5 Keys to a Carolina win v UGa

As I leave this morning to head to Athens, let me leave you with my 5 keys to a Gamecocks win.  I will try to "tweet" from the game so be sure to follow LOHD - http://twitter.com/LOHDgamecocks .

Make sure you read my preview HERE of the game.  I think it will be a close game till the end due to a timely Georgia turnover that will make it a 20-10 win for Carolina.  I hope I am wrong and Carolina can win this game flat out and not have me nervous as I sit in section 603.

Here goes my 5 keys:

1.  USC's ability to move the ball in the air --- this is a must for Carolina today as it will free up the running game and open up the field.  I hope to see Spurrier or the devil test the UGa secondary by throwing deep some.  He has targets in Moe, Gurley and at TE with Saunders.  Also get the ball in the hands of the playmakers by trying a screen pass or swing pass to a RB.  Open up the playbook today and Garcia please have confidence yet play smart - no forced throws.

2.  USC must control the line of scrimmage --- on both sides of the ball today we need a good showing from the linemen.  The OL must provide a pocket for Garcia as he needs time to make a decision and we need running lanes.  On the other side the DL must get after it, they must pressure whoever is under center (I predict shared duties today with Cox & Gray), and they must shut down the UGa rushing attack.

3.  Gamecocks success on 3rd down --- I hope and pray that Carolina can stay out of 3rd and long situations.  This boils down to USC has to have success in moving the ball down the field, working the clock, controling the tempo of the game and keep UGa offense watching.  The flip of this is Gamecocks D must shut UGa down and limit their threats.

4.  Gamecocks Special Teams --- Spencer please be accurate and have that foot ready.  Coverage teams do not make mistakes and return guys just run like your hair is on fire.  Need a strong performance today as it could be the difference maker.

5.  Win the TO battle and limit mistakes--- some mighty good defenses will be on the field today and I am sure we will see some loose balls and tipped balls.  Gamecocks must get a lucky bounce or have a pass fall in their lap today.  Carolina offense, I would love to see you guys play perfect today and don't turn it over.  It has seemed like the team that limits the TOs and captializes on the other teams mistakes wins...today will be no different.

There you go so tune it tonight at 7pm on ESPN2 and look for me in section 603 as I will be wearing Garnet. Go Cocks!

Also check out these previews...........
-From ACC/SEC Blog -Georgia vs. South Carolina Preview
-ESPN South Carolina-Georgia Preview
-The State Gameday preview: USC vs. Georgia
-Garnet & Black Attack - Previewing South Carolina at Georgia: Three Keys, Fun Fact, and Prediction

Gamecocks Basketball gets a huge pledge - Bruce Ellington

South Carolina picked up a huge men's basketball commitment Friday night when point guard Bruce Ellington commitmented to being a gamecock!

This a huge for USC Coach Darrin Horn as this kid is a "game changer" and can feel the void of not having Downey in years to come. 

More HERE and HERE

Ellington becomes the third commitment of the 2010 class for Horn and his staff joining R.J. Slawson and Eric Smith. Ellington chose USC over offers from Clemson, Southern Cal, Auburn, Miami and others. He also held football offers from USC, Clemson and others.

Gamecocks found success last time between the hedges

South Carolina snapped a 5 game losing streak to Georgia when it went into Athens and came away with a 16-12 win on Sept. 8, 2007.

The Gamecock defense stepped up to the challenge, keeping Georgia out of the end zone.  Maybe we can do it again?

South Carolina jumped ahead early with a six-play, 62-yard drive in the first quarter. Mitchell connected on 3-of-4 passes, including a 19-yarder to Kenny McKinley over the middle, and Boyd finished it off with a nifty 9-yard touchdown run.  From there it was a battle of field position and defense, mixed in with some FGs from each team.  Succop connected from 41, 35 and 34 yards, the last of those giving the Gamecocks at 16-6 lead with 9:25 remaining. Brandon Coutu of Georgia accounted for all of UGa's points via FGs.

Georgia did have one last chance to pull out a win, getting the ball back at its own 20 with 1:20 remaining. But the Bulldogs never seriously threatened, taking a couple of penalties before Matthew Stafford threw up a desperation pass that was picked off by Jasper Brinkley.

Spurrier v Richt

Steve Spurrier has faced UGa's Mark Richt 5 times as a head coach, winning 2 of those contests.  He won the 2001 meeting in his last season at UF, then is 1-3 since taking over the Carolina program in 2005.

