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Thursday, September 6, 2007
Will Spurrier play it close to the vest?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five burning questions as we head for Saturday.
1. Will Steve Spurrier keep it close to the vest? When he was at Florida, the Head Ball Coach could be pretty stubborn when it came scoring as many points as he could. Now that he’s at South Carolina, Spurrier has learned the virtue of defense and is willing to win 17-10 if that’s what it takes. Does he stay on the conservative side with his play calling and try to keep the game close going into the fourth quarter? Or does he go for a couple of home runs early in an effort to take the Sanford Stadium crowd out of the game?
2. Will Alabama pass the test? One of the raps of the Mike Shula regime at Alabama was that the Crimson Tide could get up for the big games with Florida and Tennessee, but would then put up a pedestrian performance and struggle against the perceived lesser teams in the conference. Nick Saban will have none of that. He is demanding that Alabama play at a certain level, regardless of the opponent. When Alabama goes to Vanderbilt on Saturday, we’ll find out if Saban has gotten his point across. Old habits are hard to break.
3. Does Clemson come out flat? Like Alabama, the book on Clemson under Tommy Bowden is that they can get up for the big game when the bright lights are on, like they were Monday night against Florida State. But then they come short for a noon game when not as many people are watching. The Tigers will certainly beat Louisiana-Monroe despite the short week. But will they look sloppy doing it? Fortunately for Clemson, the Tigers have Louisiana-Monroe this week and Furman next week before going on the road to N.C. State.
4. Will Brandon Cox stay upright? Unfortunately for Auburn, the word is out that the best way to beat the Tigers is to get really physical with the quarterback. There were times last week when Cox was woozy and that’s not good. Hugh Nall’s offensive line has three more weeks to grow up before they go to Florida on Sept. 29. Florida’s defense is young but they are fast and nasty. Let’s see how many times Cox gets hit by South Florida.
5. How would you like to be Fred Goldsmith?: He is the former head coach at Rice and Duke and the current head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne. His team, which plays in Division II, has the assignment of going to Appalachian State on Saturday. After upsetting Michigan last Saturday, Appalachian State officials are expecting over 30,000 to try and shoehorn their way into a 16,000 seat Stadium for the celebration. Lenoir-Rhyne, which can give only 36 scholarships, lost its opener to Virginia Union 28-13. Goldsmith said if his team won Saturday, it would be a “bigger upset” than Appalachian beating Michigan.
