In 2010, Steve Spurrier brought his South Carolina team to Florida for one of the most significant games of his career.
It was not for the national championship or Southeastern Conference title, of course, but the winner of the game was going to capture the SEC Eastern Division. It would have been the Gamecocks’ first division championship.
They won convincingly, 36-14, for their first win in 13 tries in Gainesville and Spurrier’s second over his alma mater and former employer. (He also won in Columbia in 2005, his first year at USC.)
Spurrier and USC return to Gainesville this weekend, trying to extend the school’s second ever two-game winning streak over the Gators to its first ever three-game winning streak, just as they did with Georgia earlier this month and can do next week at home against Tennessee, which they had never defeated in back-to-back meetings until last year.
This Saturday’s game isn’t winner-take-East, like 2010 was, but if the Gamecocks lose at Florida, they would need the following to happen in order for them to make the SEC championship game ...
--- USC winning out by beating Tennessee and Arkansas at home
--- Florida losing out by falling to Georgia in Jacksonville and Missouri at home
--- Georgia losing to Mississippi at home or Auburn on the road, but not both, after defeating Kentucky this weekend and Florida next weekend
That would put all three teams at 6-2 and 1-1 against each other. But USC would have just one division loss (Florida), while the Gators would have two (Georgia and Missouri) and Georgia would have one (USC). Then USC would win the head-to-head tiebreaker with Georgia.
All of which is to say that USC essentially has to win at Florida this weekend in order to win the SEC East. But you can’t officially call this game a winner-take-East matchup, like you could in 2010, when the Gamecocks and Gators met in the final SEC game for both teams.
Another big game, the third straight top 10 vs. top 10 matchup for USC. Florida is the rubber match, as it were, of this three-game run, which includes a loss last week at LSU.
Win, and take care of business against Tennessee and Arkansas, and USC fans will remember this stretch as one of the most important in school history. Lose, and it will likely be remembered as USC coming up just short of being an elite team in 2012.
Here now, some highlights of Spurrier’s press conference today, as he prepares to return to Gainesville for the fourth time as USC’s coach ...
** Both of USC’s starting defensive tackles are hurt – Byron Jerideau with an ankle sprain suffered two weeks ago against Georgia (though he played at LSU) and Kelcy Quarles with a sprained shoulder suffered at LSU. Second-string tackle J.T. Surratt also hurt his ankle at LSU.
Spurrier said those guys will be wait-and-see throughout the week, but that redshirt freshmen Phillip Dukes (who has dealt with a fractured thumb) and Gerald Dixon Jr. would be the next options.
** Spurrier said Florida is “playing what you call winning football – don’t turn it over, run it well, outstanding defense and special teams play. So we need to play well, need to play better than we did the last time out, although I don’t think it’s embarrassing to lose a two-point game at LSU. All of our goals are still out there and we’re going to try to play better.
“We’ll go down there and be ready to give it our best shot and hopefully play with a little bit more and energy from a lot of our guys than the last time we played (at LSU).”
To Spurrier’s points, Florida ranks No. 14 nationally with a plus-7 turnover margin, No. 5 with just four turnovers lost in six games, No. 14 with 233.3 rushing yards per game, No. 22 with 5.17 yards per carry, No. 13 with 297.2 yards allowed per game and No. 18 with 3.7 yards allowed per punt return.
Florida has also been a strong second half team this year. The Gators were tied at 14 with Bowling Green with 9:57 left in the third quarter and won 27-14. They trailed Texas A&M 17-10 at halftime and won 20-17. They trailed Tennessee 20-13 with 7:33 left in the third quarter and won 37-20. They trailed LSU 6-0 at halftime and won 14-6.
For the season, Florida is losing the first quarter 27-17 and winning the next three 52-24, 44-13 and 54-10. Florida’s 492 first half rushing yards rank No. 66 nationally, while its 908 after halftime rank No. 7.
“Florida has had a knack of winning close games,” Spurrier said. “They’ve played extremely well at the end. That’s how you go 7-0.”
