If I am Todd Grantham right now I'm pretty pissed. After the game I walk onto the field to do the usual handshake, etc. and this grandstanding, attention-grabing jackleg, the head coach of the other team, comes toward me and slags one of my players. One of MY guys! You don't do that to MY guys! So, he defends them, not with blows but with words. Angry words, certain, but only words. For that, our AD and Richt essentially throw him under the bus, repremanding him and forcing him to issue an apology. What Richt does when Franklin at last gets to speak to him in the post-game, on-the-field meeting of the coaches is to agree with Franklin's version of the incident before even having a real chance to talk to his coaches or his players. This is a guy so desperately willing to appear "the better man," so eager to project "the right image" that he concedes the worse about his men and his players. I totallly agree that coaches should set the right example for their players, and I am willing to accept a criticism of Grantham on style, but absolutely not on substance. Setting the right example, absolutely, but in addition to teaching them fair-play and good sportsmanship, they should also teach them loyalty and honor. Grantham was showing both, Richt did just the opposite. My high opinion of Richt has taken a large hit as a result of this incident and the way HE handled it. McGarity too. They seemed more concerned with how the incident would be percieved by the outside than what might have actually happened and how it might affect our program from the inside. I wonder if there hasn't been for some time a lot of friction between Grantham and Richt. I think there might be now, and lets face it, the games we have won this season we have won because of Grantham's defense. It certainly hasn't been Bobo's offense or our special teams play. I hate to say it but I wouldn't be surprized if and when Grantham gets a better offer, one where he doesn't have to walk on egg shells all the time, he is gone.

Fellow Dawgs:

     I’m sure many of you are thinking that it’s too early to be posting about the South Carolina game since the start of the season is still over two weeks away, but two weeks is not too early to start thinking about the start of the season itself and, let’s be honest, our 2010 season really does begin with that game in Columbia. Taking that and several other factors into consideration, I think it is perfectly reasonable to start looking ahead to our matchup against USC, not least of which is that I believe when Georgia and South Carolina faceoff in Williams Brice Stadium on September 11, 2010 it will be the most important game in Gamecock football history and being Dawg fans we need to be well aware of that fact going in there.

      I was up last night thinking about the upcoming season, looking down the schedule and trying to get a sense of how we will do, but I kept coming back to the second game on the list. What can be said about the USC game that hasn’t been said here at DawgSports many times? The UGA/USC game is always a classic. It’s a war, a bloody, nasty war, every year. It doesn’t matter if it’s a defensive slugfest or an offensive shootout. It doesn’t matter if it’s Athens or Columbia. It doesn’t even matter who wins. It is always a war. Why? For one, it’s not only the first SEC game of the year for both teams; it’s the first SEC East game for both teams. That game alone may not make a season, but it can certainly put a big damper on one right out of the gate as we all know too well. Lose it and the odds of getting to the SEC Championship Game are pretty slim. It’s also a border rivalry, although I recognize that for most Dawg fans South Carolina does not rise to the level of Auburn, Florida, Tech or Tennessee. For the Gamecock faithful, however, I would imagine that for many of them we are their chief rival after Clemson. I can speak from personal experience when I say that South Carolina gets up for us far more than we get up for them. Another reason the game is such a bloodbath is that, being the first SEC matchup of the season, both teams are still a little green and finding their feet at the same time they’re being called upon to win a game that can define an entire season. That’s real drama and the game itself represents everything I believe is great about SEC football.

     As significant as the USC game is year in and year out, the game this year is all the more so, especially for them. Steve Spurrier has been in Columbia for six years now. It’s his team through and through. Say what you will about Spurrier, and there is a lot you could say (I hate the SOB, for instance), but one of those things said about him has to be that he is a competitor. He competes with an all-consuming passion to win. When you look back over his life that is literally all he has ever done. Granted, the Evil Genius has been scarce in recent years. We didn’t see him at Washington and we haven’t seen him at USC either. There have been moments and flashes of the old S.O.S. here and there but for the most part he has been out of sight. This has led some to speculate that Spurrier just isn’t the coach he used to be. Maybe, maybe not. But I absolutely do not believe that Spurrier has lost his desire to win. In fact, I think that desire will be stronger in 2010 than it has ever been. Winning is what Spurrier is all about, and if he is not winning he is looking for a way to win. He would not be at USC one second longer if he did not honestly believe he could win there. This is Steve Spurrier we are talking about here. That desire, that ambition has been frustrated in Columbia, but I believe that has only made it burn white hot. I do not believe he views the USC job as just a last stop on the path to retirement. That’s not Spurrier’s style. But, he also knows that the clock is ticking on his coaching career.  

     All of that leads to this conclusion: For the South Carolina Gamecocks, and for Steve Spurrier, it’s now or never. The 2010 season will be the most crucial season in Gamecock history, and, at kickoff, the UGA game will be the most important single game in Gamecock history. They MUST win that game. If that sounds like too much, just think about it. This is the best team he has ever had at USC, and these are his players. Florida is down this year. Georgia has major questions on both sides of the ball. Tennessee has a new coach in a rebuilding year. In addition to also having a new coach, Vanderbilt is Vanderbilt. Kentucky is, well, a basketball school. If South Carolina is ever going to play for an SEC Championship, and have a shot at a National Championship, if Steve Spurrier is ever going to be back in the Big Game, where he desperately wants to be, if any of these things are EVER going to happen, it’s got to be THIS YEAR. If not now, when? If not Spurrier, who? Spurrier knows this. The Gamecock players know this. South Carolina fans know this. We should know this too.

