South Carolina injuries

[UKErik]

QB Connor Mitch (hip pointer)...expected to play
RB Brandon Wilds (bruised shoulder)...looks questionable
WR Deebo Samuel (strained hamstring)...looks questionable
WR Terry Googer (bruised thigh)...looks questionable

Cooper (one of the top WR's in college football) is healthy, but otherwise, the Gamecocks are allegedly becoming kind of thin at receiver.

South Carolina also lost their top reserve OL this weekend (broken bone of some sort).

GBB!!!

 

[Rhavicc]

QB Connor Mitch (hip pointer)...expected to play
RB Brandon Wilds (bruised shoulder)...looks questionable
WR Deebo Samuel (strained hamstring)...looks questionable
WR Terry Googer (bruised thigh)...looks questionable

Cooper (one of the top WR's in college football) is healthy, but otherwise, the Gamecocks are allegedly becoming kind of thin at receiver.

South Carolina also lost their top reserve OL this weekend (broken bone of some sort).

GBB!!!

Yeah, touched on this a bit earlier. The OL broke his ankle Saturday. They're quite thin on the perimeter, and really, at the skill positions in general. Unfortunate for USCjr., but the game has to be played, and I hope UK capitalizes on their losses.

 

[UKErik]

Sucks to lose anyone to injury, but especially in practice.

GBB!!!

 

[Rhavicc]

Sucks to lose anyone to injury, but especially in practice.

GBB!!!

For sure, they're not catching a ton of breaks when it comes to offensive personnel. They've been hammered with season enders.

 

[Pike 96]

Just have to stop the run in this game. IF we stop or slow the run and Cooper doesn't just go off on us... I think we have a great shot

 

[Brock28]

Chris Westry will get his welcome to the SEC moment Saturday night. Cooper is a horse. It will be interesting to watch that matchup.

 

[BlueRaider22]

^I pray he doesn't have to do it alone. As talented as Westry is, I hope we have the luxury of being able to double Cooper for a good portion of the game. He's too good for a true-freshman to play straight up.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

If I was Spurrier I'd just leave Cooper at Wildcat QB for most of the game, and dare UK to do something about it to stop it consistently. I think that is SC's best chance with all these other injuries Erik listed, but Spurrier is an arrogant, pompous POS...which bodes well for UK and all of us.

 

[footballfanatic77]

Spurrier seems a little humbled after last season and more willing to adapt his plays to his personnel. Of course this season he is doing the playcalling himself, unlike last season. I really don't see him losing to UK twice in a row if he can help it, so I suspect we will see South Carolina's best game on Saturday.

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

Best thing about Saturday is the cats got out of there without any injuries. Pretty healthy heading into SC and the young guys got some good experience Saturday night and I expect them to fix some of their assignment issues before Saturday. If Flannigan is playing I like our chances at slowing down their running game.

I'd like to see us get up on them and force them to have to play catchup, the only way they can win is to be able to run the ball but if they get behind that option goes away.

 

[MANAFOLD]

One player you probably aren't aware of who could be a factor in the Gamecock offense this week is freshman Quarter Back Lorenzo Nunez. Four star prospect coming out of high school is 6'3" , 215 lbs. and is exceptionally fast at 4.4. Injuries at the QB position and a weak offense vs UNC may be cause to let him play, not as a starter but enough to make a difference. Many Gamecocks expect him to play a large role in the offense as the season progresses , although he saw no action last week.

 

[Smashcat]

Jen Smith ‏@jenheraldleader 4m4 minutes ago
Spurrier reports that the Gamecocks are “very healthy” with just minor bumps and bruises heading into Kentucky.

 

[RoosterBooster1]

Jen Smith ‏@jenheraldleader 4m4 minutes ago
Spurrier reports that the Gamecocks are “very healthy” with just minor bumps and bruises heading into Kentucky.

Relative term, healthy. Dinged up at WR and QB, thin at OL and WR. The biggest advantage is actually home field, SC plays well there under SOS. Big and loud crowd. Crazy environment unless opponent gets up big early. Could happen.

 

[RoosterBooster1]

Relative term, healthy. Dinged up at WR and QB, thin at OL and WR. The biggest advantage is actually home field, SC plays well there under SOS. Big and loud crowd. Crazy environment unless opponent gets up big early. Could happen.

