South Carolina looked good in its dismantling of North Carolina on Thursday Night. South Carolina won the game, 27-10. Couple of thoughts on it: Connor Shaw is a good player, but at some point he’s going to get hurt. He plays recklessly at times and he’s going to get pounded by somebody and hurt a shoulder or something else. But I do like the guy behind him, Dylan Thompson. Looks like Spurrier is going with Shaw for the most part, or he did in the first game. You never know with Spurrier, he could pull him if he doesn’t get it going against Georgia. I thought that hurt Spurrier at times when he was at Florida and was constantly switching quarterbacks. The only year he won it all was when he stuck with Danny Wuerffel at quarterback at Florida (1995). But he looks like he’s going with Shaw for the most part, at least until he gets hurt. Thompson is a better passer, but Shaw is the better runner. South Carolina does have a couple of excellent running backs in Mike Davis and Brandon Wilds, so they don’t need Shaw to run as much.
It comes to my point about this read option attack that a lot of offenses are employing which has become popular in the NFL. Guys like Robert Griffin, Colin Kaepernick of the 49ers, Cam and Russell Wilson of the Seahawks are running it. At some point, those guys are going to get hurt. That’s the belief of coaches like Sean Payton of the Saints and Tom Coughlin of the Giants, and I agree with them. Cam may be the one who can get away with it because of his size and durability. Kaepernick’s bigger, but he could be prone to injury. Wilson seems to be elusive and can get away from people. I think RG IIi is going to get hurt. He just plays so recklessly that somebody is going to level him and hurt him like what happened last year.
It’s the same type offensive style that Shaw employs with the run being a big part of his game. He’s not big. He’s tough but not big. So Spurrier is fortunate he has a capable backup in Thompson. He’s probably going to need him.
As for Jadeveon Clowney and what some people felt was his lack of conditioning Thursday Night when he was dragging during the game, Clowney had a stomach virus the night before, he was playing in 95 degree heat, he just wore him out. I think Clowney is going to be fine. Some have said he takes plays off. I don’t think so. I’ve never seen that. Clowney will be have an excellent year once again.
The Ole Miss-Vandy game was a classic with the Rebels prevailing, 39-35, in an excellent college football game. I think there is some blame for the Vanderbilt coaching staff for the loss. Their defensive coordinator, Bob Shoop, had no answers for Rebel quarterback Bo Wallace and his read zone option. Wallace is like Cam in that he can run and get away with it. The guy is 6’4″, 220. He’s listed at 209, but he’s a good 10 pounds heavier that that. He can take the licks, though there is no guarantee he won’t get hurt either. But Vanderbilt never adjusted to the quick out passes to the wide outs of Ole Miss or Wallace’s read option run plays or handoffs up the middle. There were no linebackers to be found keying on Wallace. No adjustments were made during the game by the Vanderbilt defense to stop Wallace. The Ole Miss coaches just outcoached Shoop and the defensive coaches for Vanderbilt. I lay a little bit of blame on James Franklin as well. His over the top reaction to his tight end, Steven Scheu, catching the go-ahead touchdown pass with 1:30 left to put Vanderbilt ahead 35-32 lead gave his team a false sense of overconfidence and led them to believe they already had the game won. The defense seemed to let their guard down allowing Ole Miss running back Jeff Scott to take off on his 75 yard game winning touchdown with 1:07 left in the game. Excellent game though. Two very solid SEC teams. Think Vandy can win seven and Ole Miss could win nine, maybe even more if things go their way.
And how about the Bison from North Dakota State knocking off last year’s Big 12 champion and Fiesta Bowl participant (albeit loser) Kansas State. K-State is a little down this year after losing a lot of players off last year’s team, but it had more to do with the Bison than it did with the Wildcats. The Bison won the FCS national championship last year (formerly Division 1 AA), and returned a ton of players from that team. It was an amazing performance and exciting football game. Really awesome. I’m not so sure that the Bison couldn’t do that to some other big names in college football. They’re for real. I changed my pick yesterday from Oklahoma State to Mississippi State before that North Dakota upset. I watched some more film on State and liked what I saw. Feeling better about that pick after K-State went down last night.
Finally, A. J. McCarron was wearing a protective boot yesterday for what was reported by ESPN to be an ingrown toenail. Seems a little strange that a player would be walking in a boot for a toenail issue, but whatever. Update: Looks like McCarron had a toenail removed for an infection Thursday Night according to Kirk Herbstreit. Had a slight surgical procedure. The walking boot makes a lot more sense. Without A.J. all bets are off on Alabama. Blake Sims would not be the answer. Maybe Alec Morris or Luke Del Rio, but not Sims. I guess they could still win running the ball possibly with Sims in there, but it would be a lot harder for them.