Lets take a look at what the Huskies’ defense is up against in January 2nd’s showdown with South Carolina, shall we?
The Gamecocks are led by Sophomore Quarterback Stephen Garcia. Garcia had a big year, his first as the full time starter. He threw for 2,733 yards and 17 touchdowns, on 223 of 394 passing (56.6%). He ranked second in the SEC in passing yards, and first in completions. Garcia was careful with ball, throwing just 9 interceptions, and only throwing two in a game once this season…vs Florida.
He threw for 300 yards 4 times this year, Georgia 313, Vanderbilt 312, Tennessee 300, and a season high 327 vs Arkansas.
He is not afraid to tuck it and run, either. Garcia carried the ball 105 times for 130 yards and 4 touchdowns. Sacks count against the quarterback’s rushing statistics, so don’t let the 130 yards fool you…he actually rushed for 372 yards.
If there has been a bugaboo for Garcia, it has been the sack. He was sacked a league worst 34 times.
He was the number 4 ranked dual threat quarterback coming out of high school according to Rivals.com, running the 40 in 4.65 seconds.
Garcia had scholarship offers to play at Auburn, Boston College, Florida, Louisville, Mississippi, NC State, and Oklahoma, to name a few…impressive.
Garcia’s midseason highlights :
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Great highlight vid on Garcia.
Go Cocks! Beat Huskies!!
Good luck on the 2nd Army, should be a good one.
Don’t expect a letdown from us. We learned our lesson last year! Never ever lose your last game of the season! UConn can be part of our legacy as we roll to a SEC East title in 2010! Hey! Good luck! I expect a close game, but we are on a roll for next year.
Kid looks solid. More than solid really. 2,733 yards wow!
SC certainly had a more difficult schedule than our dogs.
Line right now is Connecticut +4.5.
Or you could be part of our legacy DJ, we too have high hopes for 2010. : )
The Huskies open up in the Big House next year, if we can beat SC, and win at Michigan to start the season, we should be ranked pretty quickly. Many of the Husky faithful are hoping for a title run in 2010, especially with home games vs WVU, Cincy and Pitt. See you in BHam!
What happened last year DJ? Tough loss?
Title run? Can’t be serious? This is a joke right? Dude yall don’t have a defense thats going to match up with our WR or TE. Yall did have some close loses this year but we took the #1 and #2 teams to the wire! Good luck to both teams next year and get ready for a battle in BHam!! GO COCKS!!!
Guessing Mike meant a Big East title run.
We will see how the D does. Your boys only scored over 20 twice all year and averaged less than 13 per game over the last six.
we play in a real league….with Defenses thats y we score so little points
but it should be a good one….im a lil scared just b/c UCONN is playing for that DB that was killed this year…..very sad, but also very scary when a team has motivation like that
A real league… will really hurt if you lose a game to a team from a fake league then.
Big East has actually competed quite well against the teams from the real league over the past 10 years.
Garcia is a very good QB. He’s already one of my all time favorite gamecock’s. He will leave USC with records.
