Saturday, August 28, 2010

SEC Football Blogger

A Half-Dozen Hyper-Specific Predictions About…South Carolina

Posted: 27 Aug 2010 08:03 PM PDT

A Half-Dozen Hyper-Specific Predictions About…South Carolina

South Carolina was actually having a pretty good off-season. Superpowered recruits like Marcus Lattimore and Connor Shaw signed and committed. 16 starters returned, and that includes four on the offensive line. The SEC East is wide open. There was hope, right?

Then Marvin Austin had a party. And from the looks of it, a key mass of pass-catching and blockery in Weslye Saunders has been brought down because of it. And then? Reports have several starters receiving extra benefits from a South Carolina hotel and several starters will be forced to miss at least a game.

What will happen to the fighting Steve Spurrier’s? Find out…starting where I post 1 and a parenthesis.

Last Year: 7-6 (3-5 t4th SEC East)

1) In a karmic twist of fate, Stephen Garcia will be forced to miss three games while left tackle Jerriel King is suspended. Connor Shaw will not lose any games that Stephen Garcia would have won. He will also not win over the Gamecock fanbase…yet.

2) The old school reputation of Southern Miss as a giant-killer gets national attention as on the opening Thursday, the Golden Eagles go into Columbia and absolutely stun the depleted Gamecocks 31-21. In fact? Cordarro Law goes all Deacon Jones on Kyle Nunn and prediction number one comes true.

3) Rumors of Steve Spurrier quietly retiring start to echo after the suspensions, the failure of the Wild cock experiment, and the challenging start to the schedule cause the Gamecocks to stumble to a 1-4 start.

4) The combined forces of Marcus Lattimore, Kenny Miles, and Jarvis Giles will each start at least two games and have a game where they rush for 75 yards.

5) All the while, Shaq Wilson will generate copious amounts of tackles. He will race Chris Marve and LSU’s Kelvin Patterson to the top of the tackle leaderboard. He will finish 2nd.

6) What starts off as a nightmarish September that creeps into October, heals quickly. An easier schedule and a healthier team gets them off the deck. There may not be any highlight win in conference, but they will submarine a seemingly more superior Clemson team to get a bowl berth.

This year: 6-6 (3-5) t3rd SEC East

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