** Marcus Lattimore ran 13 times for 35 yards at LSU, including three times for 10 yards in the second half.
“We’re going to try to get the ball to Marcus Lattimore more than we did last week,” Spurrier said. “We need to certainly block a lot better than we did the past game. But other than that, we all should be pretty pleased to be where we are going into the eighth game of the season, and see if we can’t make something special happen.”
Spurrier said Lattimore should be fine after bruising his hip at LSU, because he was “running around OK” at Monday’s practice.
“We need to do something different (to improve the running game), maybe not ask those guards to block those defensive tackles as much as we did last week a few times,” Spurrier said. “But yeah, we need to mix it up a little bit better, somehow or another. We must block better. That would be helpful.”
** This has been an up-and-down year for USC’s offensive line and it took a downtick at LSU, while Connor Shaw wasn’t very efficient throwing the ball – 19 of 34 for 177 yards. He was credited with 12 runs at LSU, but four were sacks.
“Connor had a tough night,” Spurrier said. “He had difficult night. And the o-line had a difficult, tough night. Some of those o-linemen did not perform as we had hoped. I told somebody after the game, Marcus Lattimore made two of the best three-yard runs I think I’ve ever seen a guy make. His touchdown run, if you guys want to see a great three-yard run, five guys had him cornered up and he got through all of them somehow and fell in the end zone. On the fourth and two, they hit him behind the line, like they did about every time he got it, and he somehow or another, he squirmed and made that one for us.
“But we’ve got to block better. We all know that. And maybe change something up to give our linemen a little bit better chance. But Connor could have thrown the ball more than he did. He took off running way too soon on several plays. I think everybody that watched the game knew that. So hopefully, we can get him looking down field longer before he takes off. Obviously, he’s been very successful running out of the pocket, but the other night, he ran it too quickly several times.
“He just didn’t really have an answer on why he took off quickly, but certainly we talked about it and hopefully he’s going to stay in there longer and give the pass plays a little bit better opportunity.
“The (USC) receivers are not tall guys like Alshon (Jeffery) was and maybe that’s why we haven’t thrown as many fades. But we’ve got to get the balls out a little bit better, obviously, than what we’ve been doing the last several games. You’re not going to hit 30-, 40-yard passes unless you go down the field.
“We watch these NFL games every week. Guys are covered like a blanket and they come down with the ball, so you’ve got to get it out. That’s what we’re trying to get Connor, who’s been so successful running so often, but we’ve got to get some balls out better, a lot better. The other night was a lot different than he’s played all year. Hopefully he’ll get back to keeping his eyes down field and so forth, give the play an opportunity.
“The receivers are doing OK. They’re running decent routes. Sometimes you have to throw it when they’re halfway covered and make a tough catch. That’s what we’re not doing, the other night and a lot of times. They’re trying to get open, they’re doing decent, but they can get a little better open, certainly.
“The Florida guys aren’t catching a lot of passes either (just 19.5 attempts per game, compared to 24.1 for USC). The other night, we should have thrown a few more than we did. Simple as that (Shaw) is our quarterback. We’re giving him every opportunity to stay in there. The other night, it was obvious, I think to everyone, that he took off too much. He ran too much the other night, he knows it, and hopefully we can correct that.”
** Spurrier expects another loud environment at Florida.
“It’s going to be very similar to the other night,” he said. “The other night you couldn’t hear anything. Although, Connor was able to run up to the center and was able to audible. I think the guys got it all but once. That time, the clock was running down and he just yelled it one time to somebody. In fact, I think that was on Lattimore’s touchdown. We had some linemen go this way, some go that way, and I don’t think anybody blocked anybody, but Marcus ran that two- or three-yard touchdown run down there, which was truly amazing.