patrick….you can beat us and it wont matter b/c we are a middle of the pack SEC team and the top half of the SEC is much better than us…….so there is no way yall could beat UF or Bama(in fact i dont think anyone in the bigeast could)
and my point was that avg point/game stat is skewed b/c two of those games were against a NFL D, one that UConn or any other bigeast team hasnt faced
plus our O isnt what you should be scared of…..its our D that yall should watch out for, esp. #40 b/c he is a man amongst boys out there
I think UCONN has one of the best young coaches in the nation. Honestly, I believe Notre Dame should have hired him. We ( Carolina), have a tremendous amount of true freshmen starting and on the two deep. We are in prime position to make our run at the SEC East considering what UF, UT, UGA are losing next year. We must not look to next season yet though b/c UCONN is very well coached, fundamentally sound and efficient, they won’t beat themselves. I do believe our defense being healthy and rested finally, will be much tougher than UCONN has seen. Carolina did struggle against the run against Bama and Tenn, but look how impressive we were after we finally got a bye week before Clemson. I think UCONN is a team on the rise in the Big East, especially if Etzel stays and now that Kelly left Cincy. I expect they will be prepared and motivated.. Ultimately though, I think the Gamecocks will win fairly convincingly b/c I think their run game will be very effective, and when that happens (Clemson) I don;t see them covering Carolina’s very big and athletic receivers 1 on 1. Also, Garcia can hurt you in so many ways and we just don’t turn the ball over. Everyone will talk about Carolina’s D goin’ in to the game, but our offense has become so multiple and balanced. Throw in the “wild Cocky” and I think its just to hard to prepare for. Everyone knows Carolina is more talented, but Uconn will play well and keep it interesting. I like this UCONN team alot, but I don’t see them matching up physically or athletically. The only way I see us losing this one is if they show up totally unfocused and unmotivated which would shock me from this team. I think we are very possibly looking at a game between 2010 division/conference champs. Carolina 27 UCONN 16
GO COCKS!!!
OH YEAH!!!
Rank Conf/teams All Non-Conf Index SOS SOS Rk
1 SEC/12 91-55 (62%) 42-6 (88%) 47.24 39.36 3
2 Big East/8 60-36 (63%) 32-8 (80%) 46.99 38.64 4
3 Pac 10/10 66-54 (55%) 21-9 (70%) 45.91 41.01 1
4 Big 10/11 76-56 (58%) 32-12 (73%) 45.85 39.53 2
5 Big 12/12 84-62 (58%) 35-13 (73%) 44.39 37.52 5
6 ACC/12 79-67 (54%) 30-18 (63%) 43.14 37.37 6
7 MWC/9 57-51 (53%) 21-15 41.19 34.95 7
8 WAC/9 55-56 19-20 35.64 28.25 8
9 Independants/3 20-17 18-15 34.3 23.88 10
10 Conf USA/12 68-78 19-29 33.58 26.78 9
11 MAC/13 69-89 16-36 30.42 23.51 11
12 Sun Belt/9 44-64 28-Aug 28.3 21.6 12
Looks like Sportsartsconnfan’s link came through a little funny, but I think you get the picture. The Big East is #2 in RPI. We are from a real conference…don’t believe the media hype that is always putting us down. 32-8 non-conference (80%), second only to the SEC’s 42-6 (88%). Chris, I’d also like to point out a couple of things. No one in the SEC can beat Bama or Florida either, so I’m not sure that’s the best example. Lets see how Cincy does vs Florida…I wish Kelly was coaching. Remember, the last time the SEC champ met the Big East champ, it was the Big East coming out on top, in SEC territory. We all know the SEC is strongest conference, we aren’t here to debate that…but we believe the Big East is as strong as the rest, and capable on any given day, of beating anyone. Our records prove that out. Should be a good game on the 2nd. This is our first year with our new OC, and we were slow out of the gate, but it started clicking vs Louisville, and we haven’t looked back. We’ll show up on the 2nd.
USC took the #1 and #2 teams to the wire, so UConn can’t compete with USC? Well, we lost to Cincy by 2 in their house. But they’re #3, so we’re screwed. The RPI numbers speak for themselves. SEC is number one, no doubt. But the Big East is a legit conference, better than the big 10, big 12, pac 10 and acc. they only place we’re lacking is perception, on the field, we’re doing fine.
the big east is NOT better than the Pac Ten or Big 12……they actually have National Title contenders every now and then
speaking of which….we have the last 3 and are about to make it 4 in a row
i cant wait to see Jeffery running routes against your pass D….he will have a field day against your #94 pass defense
and anyone who is gonna compare UF and Bama with Cinci just doesnt know football….they have a great O but no D…..and just look at Oklahoma and that great O last year, it was shut down by the same exact defense that will play cinci….and everyone outside the SEC was shocked, but we werent b/c we know we play defense better than any conference in the nation and defenses win championships(on any level of football)
Chris, I wouldn’t be putting them down so much. Going up against a team that has a huge reason to play and the fact that we often tend to shoot ourselves in the foot, I wouldn’t put it past Uconn to beat us if we get cocky. This is just like any game, it’s won in the trenches, and any given team can beat any other given team at any time. Look at all the upsets this year.