Cats like to strike deep early and often, SC DB's need to prove themselves still, not out of question that KY strikes early.

 

[UKWinsAgainYep]

If we can't beat SC this season, we never will IMO. If we lose this game, many UK fans will stop coming to many home games and the season will start to turn sour.

It is put up or shut up for Patrick Towles. Frankly, I don't want to see him interviewed anymore until he gets a quality win under his belt. He's a redshirt junior and missing wide open receivers like he did in the first game is inexcusable. This game is on PT to win it and stop making terrible, unforced mistakes.

 

[Cantwaitfor8]

If we can't beat SC this season, we never will IMO. If we lose this game, many UK fans will stop coming to many home games and the season will start to turn sour.

It is put up or shut up for Patrick Towles. Frankly, I don't want to see him interviewed anymore until he gets a quality win under his belt. He's a redshirt junior and missing wide open receivers like he did in the first game is inexcusable. This game is on PT to win it and stop making terrible, unforced mistakes.

Um, we beat them last season...

 

[mark0202]

Um, we beat them last season...

What he said, pointing at Cantwaitfor8. One other thought, this may very well be Spurrier's last season. SC was average at best beore Spurrier, they could very well be average at best after Spurrier. To say we will "never" beat SC in the furure, well lets just say I think we will do better then than now.

 

[RoosterBooster1]

What he said, pointing at Cantwaitfor8. One other thought, this may very well be Spurrier's last season. SC was average at best beore Spurrier, they could very well be average at best after Spurrier. To say we will "never" beat SC in the furure, well lets just say I think we will do better then than now.

Not sure about the then than statement, but SC fans also realize that their next coaching hire may be the most important in the program's history, because if it is a hit per se and the SOS momentum continues, SC will have gone on a long long ride of being relevant and competitive in the SEC. If it is a "miss", the program could spiral back to what it was, which was not good. Having said that, the game this weekend is at WB and SOS has a stellar record of winning there the past ten seasons, including wins over number one Bama, several top 5 UGA teams, UF etc., his teams play well at home.

 

[Cats78]

If we can't beat SC this season, we never will IMO. If we lose this game, many UK fans will stop coming to many home games and the season will start to turn sour.

It is put up or shut up for Patrick Towles. Frankly, I don't want to see him interviewed anymore until he gets a quality win under his belt. He's a redshirt junior and missing wide open receivers like he did in the first game is inexcusable. This game is on PT to win it and stop making terrible, unforced mistakes.

What the hell is wrong with you? LOL.

 

[brianpoe]

If we can't beat SC this season, we never will IMO. If we lose this game, many UK fans will stop coming to many home games and the season will start to turn sour.

It is put up or shut up for Patrick Towles. Frankly, I don't want to see him interviewed anymore until he gets a quality win under his belt. He's a redshirt junior and missing wide open receivers like he did in the first game is inexcusable. This game is on PT to win it and stop making terrible, unforced mistakes.

Man, you are taking this hard, I'm starting to think you lost a lot of money on that ULL game.

 

[BlueRaider22]

^Maybe he doesn't know that this is a team sport.....and that it wasn't just Towles that had a poor couple quarters of play.

 

[Rhavicc]

If we can't beat SC this season, we never will IMO. If we lose this game, many UK fans will stop coming to many home games and the season will start to turn sour.

It is put up or shut up for Patrick Towles. Frankly, I don't want to see him interviewed anymore until he gets a quality win under his belt. He's a redshirt junior and missing wide open receivers like he did in the first game is inexcusable. This game is on PT to win it and stop making terrible, unforced mistakes.

Same s***, different day for you, huh?
I'm going to echo what many others have already said. We beat them last year, so I'm not getting the whole "beat them this season, or we never will" thing. Really dumb thing to say.

 

[Deeeefense]

Not sure about the then than statement, but SC fans also realize that their next coaching hire may be the most important in the program's history, because if it is a hit per se and the SOS momentum continues, SC will have gone on a long long ride of being relevant and competitive in the SEC. If it is a "miss", the program could spiral back to what it was, which was not good. Having said that, the game this weekend is at WB and SOS has a stellar record of winning there the past ten seasons, including wins over number one Bama, several top 5 UGA teams, UF etc., his teams play well at home.

