Friday, August 29, 2008

Game Review

Well folks, I was pretty much spot on with my assessment of last night's game. South Carolina was able to stretch their lead a little more than I expected because of 3 things: 1) Russell Wilson's injury, 2) two gift turnovers from State inside their own 15 yard line that a better team wouldn't have made, and 3) and an appalling lack of depth on the NC State team. There are several things I took away from this game, and I will tell you them:

1) Tommy Beecher sucks even more than even I had predicted. For those gamecock fans holding out hope that he was this year's Cullen Harper, you can officially flush that idea down the toilet. I doubt we'll see much more of that guy this year, at least until Chris Smelley takes himself out again because the other team is too fast.

2) South Carolina is still terrible against the run. They gave up 100+ yards to Andre Brown, who hasn't carried the ball in over a year and was running behind a very depleted, shallow offensive line.

3) South Carolina's offense is a gridiron abortion. Through 3 quarters, against a highly undermanned m.a.s.h. unit, the gamecocks had amassed 161 offensive yards, given up 5 sacks, and turned it over 4 times, scoring only 13 points.

4) The 4th quarter offensive output from South Carolina doesn't mean jack squat. They rolled up a bunch of yards and 3 scores, but State's defense had basically given up at that point. It was obvious to anyone who was watching the game.

5. South Carolina will be lucky to go 6-6 this year. When they start playing fast teams with a lot of depth, they are going to get their head kicked in(starting with Georgia).

6. NC State is in for a long, long, long year. It appeared as if they finally had things rolling when Russell Wilson went down with a head injury(I think they were going to score), but now Tom O'Brien simply has to pick his poison. Imagine trying to sleep at night if you had to decide between Daniel Evans and Harrison Beck. If I were him, I'd pull that redshirt off of Mike Glennon and see what he can do. Clemson will probably beat the wolfpack by at least 3 times the amount that South Carolina did. At least.

7. South Carolina fans are even lamer than I imagined possible. Towards the end of the 4th quarter, there arose from the student section a cheer so lame, that I had to rewind my DVR just to make sure I had heard it right. But there it was, a bunch of South Carolina fans cheering in unison, "SEC! SEC! SEC!"


It feels good being almost completely right in my preview and assessment of this game. Hopefully the wolfpack can get it together. Hopefully the cocks already have an over-inflated sense of greatness. Don't be surprised when Vandy comes out next week and gives them old Jeffrey Dahmer Special. Stay tuned for my Clemson/Alabama preview.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done.

I love oatmeal.

Unknown said...

Good morning, Wilfred.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Corso, thanks Wilford. You guys are awesome. That was a pretty sad game to watch. I went into the bathroom and watched my wallpaper dry because the first half was THAT boring. In all fairness, USC defense is as good as advertised. But then again...their offense...meh. See-ya later, Beech. Why...hello again, Smelley. USC's defense will have to carry them until the offense learns to actually play football.

Thank God it's football season.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and yes. I am a Carolina fan. I'm just a realist.

Was the student section really chanting "SEC!"? I heard them chanting something at one point, but I didn't have a clue what it was. Oh well.

Oh, and just to bring back an obvious point: NC State fans are as classless as ever. So if any NC State fan comes across then, consider jumping into oncoming traffic. Your fanbase is pathetic. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's not like they won 34-0 or anything. What happened to this squeaker everyone was predicting? Where's the beef?

Anonymous said...

Funny. Every Clemson fan I have ran into has made some wild prediction on the game, giving us a few points edge over NC State. So when USC wins in a convincing fashion, thanks to a dominate defense, they begin to spew excuses. Poor offenses, NC State this, NC State that. Get over it. Didn't USC do to NC State what a dominate team does to a weaker team? Dominate. Offense, I'll get into that, but damn. Don't make excuses because we beat the living shit out of their players.

Offense: Okay, okay. The O-line is atrocious. I am really disappointed at how the O-line was trampled last night. It was almost like they had not had any pre-season practice. It became a lot better towards the end of the game, and especially when Jarriel King finally started playing LT every play. With him and Meredith(coming back in week 3) anchoring the left I'm going to feel a lot better about the o-line. I don't expect the o-line to play like that again though. it was a worst case scenario for Tommy Beecher. One of the big reasons Steve Spurrier named him the starter after spring practice was because he felt like Beecher would make the fewest unforced errors. Yet he goes out there and throws four bad interceptions and forced the ball far too often. He also did not get any help from his offensive line in the first half, as their pass protection was too damn inconsistent. After his second interception, Beecher hung his head in disgust as he walked off the field, and he never seemed the same after that. Obviously it’s Spurrier’s decision, but I don’t see how he can’t go with Smelley as the starter against Vanderbilt. The good news is many of the issues they had on offense are correctable, and they played much better once Smelley entered the game early in the fourth quarter.

I expect a much better performance from our offense next week, but we'll see. Isn't much to say about the defense except it's as good as advertised.

Come back and talk to me if we have similar problems next week against Vandy. Thanks.

Unknown said...

Dave, your OL became "dominate" at the end of the game because NC State had given up.

And the word you are looking for is dominant.

But I will give you credit for dismissing the offense's ineptitude, while at the same time trumpeting the as good as advertised defense.

True to form, brother, true to form.

Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for reading.

Anonymous said...

Kind of quiet around here this morning. Great game last night Thunder and Lightning!

Anonymous said...

It must feel pretty good to be right on your prediction of last night's game, right Owner? You rock.

Unknown said...

No, but it does feel good to be right on about my Vandy/South Carolina prediction.