SEC Thursday Night Preview
South Carolina at Vanderbilt • 8:30 p.m. ET • ESPN
When Gamecocks’ head coach Steve Spurrier was at Florida from 1990 to 2001, he rarely lost consecutive games to the same team. In fact, only Florida State, Auburn and Alabama were successful in defeating Spurrier’s teams in successive years. In Alabama’s case, they beat the Gators twice in the same season.
Since arriving in Columbia in Dec. 2004, however, Spurrier’s track record has taken a bit of a hit. In his first three seasons at USC, the Gamecocks have lost two in a row to Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, Auburn and Georgia. Tonight, Bobby Johnson’s Vanderbilt Commodores attempt to make it two in a row over Spurrier after dousing the Gamecocks 17-6 last season in Columbia. It was the Commodores’ only victory over a Spurrier-coached team in 15 tries, and it couldn’t have come at a worst time for USC, as it had sprinted to a 6-1 start to the season a year ago and were ranked No. 6 in the nation at the time. The loss to Vandy began a downward spiral that left the Gamecocks bowl-less finishing the season at 6-6.
The South Carolina offense was limited to just 282 yards by an active ‘Dores defense. Starting quarterback Chris Smelley threw two interceptions and was sacked seven times.
The Gamecocks posted their first shutout since Aug. 31, 2006 by defeating N.C. State 34-0 in the season opener a week ago, while Vandy enters its home opener coming off at 34-13 win at Oxford, Ohio against Miami.
Vanderbilt opened the campaign with a healthy Chris Nickson at quarterback, who rushed for 166 yards on 20 carries behind an inexperienced offensive line. Johnson was pleased with the unit’s play, and said that most of Nickson’s dashes were planned.
“Obviously, when you’ve got those guys that are inexperienced they’re going to make some mistakes, but all those runs that Chris made, he wasn’t improvising. They were designed plays. I think he had two or three scrambles and only one where he made significant yards,” Johnson said. “The rest of them were designed quarterback draws, zone reads, option plays, and I thought they [O-line] did a good job of executing those schemes. Obviously, we can get better, our technique needs to improve, but when you’re playing the first game you’ve got to be pretty pleased with the way they did it.
“I think our offensive line is more athletic and in the long run will be better than last year,” Johnson added.
Johnson’s offense has challenges to overcome, however, as the Commodores’ receiving corps is thin due to Earl Bennett’s early departure to the NFL’s Chicago Bears, and injuries to returnees George Smith, John Cole and Alex Washington. Look for defensive standout D.J. Moore to see significant time at receiver tonight.
“I like our offense. I think we’re going to be much better than we were last year because we’re going to be better at quarterback because Chris Nickson is healthy and Mackenzi Adams is a year older,” Johnson said. “I think we’re better at running back. Jeff Jennings probably won’t play this Thursday because of a shoulder injury but Jared Hawkins and Gaston Miller are going to have to step up, but I think we’re going to be better at that position also.”
Both USC and Vanderbilt have solid defenses, but the outcome of tonight’s contest will come down to which offense can successfully move the chains with the passing game. We expect neither team to have much success with the run. Keep an eye on D.J. Moore and Reshard Langford (above left) in the Vanderbilt secondary, and strong safety Emanuel Cook (right) and cornerback Captain Munnerlyn in the Gamecocks' defensive backfield.
With the onus on the passing attacks, we give an advantage to South Carolina, primarily because of wide receiver Kenny McKinley and tight end Jared Cook. With game one starter Tommy Beecher banged up, Smelley will see a lot of action and will attempt to redeem himself from last year’s debacle.
We have the utmost respect for Bobby Johnson, but can’t see Spurrier losing two-in-a-row to the Commodores.
SU Prediction: South Carolina 23, Vanderbilt 13