USC/ECU Rewind & Preview of USC/UGA Match-Up

I apologize for not posting the blog yesterday but the Labor Day holiday was spent playing trucks and imitating a poor Batting Practice pitcher for my sons in the backyard. I hope everyone enjoyed the long holiday weekend and watched some football. My two sons stayed up and watched the first quarter of the USC game (long game BTW)! My older son is a huge Stephen Garcia fan (got his autograph at Fan Appreciation Day), because he was shouting at QB Connor Shaw to throw the ball better; while my younger son definitely likes #21, Marcus Lattimore. Unfortunately my sons were already fast asleep, when the Gamecocks awakened from their slumber and realized that the college football season had begun and USC was LATE. Let’s take a look at some of the ups & downs from this past Saturday night in Charlotte.

Positives from Week One:

1. Red Zone Efficiency: Carolina was “5 for 5” in the Red Zone (The area between the 20-yard and the goal line at both ends of the field). Four Rushing TDs (Lattimore three & Garcia one) and one Passing TD (Garcia to Ace Sanders).

2. USC Special Teams: Ace Sanders’ 68-yard Punt Return for a touchdown (1st since Chavez Donnings versus UF back in 2003); Bruce Ellington’s impact as the Kick-off Return specialist where Ellington returned the first kick-off of the game 38 yards and then his second kick-off was returned 56 yards. The second was called back for an illegal block, but after that kickoff, ECU began pooch kicking to the up man around the 30-yard line versus kicking the ball to the goal line. Place Kicker Jay Wooten was 8-8 on Extra Points (I predicted no field goals) and had three touchbacks on kick-offs.

3. Points off Turnovers: Good teams punish opponents for making mistakes. USC scored 35 points off of East Carolina turnovers. The Pirates turned the ball over three straight possessions to start the second half. USC converted each East Carolina miscue into a touchdown and completely stole the momentum from the Pirates turning a 10-point halftime deficit into an 11-point third quarter lead.

4. Taking Advantage of a Short Field: USC’s average starting field position on scoring drives was East Carolina’s 39 yard line. The longest USC scoring drive was 59 yards. The shortest was a 10-yard scoring drive.

5. Offensive line: The O-line came out a little sluggish, as the entire team seemed to be lethargic to start the game. There was minimum pressure on USC’s quarterbacks (one ECU sack all game, Shaw first quarter) and as the game got longer the big fellas up front began to assert themselves onto the ECU d-line. The Gamecocks churned out 220 rushing yards as the starting unit asserted its physicality and opened holes for Garcia and Lattimore in the Red Zone.

6. Defensive Line: The defensive line played very well most of the night. They held ECU to 85 yards rushing and battled fatigue all night, while chasing the elusive ECU quarterback Dominique Davis. The big fellas upfront were gassed in the second half from all the harassment of the QB. Kudos to DE Melvin Ingram (first career interception & first opportunity in his career for any turnover for that matter - thanks John Whittle, TheBigSpur.com, for this tidbit). DE Jadeveon Clowney had seven tackles, a pass break-up and four/five QB pressures, while DT Travian Robertson was his normal anchor in the middle of the d-line with six tackles.

7. Spur Antonio Allen: What a warrior! The senior from Ocala, FL had 16 tackles, two forced fumbles and a fumble return for a touchdown.

8. Wildcock formation: Spurrier finally has his man to run the wildcock offense. Ellington is a dynamite playmaker with the ball in his hands and causes opposing coaches to spend extra prep time concentrating on defending the elusive athlete. Look for more wildcock formations throughout the season as Ellington is just too special to leave unused on the sidelines.

Negatives from Week One:

1. The quarterback quandary did little to captivate its audience Saturday night. Shaw marched Carolina on a long opening game drive but fumbled after being hit from behind inside the ECU 20-yard line. It took USC almost a full quarter-plus to recover from this mistake. Trailing 17-0 and 20 minutes into the game we finally saw Garcia trot onto the field. In just over two minutes and five plays, the controversial fifth-year senior QB promptly scored on a 32-yard read option play for Carolina’s first score of the season. Garcia would remain in the game until mop-up duty late in the 4th quarter but cemented himself as the starter for this week’s game versus UGA.

2. Turnovers: Four turnovers in the first half dug USC an early 17-point deficit and swayed momentum towards the Pirates early in the game. The Pirates scored 17 points off four first-half Gamecocks’ turnovers.

3. Poor Secondary Play: Stephon Gilmore did not have one of his better games in front of a lot of family and friends Saturday night. The Rock Hill, SC native was beaten on a jump ball for ECU’s second TD and then fumbled a punt late in the first half inside the USC-30 yard line, setting up East Carolina’s third touchdown right before halftime. Safety D.J. Swearinger continues to be undisciplined with his tackling. The Greenwood, SC native missed a tackle on ECU’s first touchdown pass. Then Swearinger tried to go for the “kill shot” near the goal line instead of wrapping the receiver up and taking the ECU player to the ground. The ECU wide receiver bounced off of Swearinger’s hit and dove into the end zone with seconds remaining in the first half. If Swearinger tackles the ECU player, the clock expires and USC goes into the locker room only staring down a three-point deficit instead of a ten-point difference.

4. Third Down Defense: USC allowed East Carolina to convert 9-19 third-down conversions. USC was the worst defense in the SEC when it came to third-down defense, and Saturday’s performance in that facet of the game mirrored 2010. USC must get the opponent off the field in third-down situations or the defense will continue to tire as the year grows long.

5. Spread the Ball: Alshon Jefferey got his five catches, but no other wide receiver had more than one catch and only two other receivers caught balls. Lattimore had three catches. Whoever is the Gamecocks’ quarterback, the ball must be distributed better to utilize all the weapons on offense.

6. Improve QB Accuracy: The quarterbacks were 10-24, less than 50%. Granted USC had some short fields on their scoring drives, but too many deep balls missed their targets and cost USC some big plays. Garcia, if he is to remain the starting QB, must improve his accuracy on the intermediate routes and the deep balls to execute the offense the way Spurrier expects his offense to perform.

7. Punting: We averaged just less than 32 yards per punt (four punts). This is not good moving forward. Joey Scribner-Howard wilted under the lights in his first game as a punter. In a tighter game, USC needs to be able to flip the field in favor of its defense.

A few UGA thoughts before I conclude...
Boise State whipped UGA upfront on both lines of scrimmage. UGA tallied 137 yards rushing on 31 attempts. If you look inside the numbers, 98 yards came on two plays. ATH Brandon Boykin scored on an 80-yard end around play and WR Malcolm Mitchell had an 18-yard reverse play. Hyped freshman recruit, Isaiah Crowell, had 60 hard-earned yards on 15 carries. QB Aaron Murray was sacked six times, forced several balls into coverage and was battered (ribs) by game’s end. The only receiving threat on UGA’s roster is TE Orson Charles but no wide receiver on the Bulldogs roster scares me! UGA’s punter and Field Goal kicker are excellent. The defense is stout but is susceptible to play-action pass because the Dawgs will sell out to stop Lattimore on Saturday. Georgia will be down one starting linebacker, Alec Olgetree, due to injury. I’ll have more analysis about this game on Wednesday evening.