Gamecocks Expecting Major Challenge from Mallett and Co.
By Wes Mitchell
GamecockAnthem.com
With South Carolina's opportunity to lock up the SEC East pushed
back a weekend, the biggest storyline for the Gamecocks this weekend may
be the struggling Carolina secondary and its match-up with the Arkansas
passing attack.
The two teams will square off in Williams-Brice Stadium Saturday night at 7:00 PM.
The Razorbacks lead the conference with 360.2 passing yards a game.
"They're the best passing team in the conference by far,"
Spurrier said Sunday during his weekly teleconference. "They're probably
going to be licking their chops when they see the tapes of our last
several games. We have to do some improvement, do some different stuff
or whatever we need to do to try to slow down Arkansas this week. It's
going to be a big challenge to see if we can beat Arkansas."
The Gamecocks did what they needed to do to defeat the SEC's
worst team, Tennessee, Saturday. But the 38-24 victory did not come
without creating further questions about the Gamecocks' secondary.
The Gamecocks gave up 312 passing yards to Tennessee quarterbacks
Matt Simms and Tyler Bray, and allowed receiver Denarius Moore to catch
6 passes for 228 yards, the largest receiving total for a Division 1
player this season.
"It was a good win for us (Saturday), but we didn't play good
pass defense at times," Spurrier said. "Sometimes our guys are not in
position and just not making plays. Simple as that. I thought we had
some pretty sound coverages called but we didn't execute them to well."
Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett will be looking to set more
records of his own Saturday night. Mallett, considered the conferences
top pocket passer by most, set a school record in Arkansas' 49-14
victory over Vanderbilt this past weekend with 409 passing yards.