South Carolina's Opening Statement: Why September Will Define 2010

Four games. One-third of the season. 

You better believe that the first four games of South Carolina's 2010 campaign carry way more weight than that. 

I would go as far as saying the first four games will define the entire season.

The schedule looks like this:

Sept. 2: Southern Miss

Sept. 11: Georgia

Sept. 18: Furman

Sept. 25: @Auburn

At first glance, it seems like a schedule with at least two guaranteed wins in Furman and Southern Miss. However, this will not be the case, as both of these schools can be legitimate problems. 

Lets take a closer look.

Once again, South Carolina will have the entire country's eyes on them as they open up yet another college football season playing Southern Miss on a Thursday night ESPN televised matchup. South Carolina will be favored to win this game.

It won't be by much. 

The Golden Eagles return many players from a highly efficient and turnover-free offense, including Martevious Young, a dual-threat quarterback who only threw three interceptions last season.

South Carolina's defense has struggled with dual-threat quarterbacks in recent history.

Offensively, this team will come prepared to play and should be able to move the football. 

The key to this game will be South Carolina's offense. Can they play well? If they open up the year with a performance similar to last year's seven-point "outburst" in a slim win over NC State, Southern Miss will win. 

This is no gimmie, regardless of what anyone would like to say.

Following a potentially hard-fought Thursday night opener, Georgia comes into Williams-Brice Stadium. This, in my mind, is not only the most important game in September, but the most important game of the year as well.

South Carolina has played Georgia close as of late. Close is no longer acceptable at this present junction. In order to establish any sort of SEC contention, South Carolina MUST win this game. 

For one, Georgia will not be as strong this year as they have in previous years. Georgia fans and pundits will argue to the opposite effect, but on paper, this is the weakest team they have had in years. This is no offense to Georgia or Mark Richt, as they are both respected and successful entities, but there are as many question marks for Georgia as there are for South Carolina this year.

Whichever team wins this game will be the team that races Florida for first in the SEC East. Georgia fans know how important this game is as well.

Furman should be a game that South Carolina wins handily. 

However, South Carolina football fans that live in South Carolina already are aware of Furman's legendary sub-division success on the gridiron. Furman has 12 Southern Conference championships to go with a Division II championship. They have appeared in four championship games.

There is talent on that roster every year, last year's 6-5 year being an aberration. They have good talent and should be competitive. 

Add to that fact South Carolina's insistence on keeping every game close and playing to their opposition, and the unlikely upset could happen. South Carolina needs to blow Furman out to set the tone that things are different this year.

Finally, South Carolina's first away game is a doozy, as they travel to Auburn to battle a highly competitive SEC West team. 

This will give South Carolina its first glimpse at how the team handles games on the road, and how they handle another dual-threat quarterback. South Carolina needs to keep this close. A win would be wonderful, but not as necessary as the first three games. 

To conclude:

4-0 would be amazing.

3-1 would be an excellent start to the season.

2-2 would set South Carolina up for a very typical and average season.

1-3 is possible, but not likely.

0-4 is a nightmare situation, and Steve Spurrier walks.

September Goals

Open Strong

Beat Georgia

Destroy Furman

Keep the Auburn Game Close