Georgia Bulldogs Preview / Prediction from LOHD

SEC play is here kids and I will be heading to Athens Saturday to watch a great game.

The undefeated gamecocks will travel to Athens, Ga to take on an unhappy bunch of bulldogs in a SEC opener for both teams. Georgia is coming off a tough loss to Oklahoma State that sent the bulldogs from 13th in the AP poll to 21st. South Carolina squeaked out a 7-3 win in Raleigh. But with this game, records don’t matter as this game is always close and seems to shed light on which team will have a better season.
It's been 13 years since Georgia started the season with a losing record and this is the first time since Mark Richt took over that UGa had a losing record for the season, at any point during the season. So trust me when I say...Georgia will be fired up against the Gamecocks! USC will try to open a season with back-to-back road wins for the first time.

Last season, Gamecocks quarterback Chris Smelley threw an interception inside the Georgia 10 with 13 seconds left in a 14-7 South Carolina loss. Georgia’s 18-0 win in 2006 is the only shutout of Spurrier since he arrived at South Carolina (the only other came at Duke in 1987). The 2007 Gamecocks are the only squad to keep a Richt-coached Bulldogs team out of the end zone.

In the past three games between the teams, the Gamecocks and Bulldogs each have just two touchdowns. Spurrier has gone 1-3 against Georgia as the gamecocks coach, his team scoring less than 10 points a game and tallying just three offensive touchdowns in four contests. Neither team has scored more than 20 points in the last six meetings between the schools. And don’t expect anything different Saturday. Both coaches are trying to jump start offenses that struggled during the opener without changing things too radically.
The offenses for No. 21 Georgia and South Carolina struggled in their openers, combining for 17 points. The Gamecocks (1-0) gained just 256 yards in a 7-3 win over North Carolina State, while the Bulldogs (0-1) had just one more yard in a 24-10 loss to fifth-ranked Oklahoma State.

Let’s look at this series, which began in 1894, since 2000:

2008/09/13 South Carolina 7 - Georgia 14
2007/09/08 South Carolina 16 - Georgia 12
2006/09/09 South Carolina 0 - Georgia 18
2005/09/10 South Carolina 15 - Georgia 17
2004/09/11 South Carolina 16 - Georgia 20
2003/09/13 South Carolina 7 - Georgia 31
2002/09/14 South Carolina 7 - Georgia 13
2001/09/08 South Carolina 14 - Georgia 9
2000/09/09 South Carolina 21 - Georgia 10

South Carolina has won 3 times since 2000. South Carolina is (14-45-2) against Georgia all-time. But most important from the above is the fact that you can see (minus 2003 with the 31-7 beat down) this game is always a close contest since 2000.

I feel that 2009, will be no different. Expect a close game.

What to watch for….success in this game will be determined by which team has success throwing the ball. Whichever team can air it out and spread the field and allow a balanced attack to transpire, thus leading to ball control and smart play. So look for Spurrier to test the passing game early. Richt will tell his boys much the same as both teams had poor offensive showings in game 1. Look for them to go a little deeper in the playbook in week 2.

For Georgia to win…Four main things must go right for them to win: Joe Cox has to be great at moving the ball through the air against a stout USC ‘D’, the offensive line for UGa must stop a very good defensive front from SC, AJ Green must be a star for the ‘dawgs at receiver and the Georgia D must limit Garcia through the air.

For Carolina to win…Garcia must have success in the air and deep, the SC offensive line must control the line of scrimmage, USC special teams must execute and the USC Defense must be lights out.

What will decide the winner…Two things –

1. Field position – which team controls that aspect and limits the threat then it will lead to a victory.
2. The team that does not “shoot themselves in the foot” and wins the TO game then it leads to a win.

This game may not have the most potent offenses coming in but these two teams have 2 of the best defenses in the SEC and if not the nation. This game will come down to who can move the ball effectively, field position, who wins the TO battle, special teams play and who does not mess up. Sounds like a good game is in store...and yes Spurrier's best offense may be his defense. But "W's" are wins and Carolina faithful will take them anyway we can!!!

This game in my view is the Gamecocks to lose. I feel Spurrier wants this game badly as it would swirl some “winds” in Athens concerning Richt and his decisions. Spurrier loves to be the catalyst for things like that and what better way to do it then to kick them when they are down. Don’t get me wrong as this game will be low scoring but look for the Gamecocks to win by the score of 20-10 due to some timely Georgia turnovers.