Now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t beat them soundly, because we should, but this game worries me more than some of the others we’ve played this year. Just because we stuffed Clemson and Spiller, which was a great day I might add, does not mean that we are automatically mistake free and unbeatable.
Here’s to an injury free game, looking forward to the 2nd.
Chris, not ChrisW, I think you should go back and check your facts…Texas is clearly only playing for a national title because the big 12 is horrid this season. Terrible. Cincy beat Oregon State more soundly at Oregon State, than Oregon did in Oregon, for the conference championship. Cincy’s D is not as much of a disaster as you think. Aside from Pitt and UConn scoring in the 40′s, take a look at their scores.
Chris, also, even you must admit, this was a down year for the SEC. Florida was no where near as good as last year, this year, but no one in the SEC was good enough to beat them…besides Alabama killing them. When is the last time Florida played a non-conference game outside of Florida? It was more than 10 years ago, at Syracuse, and they lost. Big bad Bama got beat by Utah last year, and you think the Huskies will simply lose to South Carolina, because they are in the SEC, and we are in the Big East? Sounds to me like you are the one who needs a lesson in football brother…not us. Furthermore, West Virginia was moments away from playing for the title in 2007, when Pat White got hurt and missed half the last game of the season, and the Mountaineers lost to Pitt. The next week they destroyed Big 12 Champ Oklahoma…see, two can play at this game. Cincy, and for that matter TCU, deserve the title shot vs Bama, more than Texas does…who is Texas’ best win of the season? OK State? the same OK State that Conf USA Houston took down. The landscape in college football has changed, and will continue to change. You can choose to notice it, or bury your head in the sand like ESPN and the other pundits. Bring your lunch pail on the 2nd…Have you seen the UConn offensive line yet? Did you know that Donald Brown led the Nation with over 2000 yards rushing last year? Did you know that as an encore this year we had not one but 2, 1000 yard backs? I’m all for keeping it, “good luck on the 2nd” and we can high five eachother. But don’t start spewing Big East hatrid around here…and don’t a little thing like facts get in the way of your feelings about the College football landscape.
Chris-You’re right, objective things like the RPI don’t matter.
all other gc fans-
As for “beating UConn soundly”….we’ll see. Aside from the name, and riding the coat-tails of Bama/Florida, I don’t know why your fans would be so cocky. Thankfully, it seems as if it’s a minority. i understand why you think you should win, I feel the same. But we’ve lost 5 games by 15 points, and all 5 of those teams are playing in bowl games. what makes you think you’re going to do what no other team could, including several teams better than you?
Our pass defense has been horrid, but a lot of that is due to starting 3 freshmen in the secondary. They got better as the year progressed, and the extra practice time should help. Funny how many of your fans feel the same about your young o-line, but that theory doesn’t apply to our young secondary. I’m pretty sure you’ll have some success on offense, our normally stout defense has struggled. I’m also pretty sure you’re going to be surprised at how big/athletic our offensive line is.
You don’t have 3 running backs combine for well over 4000 yards rushing in two seasons by accident.
cthusky77-
The only reason I believe some of our fans are being cocky is because of the win over Clemson. Sure, we may have dominated them the entire game, but just because we pulled it together for that one doesn’t mean we won’t fall apart again. I believe in this years team, and I think it’s finally our time, but I won’t say it forsure until they prove to me that they want to be out there and play.
It’s really a toss up. I can see you guys winning, especially if we pull the same stuff we did last year against Clemson and Iowa.
But, you are right, we will see. I do hope it’s a good game, I like UConn more than I do a lot of other teams, even in the SEC (Tennessee).