“You shouldn’t try to audible a lot in those kind of environments. Hopefully we’ve got a play we can stick with more often. When we did audible, nothing good happened because we were trying to audible to a safe run and the safe run was no good.
link: http://www.postandco...mentId=blogDest
It was not for the national championship or Southeastern Conference title, of course, but the winner of the game was going to capture the SEC Eastern Division. It would have been the Gamecocks’ first division championship.
They won convincingly, 36-14, for their first win in 13 tries in Gainesville and Spurrier’s second over his alma mater and former employer. (He also won in Columbia in 2005, his first year at USC.)
Spurrier and USC return to Gainesville this weekend, trying to extend the school’s second ever two-game winning streak over the Gators to its first ever three-game winning streak, just as they did with Georgia earlier this month and can do next week at home against Tennessee, which they had never defeated in back-to-back meetings until last year.
This Saturday’s game isn’t winner-take-East, like 2010 was, but if the Gamecocks lose at Florida, they would need the following to happen in order for them to make the SEC championship game ...
--- USC winning out by beating Tennessee and Arkansas at home
--- Florida losing out by falling to Georgia in Jacksonville and Missouri at home
--- Georgia losing to Mississippi at home or Auburn on the road, but not both, after defeating Kentucky this weekend and Florida next weekend
That would put all three teams at 6-2 and 1-1 against each other. But USC would have just one division loss (Florida), while the Gators would have two (Georgia and Missouri) and Georgia would have one (USC). Then USC would win the head-to-head tiebreaker with Georgia.
All of which is to say that USC essentially has to win at Florida this weekend in order to win the SEC East. But you can’t officially call this game a winner-take-East matchup, like you could in 2010, when the Gamecocks and Gators met in the final SEC game for both teams.
Another big game, the third straight top 10 vs. top 10 matchup for USC. Florida is the rubber match, as it were, of this three-game run, which includes a loss last week at LSU.
Win, and take care of business against Tennessee and Arkansas, and USC fans will remember this stretch as one of the most important in school history. Lose, and it will likely be remembered as USC coming up just short of being an elite team in 2012.
Here now, some highlights of Spurrier’s press conference today, as he prepares to return to Gainesville for the fourth time as USC’s coach ...
** Both of USC’s starting defensive tackles are hurt – Byron Jerideau with an ankle sprain suffered two weeks ago against Georgia (though he played at LSU) and Kelcy Quarles with a sprained shoulder suffered at LSU. Second-string tackle J.T. Surratt also hurt his ankle at LSU.
Spurrier said those guys will be wait-and-see throughout the week, but that redshirt freshmen Phillip Dukes (who has dealt with a fractured thumb) and Gerald Dixon Jr. would be the next options.
** Spurrier said Florida is “playing what you call winning football – don’t turn it over, run it well, outstanding defense and special teams play. So we need to play well, need to play better than we did the last time out, although I don’t think it’s embarrassing to lose a two-point game at LSU. All of our goals are still out there and we’re going to try to play better.
“We’ll go down there and be ready to give it our best shot and hopefully play with a little bit more and energy from a lot of our guys than the last time we played (at LSU).”
To Spurrier’s points, Florida ranks No. 14 nationally with a plus-7 turnover margin, No. 5 with just four turnovers lost in six games, No. 14 with 233.3 rushing yards per game, No. 22 with 5.17 yards per carry, No. 13 with 297.2 yards allowed per game and No. 18 with 3.7 yards allowed per punt return.
Florida has also been a strong second half team this year. The Gators were tied at 14 with Bowling Green with 9:57 left in the third quarter and won 27-14. They trailed Texas A&M 17-10 at halftime and won 20-17. They trailed Tennessee 20-13 with 7:33 left in the third quarter and won 37-20. They trailed LSU 6-0 at halftime and won 14-6.
For the season, Florida is losing the first quarter 27-17 and winning the next three 52-24, 44-13 and 54-10. Florida’s 492 first half rushing yards rank No. 66 nationally, while its 908 after halftime rank No. 7.
“Florida has had a knack of winning close games,” Spurrier said. “They’ve played extremely well at the end. That’s how you go 7-0.”
