Spurrier not concerned with tussle between assistant coaches
South Carolina was without senior defensive back Victor Hampton for the first half of the Gamecock’s game against Georgia. Coach Steve Spurrier said that Hampton violated team rules and decided that a half would be a good punishment.
“It happens,” Spurrier said. “We had two guys suspended for a half the first game so that seems like it’s the thing to do these days: suspend a guy for a half.”
The Gamecocks allowed the Bulldogs to score 24 points in the first half. In addition, UGA quarterback Aaron Murray threw for 122 yards and two touchdowns in the opening half.
However, Hampton’s return in the second half did not do much to slow down the Georgia offense, and the Bulldogs eventually won the game, 41-30.
The defensive concerns were the main talk of Saturday’s post-game press conference, and Spurrier found himself reminiscing about the old days.
“Those three-and-out days, I hope that they come back around to us again,” Spurrier said. “We have to be a little more creative on defense.”
“You miss a guy like D.J. Swearinger. I look around and somebody has got to make a tackle. Where’s Swearinger?”
Frustrating defense
The South Carolina offense was able to have some success against the Bulldog defense, but it was overshadowed by the defensive miscues.
Sophomore running back Mike Davis, who racked up 149 yards and a touchdown against the Bulldogs, said that it is hard to watch the Georgia offense march down the field.
“It is very frustrating to see our defense out there longer than us,” Davis said. “It’s very hard to watch our defense go against guys and not stopping them.”
Shaw fumble
Quarterback Connor Shaw had a good game statistically in his return to his home state, but had a costly fumble deep in Georgia territory that Spurrier said might have cost the Gamecocks a score.
While Spurrier praised Shaw’s play, the senior was disappointed in the turnover.
“I thought I was down, thought my knee was down,” Shaw said. “But there is no excuse for that. I tried to make a guy miss and they punched it out from behind. That’s going to stick with me for a little bit, but somehow we have to get over this loss and bounce back next week.”
Moving on
During Spurrier’s teleconference on Sunday, he said that safety Kadetrix Marcus could be back to play against Vanderbilt. Sophomore T.J. Gurley has performed admirably in his place, recording 20 tackles in the two games played.
Meanwhile, center Cody Waldrop is doubtful for Saturday after missing the Georgia game. However, Spurrier was pleased with the play of back-up Clayton Stadnik against the Bulldogs.
Spurrier reiterated that he hopes his team has come back down to Earth after Saturday and isn’t thinking about making the SEC championship.
“We’ve got to worry about going to a bowl game right now,” Spurrier said. “We have zero conference wins.”
Infighting
Fans watching Saturday’s game on ESPN were shown a scuffle between defensive line coach Deke Adams and linebackers coach Kirk Botkin that had to be broken up by defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward.
After the game, Spurrier said he wasn’t aware of the altercation, but he is not worried about the relationship of his assistant coaches.
“I guess one of them said ‘Your guy needs to make a play’ and the other one said ‘Your guy needs to make a play,’” Spurrier said. “So that’s okay. We’ll get that hammered out.”