There's no doubt in my mind with his celebrity status that if/when Coach Spurrier does decided to head for the exits there will be a big juicy TV contract waiting on him.

Question - if Spurrier were to step down who do you think the leaders might be as far as a replacement?

 

[Levibooty]

Charley Strong or Marvin Lewis.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

QB Connor Mitch (hip pointer)...expected to play
RB Brandon Wilds (bruised shoulder)...looks questionable
WR Deebo Samuel (strained hamstring)...looks questionable
WR Terry Googer (bruised thigh)...looks questionable

Cooper (one of the top WR's in college football) is healthy, but otherwise, the Gamecocks are allegedly becoming kind of thin at receiver.

South Carolina also lost their top reserve OL this weekend (broken bone of some sort).

GBB!!!

I expect all of em to play Saturday.

 

[screwduke]

If we can't beat SC this season, we never will IMO. If we lose this game, many UK fans will stop coming to many home games and the season will start to turn sour.

It is put up or shut up for Patrick Towles. Frankly, I don't want to see him interviewed anymore until he gets a quality win under his belt. He's a redshirt junior and missing wide open receivers like he did in the first game is inexcusable. This game is on PT to win it and stop making terrible, unforced mistakes.

There are so many things wrong in this post.

 

[LordEgg]

Spurrier would be great on TV. Seriously. If you could have him and/or schnellenberger on some game day segment type thing I'd watch religiously.

 

[ShoesSwayedBlue]

Charley Strong or Marvin Lewis.

No way Strong willingly leaves Texas for basically any other job. Certainly not for South Carolina.

 

[LordEgg]

Strong won't make it at Texas. I've said that from day one. I believe it now more than ever. Just not a good fit.

 

[Gary4UK]

Just have to stop the run in this game. IF we stop or slow the run and Cooper doesn't just go off on us... I think we have a great shot

I agree Pike, that will be the key to the game.... Still, you know that Steve likes to toss it around and catch us off guard... I have a lot of confidence in our back field, and I hope he does throw it some.... We struggled stopping the run to the outside.. We have to seal the corners at the line of scrimmage..... I think our D-line will hold up the middle... We had trouble with the running QB, and this week, it will be the wildcat that we have to watch as well....

 

[UKWinsAgainYep]

I did realize we won the game last season vs SC. I was trying to say it's put up or shut up for PT now. This is a statement game big time because he really is the reason last week's game was so close. He missed CLEAR TD passes and Coach Dawson even said it.

Yes, I know our Defense was not impressive, but I knew that before the season started. The season is riding on our offense scoring a lot of points. Our D will never be that great this season because of lack of talent. We haven't recruited out of that hole yet.

PT needs to show up big this game and stop missing wide open receivers or we may not even get bowl eligible. I'm hoping and sticking with my 6-6 prediction for the season. A lot of that is riding on PT. Coach Stoops and Coach Dawson both said we cannot miss wide open plays like happened last game.

I feel SC's team is down this season and we have a huge opportunity to get a road win in the SEC. Our biggest opportunity of the season to get a road SEC win. That's where my comment "or it will never happen" came from.

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

only a supposed UK fan would put the blame on the QB when the offense scores 40 points and he had 260 yards and 3 TDs...DEFENSE

 

[UKWinsAgainYep]

only a supposed UK fan would put the blame on the QB when the offense scores 40 points and he had 260 yards and 3 TDs...DEFENSE

Then I guess you completely disagree with Coach Stoops and Dawson who both said we cannot miss the plays that PT missed. I'm simply repeating what the coaches said and you can't accept it.

 

[WeepNoMore]

One player you probably aren't aware of who could be a factor in the Gamecock offense this week is freshman Quarter Back Lorenzo Nunez. Four star prospect coming out of high school is 6'3" , 215 lbs. and is exceptionally fast at 4.4. Injuries at the QB position and a weak offense vs UNC may be cause to let him play, not as a starter but enough to make a difference. Many Gamecocks expect him to play a large role in the offense as the season progresses , although he saw no action last week.

This is worrisome! Way too often over the many years I've been a UK fan we have seen little-known, backup quarterbacks have career days against our defense.