Gahh, I’m stoked on this game. The majority of the UConn fans I’ve talked to have been very classy. I can’t stand fans who are complete douche bags, although every team has ‘em.
By the way, the fact that you guys lost 5 games by a total of 15 points is what really scares me. I know you guys can keep up with us, and we’ve been known to collapse in the 4th. However, I do believe this years team is different, and keeps trying even in tight games, or games where we have a slim chance of winning. I think it will be closer than most people expect, without a doubt.
mike, i dont need a football lesson, i know the SEC is best and the past 3 National Champs prove it and we are about to make it 4 in a row, when is the last time a conference did that? idk, so heres your chance to give me a lesson……..
Yes, the SEC is best. But UConn isn’t playing the SEC, we’re playing USC.
It’s just too funny how some (SOME) USC fans think they’re a better team because Florida, LSU, and Bama are/were very good teams.
What possible impact does Florida’s national championship team have on a bowl game between UConn and USC?
None at all. Unless you don’t know anything about UConn and just assume USC is better because you’re in a better conference.
It’s just silly chest thumping from someone who isn’t even a Florida fan. I’m sure those Gator fans are on Cincy websites talking up your gamecocks! LOL.
I think what he’s trying to get at is because we’re in the SEC, we’re a higher caliber football team than most in other conferences.
Yes, the SEC is the dominant conference right now, but that doesn’t mean shit to us. Knowing our background, you shouldn’t expect us to go out and demolish any team we play just because they’re in a conference that isn’t the dominant one at the time
You need a reality check, I’m not saying I don’t have confidence in our team, I definitely do. But our track record doesn’t hold up so well.
I’m a gamecock fan through and through, and I grew up going to the games, I hope we win it, but you shouldn’t always expect it to go as we plan. We thought we were going to roll over Tennessee and Arkansas, and look how that went.
Chris, like I said, if you think that USC will beat UConn, simply because you are from the SEC and we are from the Big East, then I can’t help you. This is some of the biggest coat tail riding I’ve ever seen.
You’re talking to the wrong guy, haha. It’s the other Chris saying that, not me. Reread my post real quick. I’m saying I think you guys have the ability to beat us, regardless of whether or not we’re in the SEC.
And maybe I should rephrase my first sentence, what he’s aying is that he thinks because we’re in the SEC we’re a higher caliber football team. I don’t believe that whatsoever.
No, I know ChrisW…I replied to you but was replying to the other Chris…my bad. Fact is, on paper, this is a real good match up. I think it has the potential to be a really good, down to the last second type of game…Certainly Vegas agrees…short line, and the Huskies are traveling to SEC territory…
My tickets arrived yesterday…booyah.
This is all silly stuff!!!
If you are not going to be in Birmingham to really support your team, then “Ya’ll need to hush”!
See you on New Year’s Day in Five Points for the party and then on the 2nd for the game!
U S C Gooooo COCKS!!! We may be the numer 30 team in the nation, but we are top 5 tailgaters!
See you in the five points JDD.
It will be a good game..I as a Carolina fan dont count Uconn out of this at all..Great match-up. Thanks for the good article..
I’m having a hard time thinking that ChrisW is a true GameCock fan. Reading his comments were very black and white. I really hope that the GameCocks don’t say I hope we win but will probably lose no wait we might win naaa thats not us will lose. Come on to both teams fans we go in to every game saying we will win because if you’re thinking they lose right off the bat then why even pull for that team. Dosen’t make sense does it.
Good luck both teams, no injuries hopefully but I’d like to to see us come home with the W….
oh yeah,,,, GO COCKS!!!!!!!!!!!111
Anyone who takes 50 passes and only gets 300 yards isn’t that good
LSU, and Florida won those titles. What has South Carolina done to contribute to the SEC but, get thrashed year in and year out by those teams. South Carolina sucks plain and simple.
Go Cocks
Huskie fans, here’s to a good clean fun game….