** Marcus Lattimore ran 13 times for 35 yards at LSU, including three times for 10 yards in the second half.
“We’re going to try to get the ball to Marcus Lattimore more than we did last week,” Spurrier said. “We need to certainly block a lot better than we did the past game. But other than that, we all should be pretty pleased to be where we are going into the eighth game of the season, and see if we can’t make something special happen.”
Spurrier said Lattimore should be fine after bruising his hip at LSU, because he was “running around OK” at Monday’s practice.
“We need to do something different (to improve the running game), maybe not ask those guards to block those defensive tackles as much as we did last week a few times,” Spurrier said. “But yeah, we need to mix it up a little bit better, somehow or another. We must block better. That would be helpful.”
** This has been an up-and-down year for USC’s offensive line and it took a downtick at LSU, while Connor Shaw wasn’t very efficient throwing the ball – 19 of 34 for 177 yards. He was credited with 12 runs at LSU, but four were sacks.
“Connor had a tough night,” Spurrier said. “He had difficult night. And the o-line had a difficult, tough night. Some of those o-linemen did not perform as we had hoped. I told somebody after the game, Marcus Lattimore made two of the best three-yard runs I think I’ve ever seen a guy make. His touchdown run, if you guys want to see a great three-yard run, five guys had him cornered up and he got through all of them somehow and fell in the end zone. On the fourth and two, they hit him behind the line, like they did about every time he got it, and he somehow or another, he squirmed and made that one for us.
“But we’ve got to block better. We all know that. And maybe change something up to give our linemen a little bit better chance. But Connor could have thrown the ball more than he did. He took off running way too soon on several plays. I think everybody that watched the game knew that. So hopefully, we can get him looking down field longer before he takes off. Obviously, he’s been very successful running out of the pocket, but the other night, he ran it too quickly several times.
“He just didn’t really have an answer on why he took off quickly, but certainly we talked about it and hopefully he’s going to stay in there longer and give the pass plays a little bit better opportunity.
“The (USC) receivers are not tall guys like Alshon (Jeffery) was and maybe that’s why we haven’t thrown as many fades. But we’ve got to get the balls out a little bit better, obviously, than what we’ve been doing the last several games. You’re not going to hit 30-, 40-yard passes unless you go down the field.
“We watch these NFL games every week. Guys are covered like a blanket and they come down with the ball, so you’ve got to get it out. That’s what we’re trying to get Connor, who’s been so successful running so often, but we’ve got to get some balls out better, a lot better. The other night was a lot different than he’s played all year. Hopefully he’ll get back to keeping his eyes down field and so forth, give the play an opportunity.
“The receivers are doing OK. They’re running decent routes. Sometimes you have to throw it when they’re halfway covered and make a tough catch. That’s what we’re not doing, the other night and a lot of times. They’re trying to get open, they’re doing decent, but they can get a little better open, certainly.
“The Florida guys aren’t catching a lot of passes either (just 19.5 attempts per game, compared to 24.1 for USC). The other night, we should have thrown a few more than we did. Simple as that (Shaw) is our quarterback. We’re giving him every opportunity to stay in there. The other night, it was obvious, I think to everyone, that he took off too much. He ran too much the other night, he knows it, and hopefully we can correct that.”
** Spurrier expects another loud environment at Florida.
“It’s going to be very similar to the other night,” he said. “The other night you couldn’t hear anything. Although, Connor was able to run up to the center and was able to audible. I think the guys got it all but once. That time, the clock was running down and he just yelled it one time to somebody. In fact, I think that was on Lattimore’s touchdown. We had some linemen go this way, some go that way, and I don’t think anybody blocked anybody, but Marcus ran that two- or three-yard touchdown run down there, which was truly amazing.
“You shouldn’t try to audible a lot in those kind of environments. Hopefully we’ve got a play we can stick with more often. When we did audible, nothing good happened because we were trying to audible to a safe run and the safe run was no good.
link: http://www.postandco...mentId=blogDest
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