Thursday SEC Round-up: South Carolina Bad, Vandy Worse

The biggest headline we could think of that epitomized South Carolina and Vanderbilt’s performances on the Opening Night of the College Football season was this: “South Carolina bad, Vanderbilt worse”.

Because it’s true.

SOUTH CAROLINA WOES

South Carolina wasn’t so much as a victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels as one fall-over drunk beating the other fall-over drunk to the finish line and collapsing in a stupored mess. ESPN should ban the Gamecocks from opening the season again – since every time they do they seem to absolutely suck.

When I saw that ESPN.com had a “highlights” part for the game, I guffawed a little….because really, there weren’t any offensively.

 

Defensively, Skai Moore had the game-ending interception with Carolina driving for the game-leading TD. Earlier Moore also had an INT, which suddenly makes him the second coming of Vernon Hargreaves (let’s not blame crappy UNC quarterbacking, shall we?). Jordan Diggs also had one too. Also impressive was South Carolina’s defense in the red zone, which kept turned TDs into field goals. If it hadn’t been that way, the Tar Heels would have won pretty impressively.

Connor Mitch, the new South Carolina QB, went 9/22 for 122 yards and 1 TD. Perry Orth, his back-up, went 2/2 for 24 yards. That was about for the passing game.

For the running game, South Carolina had 254 yards vs North Carolina’s 208, dominated by Shon Carson’s four-carry, 75 yard and a great TD performance. Brandon Wilds, who had 51 yards on 14 carries was ineffective, Connor Mitch’s 44 yards on 10 carries showed some effectiveness on the ground – but Carolina fans are really going to need a good arm.

And as for Pharoh Cooper? He went off the field with cramps….but he still led the team with 3 receptions for 45 yards and a TD.

And my last point? This game – regardless of the 51,000 attending – had the atmosphere of a shitty 12pm New Year’s Day bowl game when both sets of fans would rather be elsewhere. Can you imagine what this game would have been like at Chapel Hill? It would have been amazing. I tweeted my annoyance at ESPN showing Carolina students in front of TVs and in bars instead of being at the game, and I was told ticket prices were $100. A USC alumni told me HIS tickets were over $250. In other words, both sets of fans should feel pretty screwed by their own ADs. I hate NFL stadiums for college football games. And always will. That includes you, Jacksonville.

AND AS FOR VANDERBILT…

There’s a Vine out there with a Western Kentucky player saying to his colleague: “They meant to be SEC”. Grammar aside, you get the point. At the moment, Vanderbilt would struggle against bad B1G schools (we see you, Purdue and Syracuse). THAT is how bad they are. They lost 14-12 to Western Kentucky at home.

Tennessee fans laughed with glee at Vanderbilt’s loss, but the problem is is….it’s not that funny. It’s just so sad. The Vanderbilt fans who stand by their team and suffered through 2014 and this game, going to Nashville to see this turd should get some sort of rebate from the school. They really should. The school should say: “We’re sorry about the horrific loss to Western Kentucky. Here’s your money back for the game.” It would go a long way to make the fanbase smile a little through their bourbon-infused Friday hangovers and memories of a pair of missed two-point conversions.

Vanderbilt fans will point out to you that they had the chance to pull it out of the bag at the end with 33 seconds to go. But the bottom line is is that they were playing Western Kentucky. Not someone big-time.

Vandy had 3 turnovers, including two interceptions from starting QB Johnny McCrary (who also threw 18-34 for 217 yards and a TD). Ralph Webb’s 70 yards on 18 carries showed one thing: Vanderbilt’s got some problems on the offensive line now Joe Townsend’s left.

What must irritate – or will it be a small consolation – Derek Mason is that he had 13 minutes more time in possession, ‘won’ the yardage battle 385-246, and limited WKU’s sprightly offense to 11 first downs. And still lost.

AND AFTER ALL OF THIS…

The game between South Carolina and Vanderbilt on October 16 should be avoided at all costs.