Iowa has an awesome running back and a very solid D. South Carolina's D has been their strength all year but struggled vs Florida and Clemson. Their offense has been a huge disappoint considering this is the 4th year under Steve Spurrier. No QB has stepped forward yet as the leader of this team. Both Stephen Garcia and Chris Smelley had opportunites to do so this year but neither truly did. The offensive line was horrible. Pass blocking and run blocking has been seen better at the middle school level. But could this have been due to poor coaching by now former OL coach John Hunt? Time will only tell. I don't know much about Iowa, if anyone does, please feel free to fill me in on them as well but my main question is this. What does South Carolina have to do to win this game?
First off, welcome to the SkyBox, glad you took up my offer. You'll enjoy the clientele that exists here. There's one guy you better keep an eye out for though, I wont mention any names, but his intials are JIFFY. To detail they IOWA game, we must start with the facts: (1) The best thing to come out of IOWA is...interstate 80. (2) IOWA is in the Big 10, so I am not qualified to speak on there behalf. Que, STU, STU's Cat, Don B. BUCK T, SID, BOBDA, etc. Just beat them because I've picked them on my sheet.
Welcome TGO. As a Gator I am also somewhat surprised that the Gamecocks have not developed more of an offense under Spurrier. Watching him win more games with defense than wide open offense has left me wondering. I thought that Garcia would be the guy to step forward for you guys. That is if he could keep his head straight and out of trouble. But the games I watched he wasn't that impressive. He is young however and could yet develop. I can't tell you much about Iowa, other than the beat Penn State which allowed the Gators to get to the Championship game. AJ, best thing going out of Iowa is I - 80? Good thing we don't have any Hawkeye's here. Again, welcome aboard TGO.
My only feel for Iowa is that they started out slow and got better as the season progressed, as shown by their upset of Penn State. I would consider them a tough opponent, but overall I see the game as one of the most evenly matched bowl games on the schedule. It should be a good one.
First off, welcome Outlaw! I was wondering if USC fans wondered why SOS didn't have solid starter at QB. I watched the Vandy/USC game and was really suprised at the QB play by the USC guy. It seems like under Spurrier you have had better defenses than offenses. I would have also thought that Spurrier would have recruited some really top QB given that he likes to throw the ball. Do you have any feel for how much longer Spurrier will coach? As for Iowa, there was another skyboxer who once told me to watch out for the Blue Plate specials!! I think this will be an interesting game, the B10 is generally considered to a little down this year but then so is the SEC beyond 'Bama and UF. So it'll be interesting to see the difference in the midlevel play of both conferences. Terry Ps....AJ might have said I'm a confused college football fan, but don't believe him!
Thanks for the warm welcome guys! Spurrier says he would like to coach for at least another 4 or 5 years. We'll see. He says he wants to do something no one has ever done and that's win an SEC Title and a National Title at South Carolina. He has a long way to go if he wants to do that. We are though however looking fairly strong in recruiting. #8 according to Rivals this year. If this holds up it will be his 2nd top 10 class in the last 3 years. Stephen Garcia was a pretty highly touted QB. Jimmy Clausen considered South Carolina seriously before picking ND. He had it narrowed down to Southern Cal, South Carolina and ND. When Clausen committed to ND, Garcia committed to us. But he has been in a lot of trouble since he has been here. He is on his last leg, one more screw up and he's gone. He missed 2 spring practices already and that is probably why he hasn't developed like he should. Our D being a our strong point is a surprise under Spurrier but mainly because he doesn't have an offense. Really if you go back and look at Spurrier's Florida teams, they always had pretty solid D's. The offense just always out shinned them.
Outlaw, Welcome to the Skybox! Iowa runs hot and cold. They can surprise you either way. Personally i think SC will win in a breeze. Don
Welcome Outlaw... It seems as if Iowa started very slow this year then came out of nowhere to beat Penn St. so that for sure gives them some cred. Contrary to popular belief on this board PSU is a very good football team....so the Hawks have to have something going on.... and that something is Shonn Green - he's a beast. If you struggle against power running games, it could be a long day. They will test your manhood upfront for certain and keep pounding...the kid is a load.
That may play into our favor if they are a power running team. We have shut down power running attacks all year long but Finesse kills us! Florida and Clemson gashed us by using mis-direction plays all game long. If Iowa does some of that we could be in trouble if they are just a line up and hit em in the mouth type team, then I give us the advantage cause our Defense can be one of the most physical groups in the country. That said, we will have two Defensive starts, Justin Lindsey and Emmanuel Cook, out of the game due to academic suspension.
Should be a good smash mouth kind of game. Iowa can run the ball well and defend against the run well. They are a tough physical disciplined football team but not the most talented athletically that you've seen this year. Green is a great back no question but as it relates to finesse, based upon what I have seen and read of the Hawks, their idea of finesse is to run a trap instead of a power. :lol: I'm looking forward to this one....
Ferentz is a helluva bowl coach....and that's something to be considered heavily here. Sometimes Spurrier had "it" for the bowl but often times not.
Didn't TB just get a head coaching job at Northern Alabama? I kind of expect Spurrier is getting very frustrated not being able to win more games. Every year it seems they might have turned to corner only to slip backwards.
I think he meant Tommy Bowden. First person I thought of was Tail Back but they don't know of each other. :wink: