.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
Two weeks ago, even though Alabama trailed Arkansas for most of the game, you always got the sense that it was going to pull it out in the end. Of course the Tide were going to win.
You never got that feeling in this one.
In the biggest upset of the year and the biggest game for Steve Spurrier since his 1996 national championship, South Carolina beat No.1-ranked Alabama, 35-21, and dominated the Crimson Tide in every aspect of the game. The Gamecocks ran better, passed better, controlled the clock better, showed more poise and played tougher red-zone defense. And it wasn’t a fluke. Alabama played pretty good. The Ol' Ball Coach just got his players ready for the game of the year, and they kicked the Tide’s butt.
For the past three weeks Nick Saban has talked about the “Alabama standard,” as if winning 19 straight were not enough. “We played to that standard in the first half against Florida,” Saban said, giving fans the only hint as to what measurements appeared on the Tide’s mystical barometer for success. But there was no standard for this South Carolina effort.
The biggest shock was the score. Alabama had given up 45 points all year, an average of 9 per game. They gave up 35 points here, 21 in the first half.
It would be easy to write this one off to Alabama’s schedule: the comeback win over No. 9 Arkansas, then the win over No. 7 Florida before heading to Columbia for the 19th-ranked 'Cocks. But the Crimson Tide players weren’t flat, they weren’t hurt, they weren’t slow and they didn’t make a lot of stupid mistakes. They just got coldcocked.
What a difference a couple of weeks makes.
In the final minutes of the Gamecocks' loss to Auburn, Spurrier looked like he might finally be having a Woody Hayes moment, pulling his quarterback, Stephen Garcia, for the final two possessions, even though Garcia was having one of the best games of his career. Two fumbles were too much for the Ball Coach.
As late as Wednesday of this week, he was still berating his junior QB in public, saying things like, “We have emphasized as much as we can for him to hold on to the ball and when he’s about to get tackled to get down and protect the ball. Hopefully he can start doing that. Obviously he hasn’t done it in three years here yet.” These are not the uplifting and inspiring comments a coach normally gives his QB before the biggest game in school history.
But the Mad Genius proved his critics wrong. Not only did Spurrier’s defense shut down Alabama’s potent running game, Garcia, freshman running back Marcus Lattimore and receiver Alshon Jeffery had the best games of their respective careers. Garcia completed 17 of 20 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those TDs and 127 of the yards were to Jeffery, who made one-handed grabs and fought for great yardage after his catches.
Then there was Lattimore. His 23 rushes for 93 yards against the No. 1 defense in the country was perhaps the most impressive performance of the day. Not only did he gain more yards than Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson combined, most of his positive pickups came after contact. He caught a pass for one touchdown and ran for another.
Garcia threw one interception (obviously OKk with the Ball Coach since Garcia stayed in the game), and he gave up a safety on a busted play early in the third quarter, but he did not fumble once, even when lowering his head and running for 18 tough yards.
On the other side of the ball, South Carolina’s strategy seemed to be stop the run and pressure Greg McIlroy. It worked. Ingram and Richardson had a combined 64 yards, and although McIlroy threw for 315, the biggest game of his career, he was sacked seven times.
This was no fluke. South Carolina is not only the real deal, the 'Cocks are two fumbles from being undefeated, and they have the best chance in school history to play in the SEC championship game.
“It’s a great win for us,” Spurrier said, looking more like a returning hero than the doddering old uncle who says nutty things at Thanksgiving. “The offense had the best game they’ve ever had, and the defense played great. Big win for us.”
Then the Mad Genius gave us a glimpse into his mindset, and what he thinks of this Gamecock team. “Let’s hope we can keep it going,” he said. “We need to keep it going.”
