South Carolina Gamecocks 2009 Football Betting Preview

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South Carolina 2008 Record: (7-6, 4-4)
South Carolina 2008 Bowl: Outback Bowl vs. Iowa (L 10-31)
South Carolina Coach: Steve Spurrier (28-22 at South Carolina, 170-62-2 overall)
South Carolina Offensive Coordinator: Steve Spurrier
South Carolina Defensive Coordinator: Lorenzo Ward
South Carolina Returning Stats Leaders:

• Rushing: Stephen Garcia, QB, 198 yards
• Passing: Chris Smelley, QB, 1,922 yards
• Receiving: Moe Brown, WR, 391 yards
• Tackles: Eric Norwood, LB, 75
• Sacks: Eric Norwood, LB, 9.0
• Interceptions: Chris Culliver, S, 3

Notable South Carolina Returning Players: C Garrett Anderson, RB Eric Baker, DE Clifton Geathers, DE Cliff Matthews, DT Nathan Pepper, S Darian Stewart

South Carolina Key Losses: LB Jasper Brinkley, S Emanuel Cook, TE Jared Cook, RB Mike Davis, DE Jordin Lindsey, WR Kenny McKinley, OT Jamon Meredith, CB Captain Munnerlyn, LB Marvin Sapp, K/P Ryan Succop, CB Carlos Thomas, CB Stoney Woodson

The Steve Spurrier era hasn’t quite gone as planned at South Carolina. Now entering his 5 th season, the Head Ball Coach has a 28-22 record and hasn’t finished better than 5-3 in conference play. Most shocking has been his inability to groom a decent quarterback or field an explosive offense when both were his trademarks during his time at Florida. This fall, South Carolina has to replace a lot of departed NFL talent but the attitude in Columbia appears to be significantly better with some turnover and coaching changes. Can Spurrier finally lead the Gamecocks to more than eight wins?

Perhaps the biggest key to answering that question will be the development of sophomore quarterback Stephen Garcia, who has made more headlines for his off-field idiocy than for his on-field prowess. Garcia took over during the 2008 season and performed decently, showing both athleticism and inaccuracy. He kept himself out of trouble this past offseason and could take steps this fall towards becoming a solid quarterback. At receiver, there were some significant losses and sophomore Jason Barnes is expected to step up in a big way. This will be a young receiving corps but there is a lot of potential in their younger players.

Up front, the Cocks should benefit from a new offensive line coach and their veteran group, which returns three starters, could be much improved this fall. While Spurrier is well known for his love of passing the football, he needs to have better balance than last season and freshman Jarvis Giles appears in line to have the majority of the carries this year. While the run game will never be the primary axis in a Spurrier offense, I still think that South Carolina will have an improved running attack. However, this offense will go as Garcia goes and I think that he’ll have a solid but unspectacular season, which means that the Gamecocks should improve upon last year’s paltry 21 points per game production but not by much.

Defensively, the Gamecocks fielded one of the league’s best units in 2008 until allowing 118 points in their final three games, all losses. Despite these struggles, they still finished up allowing barely 21 points per game. This fall, the strength of the defense will be up front. The Gamecocks bring back five starters in their front seven and should improve against the run once more after holding opponents to 65 rush yards less per game compared to 2007. While the line is a strong unit, senior linebacker Eric Norwood is the star of the defense. Norwood made 75 tackles and notched 9 sacks last season and was a 1st team All-SEC selection. Along with junior Rodney Paulk, who missed much of last season due to injury, Norwood should be the centerpiece of a solid linebacking corps.

The secondary sustained some tough losses but there is a good base to build upon. Senior Darian Stewart will move to safety after playing cornerback last fall and will team with junior Chris Culliver to form a very solid tandem which combined for 124 tackles in 2008. There is some concern about the cornerback position and it looks like the Gamecocks could start multiple underclassmen this year. While I don’t think that they’ll field as strong of a secondary as last season, Spurrier’s pass defenses have been solid in each of his 4 years (perhaps due to so many practice reps through the air against his Fun ‘N Gun offense?) and I think that South Carolina should be all right in the back. Overall, this appears to be a solid defense but I wouldn’t classify it as much better than a middle of the pack unit in the SEC.

The schedule is fairly tough. The season begins with road games at North Carolina State and Georgia before Ole Miss comes to town two weeks later on a Thursday night! The Gamecocks have to travel to both Arkansas and Alabama from the West while hosting the Rebels, giving them perhaps the toughest draw in the division! They also host pesky Vanderbilt, rebuilding Kentucky, favored Florida and archrival Clemson. We’ll know all we need to know about the Gamecocks after their first four games.

Overall, the same questions surround this team as they have all of Spurrier’s South Carolina teams. Can they get solid quarterback play? Will there be a decent running game? Will this finally be the year that the Head Ball Coach produces a strong offense? Frankly, I’m getting sick of asking the same thing every year and I know that South Carolina’s ever-loyal fan base must be pulling their hair out at this point. I hate to disappoint the Gamecock Faithful, but I don’t think that their team will field a consistently dangerous offense this fall as they’re simply too young at all of the skill positions. Combine that with an extremely tough schedule and I think that means that another disappointing season of six or seven wins is a strong possibility in Columbia.

South Carolina Big Games: Sept. 3rd @ NC State, Sept. 12th @ Georgia, Sept. 24th vs. Ole Miss, Oct. 17th @ Alabama, Oct. 24th vs. Vanderbilt, Oct. 31st @ Tennessee, Nov. 7th @ Arkansas, Nov. 14th vs. Florida, Nov. 28th vs. Clemson.

South Carolina’s Strength:

It is not like the SEC was very pass happy at all last year, but South Carolina had the second best pass defense in the nation, allowing a mere 159.2 yards through the air per game. Yet, can the Gamecocks keep their secondary together without corners Captain Munnerlyn, Carlos Thomas and Stoney Woodson and safety Emanuel Cook? That is a lot of lost talent. Senior linebacker Eric Norwood is the new leader of the team taking over for the departed Jasper Brinkley and he will have to hold together the defense for a while until the new pieces are in place. The good news is the front four does not have much rebuilding to do. Ends Clifton Geathers and Cliff Matthews both had productive sophomore campaigns and could emerge as very dangerous pass rushers now that they have more experience.

South Carolina’s Weakness:

Coach Spurrier always has some tricks up his sleeve on the offensive side of the ball, but the productivity has just not been there lately. Quarterback Chris Smelley left the team to play baseball at Alabama and that leaves Stephen Garcia as the lone experienced quarterback on the roster. Garcia threw six touchdown passes last year and, like everybody else in the carousel of quarterbacks, threw way too many interceptions. He is the guy for now, but if he does not improve South Carolina will try and find somebody else. Making matters worse is the fact that running back Mike Davis is also gone. Sophomore Eric Baker is tops on the depth chart after rushing for 182 yards last year, but junior Brian Maddox and a handful of freshmen will also be in the mix.

Our Prediction for the 2009 Gamecocks:

But even if Garcia turns into a quality quarterback and the backs hold their own, it will not mean much if the offensive line does not improve. The team gave up three sacks per game last year and that was with Jamon Meredith and Justin Sorensen. Now the line is in even worse shape and somehow the offensive line has to find a way to build around center Garrett Anderson and turn into a cohesive unit or the offense is going to go nowhere.

South Carolina Betting Odds

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