Monday December 01, 2008

South Carolina Game Review

South Carolina Game Review
Dabo will be named the new head coach of the Tigers and I have a thousand thoughts on this terrific story but we will have plenty of time to discuss the move in the next few days. Dabo has said many times that this is all about the players so I did not want Saturday’s heroes to miss some of their spot light.

I thought South Carolina should have been the favored team heading into Saturday’s game. I had heard that they had Steve Spurrier as their head coach and Clemson had a wide receiver coach as their head man.

I had heard that Spurrier had his best staff and Clemson had two graduate assistants on it staff coaching in full-time positions.

I had heard that South Carolina had the best defense in the country.

I had heard the Gamecocks played in the mighty SEC.

But I guess I had forgotten that Dabo had done an unbelievable job of getting everyone invested into the team concept.

I guess had forgotten about the power of Death Valley.

I guess I discounted the power of The Chicken Curse too.

What I witnessed Saturday was a butt-whippin’. I saw Dabo Swinney out Spurrier Spurrier with an electrifying trick play. I saw Swinney have his team more prepared despite Spurrier having two weeks to prepare. I saw Clemson out work and out hit the Gamecocks. I saw the Tigers play with more intensity and more of a sense of urgency than South Carolina.

Maybe the most surprising thing I saw Saturday was Spurrier calling “Uncle”. In the final few minutes South Carolina had Clemson pinned deep in its own territory but Spurrier opted to not use his time outs. When I left the stadium Saturday I took one last look at the scoreboard to remind myself that Spurrier had three timeouts left.

The day began with James Davis touching Howard’s Rock for the last time and ended with the student body chanting his name for the last time. In between, I saw Davis take the fight to the Gamecocks to the tune his 47th, 48th and 49th career touchdowns.

My eyes witnessed Chad Diehl pounding Emanuel Cook and Chris Culliver to open holes for Davis and C.J. Spiller. Diehl’s presence in the I-formation and as a motion guy as an H-back helped the Tigers to a physical rushing attack.

Speaking of Spiller, the Lightning side of the “Thunder and Lightning” also shined. The junior touched the ball 22 times including several that hit for big plays.

I saw an offensive line that grew up last week in Charlottesville, VA continue to mature and actually dominated the Gamecocks at times. Clemson averaged 6.0 yards per play Saturday. One other note, did USC’s Cliff Matthews play Saturday? He was credited for one tackle but don’t remember it.

Saturday was another aggressive effort from the defense. The Tigers were the more physical team as witnessed by several bone jarring hits including one on Kenny McKinley. The Tigers secondary were ball hawks against their arch rivals.

In all of the pre-game analysis that we heard and read going into the big game did anyone think DeAndre McDaniel would have more tackles that Jasper Brinkley?

Did anyone predict Jared Cook would have a grand total of one catch for a whopping two yards?

Who could have projected Jamie Harper to go Nelson Faerber and LaDonte Harris on South Carolina?

When USC hired Ray Rychleski as its special teams coordinator we were told that he was a special teams genius who did not have a blocked punt against him in the last seven years. See what happens when you get the Chicken Curse on you?

I have vivid memories of each Carolina-Clemson game since 1974. I see snapshots in my head of some of the great images of this rivalry each year. This year I will remember the sight of:

*James Davis coming down the hill.

*All three of Davis’ touchdown runs.

*Jacoby Ford’s “Cock-a-doodle-do” trick play touchdown.

*Jamie Harper’s blocked punt.

*C.J. Spiller’s 39-yard run.

*Spiller and Davis ripping through the “A” gap.

*All four Clemson picks.

*Jimmy Maners’ key punts.

*The chanting of “Dabo! Dabo! Dabo!” and “James Davis”.

*Dabo’s two Gatorade baths.

*Dabo’s ride on Thomas Austin and Tyler Grisham’s shoulders.

*Spurrier’s post game press conference where he answered The State newspaper’s Ron Morris’ question with a question of his own he inquired, “What do you want me to do Ron?”

Dabo will be named the head coach of the Tigers soon and we will have plenty of time to discuss but today I did not want to miss the chance to review a dominating performance.

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