Friday, September 16, 2011

Five Strategies to Sink Navy on Saturday


The #10 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks finally get some home cooking this weekend in front of a friendly crowd at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday evening. Carolina is 17-4 over the last three seasons in the comfy confines of the cockpit (per www.thebigspur.com), suffering single losses at home in 2009 (#1 Florida 24-14) and in 2010 (#17 Arkansas 41-20). The Gamecocks lost twice in 2008 (#2 UGA, 14-7, and #14 LSU, 24-17). Under Spurrier, Carolina has steadily made Williams-Brice an intimidating venue for opposing teams. USC is 15-0 at home versus non-SEC/Clemson competition since 2005. Navy will witness one of the best college football entrances with 2001: A Space Odyssey and the student section will be rocking the North End Zone with Sandstorm. 80k+ will not intimidate the Midshipmen. Let’s remember these are the young men brave enough to protect our country with their service in the military post-college. Navy will be ready to play on Saturday night inside hostile territory in SEC country. I predict a close ballgame tomorrow night, so let’s take a look at some of the keys to the game between USC and Navy.

1. DO NOT allow history to beat your program twice!! Ever since this game was put on the schedule the ghosts of 1984 have echoed throughout the evenings down at the Proving Grounds across from Williams-Brice. On a side note, whoever scheduled this game in the athletics department should be permanently removed from future scheduling! Why on earth would someone with any football sense schedule a triple-option wishbone offense on this year’s schedule? Weren’t Louisiana-Lafayette or Middle Tennessee available? I am sure Coach Spurrier and the defensive coaches would love to have five minutes in a dark room with the academic moron who chose Navy for the 2011 home opener for $900k. Now back to the 1984 ghosts, the Napolean MacCallum-less Midshipmen raced out to 38-7 lead (31 straight) before Carolina awoke from its stupor. Do not allow newspaper clippings or radio/television talking heads to build-up an apparition that cannot be beaten on the football field.

2. Discipline! The USC defense will have its easiest scheme of the entire season this week versus Navy, but based on the first two weeks of this season, this defense is severely lacking in executing assignments. If the defense executes its tasks, then the Midshipmen will have a difficult night moving the football. The key to defending the triple option is to make sure a USC defender is responsible for the fullback, the quarterback and the pitchman. Wofford runs a similar scheme to what Navy will bring to Williams-Brice, and we know how much trouble our defense has had with Wofford in the past. Discipline, discipline on defense! Read your keys and do not try to execute more than your assignment on each defensive play.

3. Play behind the LOS! The USC defensive line must create havoc behind the line of scrimmage (LOS) on 1st & 2nd downs versus Navy and cause negative yardage plays. If Carolina can dictate down & distance to the Midshipmen, then 3rd down becomes much more manageable for Ellis Johnson and the defensive stop troops. If the pendulum swings in Navy’s favor in down and distance on offense, meaning the Midshipmen are facing 2nd & 3rd and less than two/three yards, then Carolina will face a very challenging Catch-22. Catch-22 meaning does USC bring eight, possibly nine, defenders close to the line of scrimmage and leave no security blanket at the back of the defense, as well as leave the cornerbacks on an island one-on-one versus the wide receiver. Hopefully Carolina is successful generating negative plays on 1st and 2nd downs.

4. Dominate Time of Possession: I know versus ECU the Gamecocks came out slinging the ball down the field to no avail. Last week versus UGA it took three quarters before the USC rushing attack revved up after watching quarterback Stephen Garcia airmail several poor passes in the first half. If Spurrier goes against his pedigree, then Sean Elliott’s troops along the offensive line should go mono-a-mono against an undersized defensive line and torpedo Navy’s momentum by sustaining long, clock-consuming drives, while the Navy offense enjoys the game as bystanders on the sidelines. If Carolina has an edge in Time of Possession then I will bet USC is winning the game. If Navy has a decided advantage in Time of Possession, then the Midshipmen could sink the Gamecocks’ home opener.

5. Unleash Bruce Ellmighty’on! The duo-sport star had a nice debut versus ECU in the kickoff return game as well as situational wildcock formations. Last week against Georgia, Bruce Ellington’s impact on special teams was negated due to UGA’s ability to kickoff deep into the end zone for a touchback. Ellington ran the wildcock formation once in the first half, but the UGA defense was ready for #23 and stonewalled the Berkeley, SC native for no gain. I predict Bruce “Almighty” Ellington will be the offensive star not named Lattimore at the completion of this game.
I have had a bad feeling about this game after watching our defense get gorged last week versus UGA. If you look back at our last four games [Auburn (SEC Championship), FSU (bowl game), ECU and UGA] our run defense has been non-existent. Now comes the #1 rushing team in the NCAA and our defensive coaches are busy doing the annual secondary shuffle after poor performances in the first two games. I cannot believe USC corrects its defensive lapses in one week against the most fundamentally sound football squad in college football. The fans at Williams-Brice will enjoy the fireworks on Saturday night because the scoreboard will be busy.

Spurspective’s Prediction: USC sinks Navy in a squeaker 42-38.

My next blog will be Saturday morning when I post my top ten college football games of the weekend.

Go Gamecocks!

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