South Carolina Football 2011: "Pick Six" Lessons from Gamecock Opener vs. Navy

It was not what the experts said it would be.  I thought the game was a mixed bag for both teams.  Craig James was the color man for ESPN on Saturday night and he captured the mood correctly.   If you are in South Carolina’s position, you can win by one or win by 50, but winning is “paramount.”

The Gamecocks won 24-21.  Here are a few observations

1. The Gamecocks really can play in the first quarter, a nice change from the goose eggs they posted the first two weeks.

Navy got its tops-in-the-nation ground game going early when John Howell scored on a 27-yard run.  South Carolina answered with a seven-play, 71-yard drive with Marcus Lattimore scoring from the 6-yard line.  The TV crew on the game made a point of saying that Lattimore was physically bigger than eight of the 11 Navy defenders. 

An omen of things to come.

2. The Gamecock defense is moving in the right direction, so don’t worry.

The Navy offense was averaging 400 yards per game on the ground, while the Gamecocks held it to 274, including only 17 yards in a decisive fourth quarter when Carolina stopped two Navy drives.

3. Quarterback Stephen Garcia is gaining traction, so let’s hang on for the ride.

Garcia was 18-of-25 for 204 yards and one interception.  That’s 72 percent completion—much better than his first two games.  The one interception was ugly, as he threw up a duck while he was being sacked, and it ended a third-quarter drive deep in Navy territory.  You get that with Garcia sometimes.  The encouraging thing here—and you can’t emphasize this enough—is that Garcia connected with seven different receivers.  For a good while around here, the receiving game consisted of “Alshon Jeffery” and “OK, now what?”  The Gamecocks are starting to find that “now what” balance and that will pay off later in the season.

4. Marcus Lattimore has established himself as the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

He had 37 carries for 246 yards and three touchdowns.  The scores were on runs of six, five and seven yards.  The first two scores tied the game; the last gave USC its margin of victory.  He strapped this team on his back and said “Follow me,” and they did.  The last Carolina guy who could do this was George Rogers, the Gamecocks’ senior first-team All-American and Heisman Trophy winner in 1980.

5. The Gamecocks are not playing in front of a full house. 

This has been an ongoing trend for a few years now.  There were 78,807 fans at Williams Brice on Saturday night, about 4,000 below capacity.  If you saw the game on TV, you saw several upper deck camera shots that made it look like there were not even that many there.  There are many reasons: bad economy, jilted relationships of some fans, higher prices for tickets and membership to The Gamecock Club, some people just priced out of the ability to buy tickets.  The “big” games do sell out, such as when Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and LSU when come to town, as well as arch-rival Clemson. 

The fans are being much more selective.  I remember when they used to fill the stadium every week for .500 football.  Now the Gamecocks are winning, big-name players, big expectations, and the stadium ought to be full every week, but it is not.  Changed times, changed circumstances, changed expectations.  I am a little baffled by it.

6. Dealing with great expectations.

Here we go again.  This team is answering the bell so far in the 2011 season.  The offensive line blocks, Lattimore runs.  Garcia is spreading the ball around in the passing game.  We saw glimpses of the vise-like grip this defense can bring when the Gamecocks shut down Navy in the fourth quarter.  All the parts are there and they come into a bit more focus each week.  You get the feeling if this team opens up the proverbial can and decides to paste somebody, it is going to happen again and again. 

A surprisingly undefeated Vanderbilt (3-0) comes to Columbia Saturday.  Lots of Gamecock fans think this would be a pretty good place to start.