But to the few post I read here about how great Uconn is because of the 4,000 yards rushing and thier offensive line….
Plain and simple: You guys do not play the talent and calliber of teams we do.
Our defense will handle that, bet on it.
Look, we are 7-5. We have defeated two teams in the top 25 this year.
Go back and look at how we played Alabama and Florida. True we lost, but we scared the hell of of em. And were in the game the whole time.
If Uconn thinks their ready and we are full of crap, then Huskies, you better come heavy, cause this is gonna be a fight!
GO COCKS!
Thanks Blackmagic…yawn.
Blackmagic, did you know that you allowed Vanderbilt 141 yards rushing? Did you know that only Mississippi allowed them to rush for more in the SEC? If you don’t think that Connecticut can run the ball at least as well as Vanderbilt, then you don’t watch non-SEC football. The Huskies hung with Cincy, so what? Should I say we will beat South Carolina because we only lost by two to the #3 team in the country? It’s irrelevant. It’s about match ups…Your thumping your chest about losing 20-6 to Alabama, a game in which you did not score a touchdown? Don’t get me wrong , there’s no shame in losing by 14 to Bama, but in reality, how close is a game that you didn’t score a touchdown in? Scared the hell out them? Ingram had by far and away his best game of the year vs you…10.3 yards per carry? Pretty scary. Stop riding Bama’s coat tails, and tell us what you accomplished, and why you think you can win…losing by 14 and getting steamrolled by Ingram does not help your argument…just so you know. Beating Clemson does, I was impressed with the manner that you dispatched a pretty good Clemson team in…
I’m not saying we lose, I’m saying UConn has the ability to beat us. Reread my posts. I never once said I think UConn will beat us, but I do believe they can. I love this team with all my heart, and pull for them every game. Even games that we’re losing pretty badly I stay in my seats till the end.
Once again, I’m not saying that they will beat us, but that if the players get as cocky as some of the fans and think it’s going to be a walk in the park, then they can most definitely take advantage of that.
And also, looking at our track record, you know that we slide late in the season. Even when we do, I’m there every game cheering my ass off with the rest of the fans, and I keep my hopes up until the games over.
And I never said we will lose. I said it’s a possiblity. I go into every game saying that we will win, but don’t lose track of reality. This is college football. Anything is possible.
Sorry if this is a bit incoherent, I haven’t slept in 48 hours.
Mike,
You do know Vandy’s Freshman RB is one of the best freshmen RB’s in the country, right?
By the way, we play 12 games, not just one.
Also, you want to chest-thump the bama game, right? Ok. good.
Yeah, Ingram ran for over 200 on us, but they only score 2 td’s in the whole game, with the last coming in the final 2 mins of the game.
So what does that mean???
Uh, yeah,….that means Bama won 20-6, and in 58 mins of football versus us only scored one td. Rush yards don’t win games bubba, the score is all that matters. We did hold many teams stronger than you in check this year. (to name a few, McCluster of Ole Miss, Spiller of Clemson and like I said, in 58 mins of football Bama only one TD and played Florida with Tebow/Demps/Rainey within 10 points.)
That also means what kind of defense we will be bringing to the table.
You have not faced a better defense this entire year than what you will face this Saturday my friend.
Dude, honestly, if we were in the Big East right now………we’d most likely be in the BCS bowl game.
Saying the South Carolina would be the best team in the Big East is ludicrous. You just lost any credibility you had. Play better than .500 in your own conference before you claim to be the best in ours…nonsense. You have no basis for such a statement, no statistical analysis…nothing. You just felt like saying that…so it must be true. Vandebilt is awful. They lost to Army. Louisville was easily the worst team in our conference…terrible season. They still managed to hang 27 on Kentucky, at Kentucky, in a 4 pt loss. Shouldn’t that tell you something? Louisville outgained Kentucky in the game…if not for a 100 yard kick return by Kentucky, the Ville may very well have won that game.
