D-Riffic
SOUTH CAROLINA DEFENSE TOSSES A SHUTOUT AGAINST NC STATE
South Carolina’s defense pitched a season-opening shutout against N.C. State tonight, while backup quarterback Chris Smelley sparked a lackluster Gamecock offense to three straight touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to cap an otherwise unimpressive 34-0 win over the Wolfpack.
In just a quarter of work, Smelley completed all five of his passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns - and believe us, it was the only time all night that South Carolina’s “Cock-n-Misfire” offense actually seemed to be firing on any (let alone all) cylinders.
Sophomore Tommy Beecher was atrocious in his first game under center as the starter, completing just 12 of 26 passes for 106 yards and four … count ‘em, four … interceptions. Beecher did “lead” the Gamecocks on three scoring drives during the first three quarters, but none were longer than thirty-four yards and two of the drives came off of N.C. State turnovers.
For the first forty-five minutes of this game, it was just plain ugly, ugly, ugly out there, with only the USC defense consistently playing like an SEC-caliber team.
So … what did Shamecock fans learn about their 2008 squad from this season opening game?
Well, we learned that if USC is going to compete against top-drawer SEC squads like Georgia, Florida, LSU, Tennessee and Arkansas this year, they’re going to have to play a heckuva lot better than this.
We also learned that for reasons surpassing all understanding, the USC Athletic Department is still insisting that fans at Williams-Brice stadium celebrate every time the Gamecocks get a friggin’ first down … a tradition we think only showcases our mediocrity.
Additionally, it seems that Gamecock head coach Steve Spurrier might end up being a little more patient with his quarterbacks this year than he has been in seasons past, although he clearly should have pulled Beecher much earlier in this game than he did.
Smelley is obviously going to get the start next Thursday night up in Nashville, though, something Spurrier is no doubt confirming at the post-game press conference.
Oh, and finally, we learned that ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews is just as gorgeous in person as she is on our high definition TV sets, but more on that in a future post …
In the meantime, here are a few pics from the game:
Comments
By dj on August 29th, 2008 at 6:43 am
i wouldnt celebrate anything yet. in retrospect..they played a low rated team missing key offensive players and then of course the QB due to injury. This low rated team managed to sack our QB five or six times last night and added a bunch of turnovers. dont forget those slew of penalties our team managed to rake up. our team played miserably when we should have dominated the entire game, well any top rated team would have. I think it would have been a different story had not the NC State QB got injured. After that they lost momentum and heart..and it showed and i got the feeling that we as fans knew that we would win but it wasnt the win we wanted, we wanted to win knowing we played a team that was playing on all cylinders.we wanted this game to be our guage for the rest of the season. next weeks game i think will determine our season. and whats with the pushups dude?!? ….hey pushup dude…you were showing off cause you played against a low level team oooooh big bad ass. come off it man…you have to earn that, and gamecocks havent yet. i think thats part of the problem..these guys think they are gods gift to football because the entire city lets them be…but they aint shit…yet. so stop showing off and play and earn that right to dance or whatever cause you guys won but you played like a high school level team..all over the field with no strong fundamentals and professionalism that a top rated team with confidence has.
By USuC Sucks on August 29th, 2008 at 8:41 am
The USuC defense played a pathetic NC State offense. This will be a long, tough season for the Shamecocks.
On the bright side, just one more win and the Shamecocks will be .500 for their lifetime record. Way to go Cocks!
What a joke.
By fitsnews on August 29th, 2008 at 9:06 am
#1 and #2-
We could not agree with you more … in fact, rumor has it that Sic Willie’s pessimism regarding the Shamecocks’ prospects this year literally infected the entire east side of the stadium last night, which was noticeably less raucous than the west side.
Of course when you have to yell “Cocks” to the other side’s “Game” every year, that’s probably understandable.
Bottom line, South Carolina is a mediocre team, which as we have pointed out on this websites countless times is nothing new. And yes, beating an ACC also-ran proves absolutely nothing. We also wholeheartedly endorse #2’s sentiments regarding the excessive celebration. It continues to burn our asses that these guys strut around like the Miami Hurricanes of the early nineties - but with no walk to back up their talk.
We were hoping to see better from this team this year, but lamentably they look like the same bunch of self-promoters we saw go 6-6 last year.
Frankly we believe the Gamecocks could benefit from the advice Jerry MaGuire gave to Rod Tidwell, “just shut up. Shut up and play the game.”
-FITSNews
By smart Kid Grant on August 29th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Whats up dude, the game was great! Our running game is vastly improved based on what I saw yesterday. Our defense is just plain awesome! Beecher should definitely not start next week… 4 interceptions are just way too many.
By Clay Pit Crew on August 31st, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I gotta agree. Celebrating first downs is celebrating mediocrity. There’s no other way to describe it. First downs are commonplace for first rate teams. Only losers celebrate first downs. Get over it Gamecocks. Start acting like winners. Maybe you’ll stumble on the magic winning formula along the way…
Trackbacks