1. I'm interested to see if the team can live up to the expectation of blowing out these type of schools. Coach Spurrier mentioned after the game last weekend that USC should expect to beat these non-SEC schools 48-10. I think this the first time he has said something like that since he has been here. When we played Troy 2 years ago and hung, what, 50 points in one half he was dang near speechless when interviewed at halftime. I think this is one of the mental hurdles USC has to clear on its path to being Elite. When we play a school like UAB, SC State, ECU, etc we should win by 28 points at the very least but often we find ourselves in a dogfight for at least the first half. These games should be used to get the redshirt freshmen and sophomores valuable playing time. No need to have the starters in there at the start of the fourth. So I guess what I'm wanting to see if USC can take what it did against ECU and translate it over against a team that might be worse than the Pirates. If we can finish the season with blowouts against ECU, UAB, and Wofford I think it'll be a step in the right direction.
2. Anxious to see the Fun n Gun again. I still don't think Connor Shaw is going to play much, if any, but I don't think Dylan Thompson will have too much trouble with the Blazer defense this week if he gets the start. Something to note is that UAB gave up over 260 yards, I think, in rushing against Troy so this could be a good game to get Kenny Miles and Mike Davis some snaps later in the game. We'll see how Dylan Thompson handles success. Everybody is talking about him now and he has to handle the newly placed expectations on him. I'm curious to see how much I-Formation and some older one back sets Spurrier incorporates this weekend. This might be the last weekend in the season he'll be able to dial the clock back so hopefully he has some cool stuff drawn up. I think we will see an increased role for Shaq Roland. In fact, I'm not much into predictions, but I do think he will catch his first touchdown this weekend. This will also be a good game for Bruce Ellington and Damiere Byrd to keep the good mojo going.
Hopefully, for the sake of Goofyboy (I kid, I kid ) Jerell Adams will get some balls thrown his way this weekend. You have to think eventually he and Buster are going to be lined up out there together. I think its only a matter of time. Spurrier has really kept the offense pretty vanilla as far as the type of sets he is calling.
I expect plenty of offensive linemen to get rotated into the game. I'm going to try to play more attention to Corey Robinson after the praise the coaches gave him last weekend.
Basically, this is a great opportunity to continue to positive production into a HUGE game next week.
3. I expect the defense to have another strong outing but I think this is a BIG game for the backups especially along the defensive line. They are now on notice and I expect a much better effort from those guys this weekend. Its really the same deal with this side of the ball as the offense. Get these younger guys (especially in the secondary) meaningful snaps. We are really thin back there and we could be relying on a guy like TJ Gurley, Ahmad Christian, Kadetrix Marcus to step in later down the road.
I'm not sure what UAB has other than a QB in Nick Perry that is pretty talented. Their head coach, Garrick McGee, is a very impressive up & coming coach that is well versed in offense and knows how to develop Quarterbacks. I think he has the blueprint to attack us but I just dont think the athletes are there for him to do it. I do think a couple of big plays here and there could happen just in all games but I don't see them really keeping up with us score for score.
Not much to really say about this game other than this might be the most confident I'll feel about a game all season outside of Wofford.
Oh, 1st home night game!
2. Anxious to see the Fun n Gun again. I still don't think Connor Shaw is going to play much, if any, but I don't think Dylan Thompson will have too much trouble with the Blazer defense this week if he gets the start. Something to note is that UAB gave up over 260 yards, I think, in rushing against Troy so this could be a good game to get Kenny Miles and Mike Davis some snaps later in the game. We'll see how Dylan Thompson handles success. Everybody is talking about him now and he has to handle the newly placed expectations on him. I'm curious to see how much I-Formation and some older one back sets Spurrier incorporates this weekend. This might be the last weekend in the season he'll be able to dial the clock back so hopefully he has some cool stuff drawn up. I think we will see an increased role for Shaq Roland. In fact, I'm not much into predictions, but I do think he will catch his first touchdown this weekend. This will also be a good game for Bruce Ellington and Damiere Byrd to keep the good mojo going.
Hopefully, for the sake of Goofyboy (I kid, I kid ) Jerell Adams will get some balls thrown his way this weekend. You have to think eventually he and Buster are going to be lined up out there together. I think its only a matter of time. Spurrier has really kept the offense pretty vanilla as far as the type of sets he is calling.
I expect plenty of offensive linemen to get rotated into the game. I'm going to try to play more attention to Corey Robinson after the praise the coaches gave him last weekend.
Basically, this is a great opportunity to continue to positive production into a HUGE game next week.
3. I expect the defense to have another strong outing but I think this is a BIG game for the backups especially along the defensive line. They are now on notice and I expect a much better effort from those guys this weekend. Its really the same deal with this side of the ball as the offense. Get these younger guys (especially in the secondary) meaningful snaps. We are really thin back there and we could be relying on a guy like TJ Gurley, Ahmad Christian, Kadetrix Marcus to step in later down the road.
I'm not sure what UAB has other than a QB in Nick Perry that is pretty talented. Their head coach, Garrick McGee, is a very impressive up & coming coach that is well versed in offense and knows how to develop Quarterbacks. I think he has the blueprint to attack us but I just dont think the athletes are there for him to do it. I do think a couple of big plays here and there could happen just in all games but I don't see them really keeping up with us score for score.
Not much to really say about this game other than this might be the most confident I'll feel about a game all season outside of Wofford.
Oh, 1st home night game!