This was my first trip to Columbia for what Gamecock fans refer to as The Border War. Let me tell you a little something about this "rivalry".
#1. To a Gamecock, this is their biggest SEC game of the year, and the second biggest rivalry game of the year (behind Clem(p)son).
#2. To me, a staunch UGA supporter, this game is a tie for 7th with the Arizona State game as far as games I was excited/worried about (in order, 1.Florida, 2.LSU, 3.Auburn, 4.Tennessee/Alabama, 6. Tech, 7.USC/Arizona State, 9. Kentucky/Vandy/CMU, 12. Southern).
So when I walked into Willy-Brice Stadium and it was louder than most UGA games I go to, I began to think USC might want this game more than we do. I'm of the opinion two weeks ago against Vandy the 'Cocks got caught thinking ahead. Just like last Saturday we got caught thinking ahead to our trip to Arizona (and honestly Arizona St. did too, we just managed to think about it and win).
Everyone and their grandmother saw the AZ St. kids holding their Chick-Fil-A sponsored "Bring on Georgia" signs a while back. We might as well have been holding Wienerschnitzel sponsored "Our hearts are in Tempe" signs as we strolled around Columbia because our offense played like we were already members of the "Wiener Lover's Club".
Either way, we won and I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day of the week.
Yeah, we dropped in the polls but don't worry. If we keep winning that won't matter any more. If you want to blow out a team coached by Tyrone Willingham each week and expect ESPN to bless you with a golden shower every time then you've got another thing coming, Bob Stoops. When we get into the heart of our schedule and prove we deserve to be ranked as high as we were preseason, then that's where we'll make our bread. I think South Carolina is going to surprise some people this year if they can get some competent offense going because their defense wasn't going to give us any freebies.
Yeah I was pissed to be out there in the 95 degree heat index with no wind (kicker's paradise) and have my team participate in an offensive pee pee sword-fight, but the good guys won, and we'll learn from having true competition expose our weaknesses we need to work on. Unlike the guy sitting behind me (who apparently should have been out there calling plays as much as he knew about the game), I'm not quite ready to fall into the rut of calling for Coach Martinez's first-born to be sacrificed because we rushed 3 and dropped 8. Our coaches know what they're doing and soon enough we'll win a big one by a large margin and we'll all be praising Willie and hopefully forgetting our old DC Brian Van Gorder who jumped ship to begin his quest for the world record of most jobs in a 10 year period (which is going swimmingly I hear).
Perhaps if/when we lose a game from the errors we made we can all throw our collective turd-logs into the fan, but until then rest assured that practice this week will be focusing on what we lacked and improvement is sure to come. Arizona State is a pass-happy team and our Pass Defense got 'pants'ed in front of the entire city of Columbia last weekend. Chillax, we'll fix it.
Each game from here on out is do or die. If you'll recall last year it took a scare from Vandy to start us on a Tazmanian Devil style path of destruction through the SEC's toughest. Perhaps an obliteration of Rudy Carpenter will open some eyes next weekend. If that doesn't work a presumed Black Out of Alabama should light the fuse to the Dawg-Rocket.
Either way, I still think it's a great time to be a Dawg fan because we've got a 5 game win streak in SEC play, under our current mascot we're undefeated, and Matthew Stafford STILL hasn't thrown an interception. Keep the faith, there is still a LONG road ahead of us and now is not the time to throw people under the bus.
How 'bout them Dawgs?
4 comments:
Oh my gosh, I HATE those people who sit there in the stands critiquing every single call the coaches make. And I ALWAYS seem to be sitting near one. It takes everything within my power from turning around and unloading on these people. You know what, this same coaching staff that these guys crap on are the same guys who have averaged 10 wins a year for the last 7 years, have 2 SEC championships, 3.5 SEC East titles, and 3 top 7 finishes in 7 years, not to mention the current #3 team in the country. I think they know football a LITTLE better than Cletus sitting in Section 137.
Good job going in to Williams-Brice and bringing home the win, Mackie, even if was an ugly one. I'll take 11 more of those, thank you.
We lost votes when we blew out a cupcake (CMU) yet Oklahoma gained votes for blowing out Washington. In case anyone forgot, CMU was a conference champion while Washington went about 3-9 (may have been 4-8, I don't really care). A win is a win, and as long as we keep putting them on the board we will be in the right place when the season ends. As Bubba called it, good riddance to the arm pit of the Southeast (at least for two years). Go Dawgs!!!
Well done Mackie. Regarding the Dawg fans shitting the bed because we won an ugly game, notwithstanding the fact that it is always ugly against SC, I like what Senator Blutarsky wrote,
"Relax guys. Let the game come to you."
It's coming...
GATA!
I know one thing for sure after Saturday's game, I'm got going back to Columbia for a long time.
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