WELCOME TO THE COCKBLOCK. CHECK IN EVERY WEEK FOR TAKEAWAYS, PREDICTIONS, GAMECOCK FOOTBALL ANALYSIS, AND NOTHING POSITIVE ABOUT THAT TEAM FROM THE UPSTATE.
Non-Gamecock fans don’t understand just how frustrating it is to watch us play. On one side of the ball is a defense that is able to defend 79 plays against an offense that has put up over 43 points per game and only hold them to 24 points, while on the offensive side, we can’t generate anything. The quarterback inconsistency is ridiculous… McIlwain won the starting job against Mississippi State after poor showings from Perry Orth, and since then Brandon has been extremely ineffective. So in the fourth quarter, Muschamp put Orth in and he looked really good. I couldn’t imagine being in Coach Muschamp’s position. It’s week 5 and there is still no proven quarterback. If we had a quarterback that could play consistently and some receivers that could catch the ball we would have had a really good shot at getting a top 10 win over Texas A&M this week. They couldn’t do anything against our defense in the first half. It was only in the second half when our defense was gassed that they were able to do a little bit more on offense. Our offense seems to play decent and generate big plays right out of the gate in the first quarter, but as the game goes on, it seems to get worse and worse. We haven’t scored a touchdown in the last three quarters of a home game yet and we missed 2 needed field goals late in the game against A&M that would have put us within two points if we had made them. To make things better, on the last drive that A&M had the ball when we were down 8, we forced 2 fumbles that bounced right back in the hands of Aggies.
In other news, we don’t have punt returners that can catch the ball.
Also, our team hasn’t scored in the end zone on the student section side yet after scoring a grand total of once last season in front of the students (in a loss against the Citadel).
Hopefully this weekend we are able to get a little bit better result. The weather forecast for Saturday is calling for 34 mph winds with a 100% chance of rain due to the presence of Hurricane Matthew off the coast of South Carolina that day. Saturday should be a low scoring defensive battle, with the style of play being much like that of the Notre Dame-Clemson classic from last season where all teams can do is run the ball. I just hope that our offensive line is able to hold up. It definitely won’t be the best front seven we have faced all season, but it will be a challenge to run against the Georgia front. AJ Turner has been good and if McIlwain starts, he should provide a solid read option threat that will help to compensate for how atrocious our offensive line is. Stopping Sony Michel will be a real challenge. So far this season, he has been much more effective than Nick Chubb has because of his shiftiness and speed in the open field. Our linebackers will have to do a much better job of tackling in space than we have this season so far. Also, there is the very real possibility that the game gets moved to Athens, so this could become a home game for Georgia.
But that means I get a free ticket to Samford Stadium. Yes please.
ALSO
Volleyball: Virginia Tech d. Clemson 3-0, Pittsburgh d. Clemson 3-0, NC State d. Clemson 3-0, North Carolina d. Clemson 3-1