      That brings me to our team going into this game. I’m excited about the upcoming season, and I believe we are going to exceed expectations this year. However, to be honest, I don’t have a good feeling about this one. It’s early in the season, and I just can’t see Murray being completely comfortable and competent at the position in only his second game behind the center. Add to that the fact that it will be his first SEC game and his first on the road, in Williams Brice, and I can see him making plenty of mistakes. Our new defense and new defensive coordinator will be great. I don’t doubt that one bit, but at this point in the season, in Columbia, I can certainly see it not being quite ready for the big time. There are just too many questions. I don’t think we get blown out but I can see us losing this game fairly easily.

     But, and here is the thing that makes me feel a little devilish, just imagine if we did go in there are beat those guys. Not only would it be a great indicator of what our season might be, because of what USC has riding on this game, it would be devastating to the long term prospects of South Carolina football, it would be sweet revenge for 2007 and it would be a real knife in the heart of our old nemesis; Steve Spurrier. In fact, if this USC team doesn’t go the distance this year, I think there is a real chance Spurrier hangs it up for good. Just think about that for a minute; Spurrier gone, and we're the ones who broke him. That alone should get us up for this game, my.assessment of our prospects aside. 

Go Dawgs!  

Wow! Who could have guessed how this season would have ended up? Look where we are now. I, like everyone else I'm sure, thought this was going to be a total disaster after that Tennessee game. Now we are ranked number 4 in the nation. Instead of just waiting for football season to mercifully, which we could very well have been doing right about now, I am thinking about what could have been if only, only, only, only we had scored one, single, solitary touchdown against South Carolina and won that game. We could be ranked second or third going to the SECCG with a shot at the national championship. I never would have guessed that we could get that close this year. But, its been a crazy year. A year of upsets, busted expectations and plain ole smash-mouth football. I'm no expert, but, and I would love to hear what everyone else has to say, I think this has been the greatest overall season in college football history, certainly in the BCS era. The greatest college football season in history--what do you think?

What a weekend of college football!! Wow! This past weekend (and Thursday night too) demonstrated, if any further demonstration was necessary, why college football is not only superior to the NFL but is the greatest sport in Ameirca. Forget baseball. Forget NASCAR. Nothing matches the excitment, unpredictability and pagentry of college football. No dogfighting allegations to distract us. No overpaid, ego-mad players to fixate upon. Every game is sudden death and truly anybody can beat anyone else on any given Saturdy if you don't bring your A game on every single play. You gota love it! As for the Dawgs, I'm feeling better every week. We got ourselves in a tight spot in the first half against Ole Miss but caught a break. Once it was ours, however, we poured it on. My sense is that even if we had gone down by 14 we still would have won the game through superior speed and talent, not to take anything away from Ole Miss's strong effort. The break we got was the one that was missing during the South Carolina game. That's all we needed then to have won that game. Gamecock fans have been pretty pumped up about that victory, but let's be real. They won a game against a young, inexperienced Bulldog team early in the season by four points. That's exactly what happened and nothing more. I give them credit for that, but an interception here or a fumble there, a missed tackle somewhere else and we could have just as easily won that game too. In other words, despite the problems and the obvious need to keep improving we could very easily be sitting at 5-0 and ranked in the top 10 with a legitimate shot at the national championship, especially after this weekend. And, because we are so young I am still feeling very, very good about the future. Go Dawgs!  

     I'm certainly not the college football expert the owner and operator of this outstanding web-blog is nor the noted notables who frequent it. I'm just a loyal Dawgs fan, an alumnus, and, like Al Bundy, I played high school football. I don't keep up with what is happening with other programs around the conference and nation, but I do try to keep up, during the off-season, with what's happening with the Dawgs. So, my analysis will be one simply of the vibe I feel as a fan who has watched carefully the progress of the team. I'm thinking of broad trends and movement over the long term here.
    With those preliminaries out of the way, let me state that I think this is going to be a pivotal year in the history of Mark Richt's, hopefully very long and fruitful, tenure as Georgia's coach. We have had great success since Richt came aboard, no doubt, but I feel as if this year is going to show us what kind of coach he really is and what kind of program we are going to have long term. Richt's years now of solid recruiting and building the program into a consistent contender should by now have accumulated some critical mass. Last season, one called a rebuilding year or a down year, was one in which we beat Auburn, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech in a major bowl game. We can all remember years in which that in and of itself would have marked a very successful year. No longer. While we'll take beating Aubrun and Tech, and savor it every time, we now expect more.
     What more we can righfully expect this year will depend 100% on Richt as a coach now entering his full stride. This year's conference competition is probably going to be tougher than it has ever been, at least within the past 20 years. Every team in the SEC is expected to be improved and we all know that no one can be taken lightly. Do we have a team that can truly do what has to be done to win, are we the real power we want to be? The answer will be provided in all that Richt has done thus far and will do starting at kickoff time against Oklahoma State. The O-line worries me. An offensive minded coach like Richt should realize the obvious importance of that facet of the game, but I wonder if things are not better than they appear precisely because of who he is. Richt has shown every evidence of being good. Good at recruiting. Good at managing and motivating the team. I've had quibbles with some play calls now and then. I would imagine we all have. Such is the nature of being a football fan. He's gone with Stafford who as we have all seen has tons of promise. This season will tell us if that promise is for real, and it will start very early. I am expecting a lot from Stafford. Oklahoma State and South Carolina will provide real tests for this team early on. After those two games we will know a great deal about where we are going, not only this year but, I really feel, for years to come. This is a year which will set the course for many to come. I know some are a little apprehensive about the upcoming season, but for myself, I can't wait. This year we are going to turn the next corner, step up the next rung and compete with the real big boys out there or we are not. I, for one, believe we are, and I'm very excited that's it getting closer every day to kickoff time.

ProfDawg