30 - The second caller asked about dumping the ball off to the RB's to take pressure off the QB. SOS said the protection v. UF was "decent." He said Garcia took off running too much. UF typically rushed 5-6 guys. QB must trust the protection.
SOS was asked about the matchup between the Clemson offense and USC defense. He didn't think the Clemson offense was the strength of the team. The CU defense is pretty good too. SOS said USC has to play a good, well-rounded game. Will the noise at Clemson be as loud as the Swamp? SOS said a few false starts on USC were caused by LB's jumping and that's illegal. The officials are supposed to enforce that rule. But they "may have missed it."
SECOND SEGMENT:
7:20: SOS said USC has started watching Clemson tapes. Clemson is a good team. Pre-season Top 10.
First caller asked what SOS could do to light a fire under the offense. He also asked about the pass rush. SOS noted Eric Norwood has 9 sacks. Defense gave up some big rushing yards. SOS said the 2006 Clemson game was one of the best offensive games USC has played in SOS's tenure. He showed the tape to the team today. Blake Mitchell would hang in the pocket and make the throw. Current QB's either rush out of the pocket or something else. SOS said Smelley is capable and practices well during the week. Garcia panics too much back there. He needs a spring practice to work on staying in the pocket and throwing the ball.
OPENING SEGMENT
7:05 - Spurrier said he hopes USC has moved on. UF could have beaten USC by 65-70 points if they wanted. No excuses, though. Probably couldn't have beaten them even USC had played its best game. 4 turnovers led to 28 UF points. SOS feels fortunate USC won the close one against Ole Miss and UK. USC made some errors, Smelley threw some bad passes. The USC defense forced six punts. At Duke, SOS said he wanted his team to get 3-5 punts. But the USC offense was "sorry." He watched the tape with Garcia today. There were no open receivers most of the time. UF DC Charlie Strong had a great game plan.
6:50 - We're awaiting the start of the show. I'm sure SOS will talk about the QB position. He said after practice today that Chris Smelley is expected to take most of the snaps at Clemson.
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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 @.