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1. Will Sidney Rice continue his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown reception?
If you're wondering, this question has officially reached superstition status. I honestly feel that if I don't include it and Sidney Rice fails to catch a touchdown pass, it will be my fault. Therefore I will continue to include this question until further notice.
Anyway, Sidney will continue to get more and more attention from defenses each week. Luckily, Vanderbilt is ranked No. 11 in the conference in pass defense. The only team in the SEC that is worse defending the pass than Vanderbilt is Kentucky.
Have I mentioned Kentucky is horrible? What? Two of my previous three columns were dedicated to pointing that out? Oh, OK, thanks.
2. Is this the same old Vanderbilt?
Vanderbilt started 4-0 and had Gamecock Assistant Sports Editor Alex Riley driving the Official Vanderbilt Bandwagon down Assembly Street. Since then, they have been 0-3 with a loss to Middle Tennessee State University. That's a kick in the pants.
Vanderbilt is led by senior quarterback Jay Cutler, who was voted by the coaches as preseason All-SEC first team. Can you imagine how Jay Cutler must feel? Being an All-SEC quarterback playing for Vanderbilt is like being Emeril and getting a job cooking in the GMP. It's like Eva Longoria being in an arranged marriage to Drew Carey. It's like ... OK, I'll stop.
3. Does Homecoming actually matter?
I've never really understood Homecoming. It only serves as a distraction, and other than an excuse to make T-shirts and coozies with things such as "Cocktoberfest" and "Spurs and Struts" printed on them, I see no point. (Quick tangent: Has anybody ever actually paid money for a coozy? It seems like twice a week, I'm going to the Russell House and somebody is shoving a coozy in my face. Listen, if I wanted a coozy, I'd come get it from you. I don't need anything else separating me from Pandini's. Not you, not your fliers and certainly not your coozies.)
4. Have we found the right combination on the offensive line?
The starting lineup of Jabari Levey, Freddy Saint-Preux, Chris White, Na'Shan Goddard and Jamon Meredith produced the best performance of the year against Kentucky. I think the most important word in that sentence was "Kentucky."
If USC played Kentucky every week, our offensive line would be full of All-Americans.
The only problem is that when Carolina plays teams with above-average defensive fronts, Blake Mitchell looks about as comfortable in the pocket as an emo dude trying on his first pair of women's jeans. (What is the deal with that? I might have to dedicate an entire column to this phenomenon at some point in time. Don't say I didn't warn you.) If they don't continue the improvement big-time, Tennessee's defensive line might actually eat him alive on national television.
I hope USC has found the right combination, and so does Blake Mitchell's ankle.
5. What will Syvelle Newton do next?
Syvelle Newton has gone from backup wide receiver to backup quarterback to starting quarterback to starting wide receiver to backup quarterback to backup tailback all in a matter of three seasons.
On Saturday, there is a good chance that he could throw a pass, catch a pass, hand the ball off and receive a hand off, all in the same game.
Carolina football hasn't seen versatility like that since Steve Tanneyhill won National Mullet of the Year, wrestled a rabid bear to the death, cured the common cold and led the Gamecocks to a victory all in one Saturday afternoon.
OK, I made that last sentence up.
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