I. Spurrier: “We’re not a good team right now”
I was there for the call of the fantastic game between South Carolina and Georgia last week and I have to say I both agree and disagree with Steve Spurrier’s comment. Where the Gamecocks are playing good is on offense because they have some real playmakers. Connor Shaw continued to show he is a legitimate weapon as a dual-threat quarterback. He threw for 288 and two TDs, and rushed for another 75 yards. The premier offensive weapon, however, is running back Mike Davis, who in my eyes is a significant upgrade over graduated star Marcus Lattimore. Davis showed both power and speed in his somewhat undersized body, rushing for 150 yards on 16 carries, topping 100 yards for the second straight week. I am convinced this kid could be one of the top two or three running backs in the SEC by the end of the season. Where Spurrier is correct in his blunt assessment of his team is on the defensive side of the ball. South Carolina got gouged for 536 yards, including 266 on the ground. The biggest problem I saw was that outside of Jadeveon Clowney, there are no playmakers on that defense. Everyone made a big deal about defensive end Chaz Sutton this preseason, but I’m not sure I even called his name during the game. The defensive tackles looked slow and didn’t threaten Georgia’s center David Andrews, who had a terrible game versus Clemson the week before. The young linebackers are still nonexistent and the secondary is glaringly missing both the presence and play of departed safety DJ Swearinger. Spurrier knows what we all know and that is teams are going to gameplan against Clowney every week, and without another playmaker or two to counteract, the Gamecock defense is going to struggle all year.
II. Why all the upsets?
Week 1 of the college football season saw eight FCS schools upset FBS schools and this week saw the mighty Texas Longhorns lose to BYU and USC lose to Washington State. So what gives? The answer is the proliferation of the spread offense – it has leveled the playing field with the big boys. I have long been of the opinion that skill players are abundant at both big and small schools. Every school has guys that run 4.3. The difference is in the front sevens – at the major conference schools, the offensive and defensive lines are a lot bigger. South Carolina’s offensive line averages 320 pounds, while FCS and MAC offensive lines are in the 280s and 290s. The spread has equalized things. The game is no longer played in a phone booth, where big guys can overpower small guys. Out in space, everything evens out. Fast guys are able to make plays instead of slugging it out. Decades ago, coaches like Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and Tom Osborne brought everyone in tight and pounded away at schools that couldn’t recruit big bodies. But now teams from smaller schools are no longer playing by these rules. The hallmark of the SEC is the dominant big boys up front. Why do you think Nick Saban has been so vocal (and in my opinion wrong) that spread offenses with faster tempos will cause more injuries?
III. Lane Kiffin’s inability to develop talent
After a subpar 2012 season and an ugly 10-7 loss to Washington State last week, Lane Kiffin is in the hot seat just two games into 2013. Kiffin comes with no real resume of winning before USC, but that’s not what bothers me. It’s that he seemingly doesn’t develop his players. Even with scholarship restrictions, USC is ranked in the top 25 in recruiting classes every year. Yet the talent isn’t translating to the field. For instance, take the quarterback position. Max Wittek was No. 3 and Cody Kessler was No. 29 in the ranking of QB recruits in 2011. True freshman Max Browne was the No. 2 QB in the 2013 class. But none of these three players has made any impact, meanwhile lesser-rated kids across the country are thriving under coaches and systems that bring out the best in them. Lane Kiffin’s reputation is that he is a master recruiter, but until he starts showing he can developing his players, his seat will continue to get warmer.
IV. Is “The U” back?
Ah, I remember the good ‘ol days of the Miami Hurricanes in the ’80s and ’90s: scoring, sacking and showboating their way to college football prominence. Sadly, NCAA violations left recent Hurricane teams a shell of their former selves. But this year, Al Golden’s bunch has looked fantastic, especially with last week’s upset win over Florida. Their quarterback, Stephen Morris, is playing fantastic football, but it’s that defense that is suffocating, particularly in the red zone. Florida had six red zone opportunities and came away with just one touchdown and one field goal. Makes me remember watching some former Hurricane defensive tackle named Warren Sapp stifle offenses week in and week out…whatever happened to him?
V. Big rematch in College Station
The talk leading up to this week’s Alabama-Texas A&M game will mostly be about Johnny Manziel’s performance last year and how he can create and improvise a way to lead A&M to another upset victory over the Crimson Tide this year. But I feel the real story is this: can Alabama’s offensive line give A.J. McCarron enough time to throw. Bama’s dominant line from last year lost three starters and looked lackluster in the opener versus Virginia Tech. The Aggies have very capable rushers, who will test this line by bringing pressure. While the glitz and glamor will be on the skill position players, this game will come down to who plays better in the trenches.
– Rocky Boiman
Rocky Boiman is an analyst for WestwoodOne’s coverage of NCAA Football. Each week in “Rocky’s V,” the former Notre Dame captain and Super Bowl champion writes about five topics that have captured his interest from around college football. You can also follow Rocky on Twitter.