Gamecocks DYK

As the University of South Carolina football team prepares for its game this weekend against No. 21 Georgia, it is worth noting that a win over the Bulldogs would even USC’s lifetime record at 529-529-44.

Gamecocks Depth Chart vs. Georgia Bulldogs

Offense

QB
5 Stephen Garcia R-So. 6-2 219
14 Reid McCollum R-Fr. 6-3 218

FB
47 Patrick DiMarco Jr. 6-0 243
46 Dalton Wilson R-Fr. 6-0 223

RB
10 Brian Maddox Jr. 5-11 224
3 Jarvis Giles Fr. 5-11 183
31 Kenny Miles R-Fr 5-9 190

WR
81 Tori Gurley R-Fr. 6-5 227
1 Alshon Jeffery Fr. 6-3 217

WR
9 Moe Brown Sr. 6-0 183
18 Dion LeCorn Jr. 5-11 220

WR
4 Jason Barnes R-Soph. 6-4 199
82 D.L. Moore R-Fr. 6-3 202

LT
76 Jarriel King Jr. 6-5 312
73 Rokevious Watkins Jr. 6-4 340

LG
60 Terrence Campbell R-Jr. 6-3 290
62 Pierre Andrews R-Jr. 6-2 285

C
70 Garrett Anderson Sr. 6-4 315
57 Lem Jeanpierre R- Sr. 6-4 300

RG
55 T.J. Johnson R-Fr. 6-4 300
74 Heath Batchelor R-Jr. 6-7 308

RT
72 Quintin Richardson R-Soph. 6-3 296
66 Hutch Eckerson R-Jr. 6-6 290

TE
88 Weslye Saunders Jr. 6-5 280
87 Justice Cunningham Fr. 6-4 240

Defense

DE
98 Devin Taylor R-Fr. 6-7 232
96 Clifton Geathers Jr. 6-8 281

DT
95 Nathan Pepper R-Sr. 6-1 300
6 Melvin Ingram R-So. 6-2 297

DT
42 Travian Robertson Jr. 6-4 283
94 Kenny Davis R-Fr. 6-3 287
DE
83 Cliff Matthews Jr. 6-4 249
92 Byron McKnight R-So.. 6-4 229

WLB
40 Eric Norwood Sr. 6-1 252
44 Tony Straughter Jr. 6-0 209
33 Reggie Bowens R-Fr 6-2 233

MLB
16 Shaq Wilson So. 5-11 210
41 Josh Dickerson Jr. 6-1 221

SPUR
25 Alonzo Winfield R-So. 6-0 222
26 Antonio Allen Soph. 6-2 210

CB
5 Stephon Gilmore Fr. 6-1 188
36 D.J. Swearinger Fr. 5-11 196

FS
17 Chris Culliver Jr. 6-0 190
11 Jarrett Burns R-Fr. 6-2 180

SS
24 Darian Stewart Sr. 5-11 216
21 Devonte Holloman Fr. 6-2 211

CB
3 Akeem Auguste Soph. 5-10 180
12 C.C. Whitlock Soph. 5-10 173

ESPN reports Cox to start vs. gamecocks

Seems the rumor mill proved to be just that a rumor--- as this morning we reported that there was a chance that USC QB Joe Cox was injured and not going to start.  LOHD was one of the first out the gates with the news of the conflicting stories about Cox after reading Rivals and ugasports.com. 

After many conflicting reports it seems ESPN has gotten to the bottom of this for us.....

ESPN is now reporting that Joe is going to start on Saturday ....HERE and Mr. Tucker with the AJC writes No truth to rumor - Cox will start

Still a interesting situation 2 days before the game.....Mark Richt will be speaking to the media around 4pm today aso stay tuned.

Question #1 for Coach Mark Richt ..... Does Joe Cox have a lingering shoulder issue?

Dawgs QB Joe Cox out vs. Gamecocks?

LOHD BREAKING NEWS

Rivals is reporting that Joe Cox has shoulder problems and won’t play Saturday night. 
UGASports.com is reporting that Logan Gray will start at quarterback for UGA this Saturday against South Carolina.  Seems Cox has a issue with his deltoid and surgery could be in future....

developing....

- seems this is or has been a lingering shoulder issue for Joe Cox.

-Gray did see increased reps with the No. 1 unit, I'm told it was simply a matter of getting him better prepared for times when he is used on game day and that Joe still took the vast majority of the first-team reps.
-Mark Richt to speak to media as normal around 4 p.m. today.


WOW!