We don’t have to play the you played this one who beat this one by X points etc game…because match-ups are different, and it’s a flawed way to look at things…but when a league’s worst team, goes on the road to face one of your middle of the pack teams…and hangs right in there…bells and whistles should go off. Our conference is far better than you are giving us credit for. We are also #1 in RPI. the RPI has it’s flaws…but here you go :
http://www.realtimerpi.com/football/ncaaf_conf_Men.html
Your right, let’s not look at one game…Vandy 141, Tennessee 199, SC State (FBS?) 170, Bama 264, Florida 140, Kentucky 205…come on BlackMagic…your run defense has been up and down, and you know it. Saying otherwise would be disingenuous. I appreciate you think the Gamecocks will win…you are a fan, you should. But your basis for that argument is flawed to no end.
My numbers are flawed huh?
But all you keep hammering is one game against one team mainly…..Vanderbilt.
I already mentioned that we play 12 games Mike, not one. Every team has ups and downs each week, but when the day is over, the only thing matters is that you got the “W”. And we got that versus Vandy.
It doesn’t matter that UL was your worst team who hung 27 on Kentucky, they still didn’t get the W. Besides, that is a rivalry game. You can throw almost everything out the window when it comes to those.
I also mentioned Vandy’s freshman RB is one of the best in the nation too, and you chose not to comment on that.
And yes while Vandy is the “worst” team in our league, they still went to and won a bowl game last year……yet again, that is more “statisical proof” of where our league and conference is at as far as competition.
You also didn’t say a thing about how we held Heisman Trophy candidate C.J. Spiller to a mere 18 yards???? How come?
RPI…??? That’s good and cute and all for basketball, but in football, it shows nothing imo.
…..Hmmm….
As I sit here watching your conference champion and undefeated Cincy Bearcats getting @ss-raped by the Florida Gators (again a team we played within 10 points) by the score of 37-3 in the late 3rd quarter……I can only imagine what’s going to happen to your huskies tomorrow! LOL!
(Ah, I love a little good smack talking)
Note to blackmagic…when Florida wins a football game it has nothing to do with anything south Carolina does…nothing. Because Florida is good you don’t get to claim being good. Stop riding coat tails…
I didn’t just point out vandy I pointed out 5 or 6 games which you got gashed in…spotty run defense…inconsistent…dispute that?
Are you in bham blackmagic??? Why not? I am…
Uh, yes I am in BHam, I was sitting in a chair in the hotel room last night watching on TV.
They do have chairs there too ya know…
The only other thing I’m going to “dispute” is simply this…
SC will win today and big because:
#1 – We flat out have more talent than you do. In 5 years we have been a consistent top 25 class by rivals, scout and espn. 2 times out of those 5 we broke the top 10 rankings.
#2 – Our defense will be too much for you.
#3 – You have no defense to stop our offense.
#4 – We have a better coach/coaching staff that you do.
#5 – Regardless of what you say about the rushing yards we allowed against certain opponents, you do not play that level of talent consistently. (Fla/Cincy game last night was proof of that. The best team you played to all year was man handled by the second best team we played all year. You hung close with Cincy, we hung close with Florida. It is a legitamate comparrison)
And finally, our crown jewel of the year was beating a #4 ranked in the country Ole Miss (Jevan Snead – preseason Heisman Candidate) and beating a #25th ranked Clemson Tiger team with CJ Spiller(Heisman Candidate). Ole Miss plays Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl, and Clemson defeated Kentucky in the Music City Bowl.
Have you even beat a ranked team this year???? How many teams have you beat that are even in a bowl game????
Ranked teams beaten by UCONN : ZERO.
Bowl Team Beaten by UCONN: South Florida and Ohio…….WOW? (Ohio lost to a 6-6 Marshall, USF hasn’t played yet.)
Your corwn jewel was barely beating a washed up and pathetic Notre Dame team that couldn’t fight it’s way out of a paper bag by 3 points in the final seconds. ( You beat Baylor by 8.)
Going to tailgate now…..enjoy the game.
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