Steve Spurrier has benched a lot of quarterbacks in his day.
The veteran South Carolina coach said he learned from legendary basketball coach John Wooden that it's a great way to get a player's attention.
"When a coach benches a guy, that's what a coach has to do," Spurrier said earlier this week. "Just because a guy goes to the bench doesn't mean he's finished by any means. It means he needs to start playing a little better and play the way the coaches ask him to play."
Spurrier credits his decision to take junior QB Connor Shaw out of the game two weeks ago at halftime against Florida with Shaw's bounce-back performance last Saturday against Tennessee.
"Connor Shaw probably had his best game last week," Spurrier said. "Connor got benched. He didn't sit around and mope or pout or cry. He figured out what he needed to do better and worked on it last week and had his best game."
Shaw threw for a career-high 356 yards and completed 22 of his 33 passes, including three touchdowns, in a 38-35 win over the Vols heading into this week's bye. Shaw did that despite spraining a foot, which won't keep him out of next Saturday's noon game against Arkansas in Columbia.
"He took his steps and really zinged a few passes in there that he hadn't done hardly all year," Spurrier said. "That's encouraging, but now we've got to do again next week. Connor finally took his steps and threw it. So many times he takes off running instead of throwing it, and now he's hopefully learned to turn it loose when he's got an opening to throw it."
That also gives USC (7-2, 5-2 SEC) hope that its offense won't slip away with the loss of star running back Marcus Lattimore, who suffered a severe knee injury last week and is out for the season.
Shaw's improvement in the passing game came at an opportune time. The Gamecocks are bound to see more teams put more pressure on him with Lattimore missing in the backfield.
Senior Kenny Miles is ready to step into the starting running back role next Saturday against Arkansas.
"Plays haven't changed," Miles said. "We still got the pieces, still got the people, still got the coaches and we're all focused. We're just ready to go."
Miles is the team's fourth-leading rusher with 149 yards on 42 carries and one touchdown. He was almost never apart of this year's team. Miles went through Senior Day a year ago and anticipated transferring with one year of football eligibility left, but he decided to stick around, and now he'll be get first crack at getting a USC ground game that ranks 10th in the SEC going.
"It's been high times, low times but all in all, it's been good times," Miles said about his career. "It's a blessing to be here and be able to come out here and play college football. It gave me the opportunity to play. It's not a good bookend if you don't win. That's the main thing I'm just focusing on, coming out here and getting ready to win."
USC hopes to keep that going with three regular-season games and a bowl contest left in 2012.
One unit that could see an increase in production is tight ends. Senior Justice Cunningham is coming off a career game last week, catching six passes for 108 yards. With the Gamecocks' speedy receiving corps, defenses could have a tough time keeping up with a very talented tight end group running underneath, especially in zone coverages.
"We came into this year telling ourselves we were the deepest position here," Cunningham said. "We wanted to make an impact. We're just waiting for the time to get a chance to do it."
One of the reasons for the Gamecocks' success against Tennessee was the quality of defenses they faced. Both LSU and Florida ranked in the top 10 in total defense heading into last week's game.
The Vols? They were ranked 95th.
USC still has Arkansas and Clemson left, with Wofford sandwiched in between. The Razorbacks rank 86th nationally in total defense while the Tigers are at 82.
That could bode well for an offense looking to keep the Gamecocks on the winning path.
"There's plenty of season left," Spurrier said. "We've got a chance for a good year if we keep pushing. So we're going to keep pushing with all we've got."
link: http://www.independentmail.com/news/2012/nov/03/usc-offense-looks-to-build-off-last-performance/
The veteran South Carolina coach said he learned from legendary basketball coach John Wooden that it's a great way to get a player's attention.
"When a coach benches a guy, that's what a coach has to do," Spurrier said earlier this week. "Just because a guy goes to the bench doesn't mean he's finished by any means. It means he needs to start playing a little better and play the way the coaches ask him to play."
Spurrier credits his decision to take junior QB Connor Shaw out of the game two weeks ago at halftime against Florida with Shaw's bounce-back performance last Saturday against Tennessee.
"Connor Shaw probably had his best game last week," Spurrier said. "Connor got benched. He didn't sit around and mope or pout or cry. He figured out what he needed to do better and worked on it last week and had his best game."
Shaw threw for a career-high 356 yards and completed 22 of his 33 passes, including three touchdowns, in a 38-35 win over the Vols heading into this week's bye. Shaw did that despite spraining a foot, which won't keep him out of next Saturday's noon game against Arkansas in Columbia.
"He took his steps and really zinged a few passes in there that he hadn't done hardly all year," Spurrier said. "That's encouraging, but now we've got to do again next week. Connor finally took his steps and threw it. So many times he takes off running instead of throwing it, and now he's hopefully learned to turn it loose when he's got an opening to throw it."
That also gives USC (7-2, 5-2 SEC) hope that its offense won't slip away with the loss of star running back Marcus Lattimore, who suffered a severe knee injury last week and is out for the season.
Shaw's improvement in the passing game came at an opportune time. The Gamecocks are bound to see more teams put more pressure on him with Lattimore missing in the backfield.
Senior Kenny Miles is ready to step into the starting running back role next Saturday against Arkansas.
"Plays haven't changed," Miles said. "We still got the pieces, still got the people, still got the coaches and we're all focused. We're just ready to go."
Miles is the team's fourth-leading rusher with 149 yards on 42 carries and one touchdown. He was almost never apart of this year's team. Miles went through Senior Day a year ago and anticipated transferring with one year of football eligibility left, but he decided to stick around, and now he'll be get first crack at getting a USC ground game that ranks 10th in the SEC going.
"It's been high times, low times but all in all, it's been good times," Miles said about his career. "It's a blessing to be here and be able to come out here and play college football. It gave me the opportunity to play. It's not a good bookend if you don't win. That's the main thing I'm just focusing on, coming out here and getting ready to win."
USC hopes to keep that going with three regular-season games and a bowl contest left in 2012.
One unit that could see an increase in production is tight ends. Senior Justice Cunningham is coming off a career game last week, catching six passes for 108 yards. With the Gamecocks' speedy receiving corps, defenses could have a tough time keeping up with a very talented tight end group running underneath, especially in zone coverages.
"We came into this year telling ourselves we were the deepest position here," Cunningham said. "We wanted to make an impact. We're just waiting for the time to get a chance to do it."
One of the reasons for the Gamecocks' success against Tennessee was the quality of defenses they faced. Both LSU and Florida ranked in the top 10 in total defense heading into last week's game.
The Vols? They were ranked 95th.
USC still has Arkansas and Clemson left, with Wofford sandwiched in between. The Razorbacks rank 86th nationally in total defense while the Tigers are at 82.
That could bode well for an offense looking to keep the Gamecocks on the winning path.
"There's plenty of season left," Spurrier said. "We've got a chance for a good year if we keep pushing. So we're going to keep pushing with all we've got."
link: http://www.independentmail.com/news/2012/nov/03/usc-offense-looks-to-build-off-last-performance/