 

[PhattyJ4UK]

This is worrisome! Way too often over the many years I've been a UK fan we have seen little-known, backup quarterbacks have career days against our defense.

Yes we have

 

[FickusDuckus]

If we can't beat SC this season, we never will IMO. If we lose this game, many UK fans will stop coming to many home games and the season will start to turn sour.

It is put up or shut up for Patrick Towles. Frankly, I don't want to see him interviewed anymore until he gets a quality win under his belt. He's a redshirt junior and missing wide open receivers like he did in the first game is inexcusable. This game is on PT to win it and stop making terrible, unforced mistakes.

I think you're wrong. Folks wont jump ship if we lose this game. The only way that would happen is if USC just blew our doors off. Frankly even if we lose I think its a close game. Both teams looked rough in week one but both pulled off wins. You can argue the level of competition but in reality week 1 is always wild and unpredictable no matter the opposition. Both of us will learn a lot more about ourselves after this one. My only bad feeling comes from the fact that its a road game, Id much rather we catch them at Commonwealth.

Either way I think your assumptions are premature. There are always going to be a handful that fall off after a loss but I don't see a mass exodus on this one. I wasn't thrilled with PT either but I heard the coaches say that the offense got out of rhythm. If true that will cause a QB to miss some throws. Maybe they were covering for him but in the end it really doesn't matter. The reality is we need to back the kid until the coaches feel we have a better option. That's all there is to it.

 

[meteordealer]

Just have to stop the run in this game. IF we stop or slow the run and Cooper doesn't just go off on us... I think we have a great shot

We're screwed then.

 

[Nuke99m]

Then I guess you completely disagree with Coach Stoops and Dawson who both said we cannot miss the plays that PT missed. I'm simply repeating what the coaches said and you can't accept it.

You are picking what you want to hear out of Stoops and Dawson. Below are some quotes

“Nobody plays perfect,” he said of his quarterback. “I thought Patrick did some very good things and I anticipate he’ll come back and have a very strong game. Like I said in postgame and to the media, I thought he did some very good things that he was impressed with. He missed a few open receivers, but he’ll get that fixed. I’m really not too concerned about it, to be honest with you.”

“I don’t live in a fantasy world where they’re going to make every throw.”
Dawson challenged us to bring him game tape of a quarterback making every throw. His office is open during weekdays if you’d like to. He said that Patrick had a few slight misses, but only four or five egregious errors. One of those, of course, was the interception. “He was trying to be too perfect,” Dawson said.

They took what the defense gave them
It’s the reason why there were so many deep balls and so few runs up the middle. They essentially stacked the box and dared them to make big plays deep. It was a gutsy move, but it worked because Dawson had no idea what their defense was going to do. He regrets not having a better flow of the game in the second half, but his aggressive personality couldn’t resist going deep. Unfortunately, it led them to too many 2nd and longs.

 

[ukfan4life55]

I did realize we won the game last season vs SC. I was trying to say it's put up or shut up for PT now. This is a statement game big time because he really is the reason last week's game was so close. He missed CLEAR TD passes and Coach Dawson even said it.

Yes, I know our Defense was not impressive, but I knew that before the season started. The season is riding on our offense scoring a lot of points. Our D will never be that great this season because of lack of talent. We haven't recruited out of that hole yet.

PT needs to show up big this game and stop missing wide open receivers or we may not even get bowl eligible. I'm hoping and sticking with my 6-6 prediction for the season. A lot of that is riding on PT. Coach Stoops and Coach Dawson both said we cannot miss wide open plays like happened last game.

I feel SC's team is down this season and we have a huge opportunity to get a road win in the SEC. Our biggest opportunity of the season to get a road SEC win. That's where my comment "or it will never happen" came from.

So I guess Vandy is not on our schedule anymore. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Cantwaitfor8]

I did realize we won the game last season vs SC. I was trying to say it's put up or shut up for PT now. This is a statement game big time because he really is the reason last week's game was so close. He missed CLEAR TD passes and Coach Dawson even said it.

Yes, I know our Defense was not impressive, but I knew that before the season started. The season is riding on our offense scoring a lot of points. Our D will never be that great this season because of lack of talent. We haven't recruited out of that hole yet.

PT needs to show up big this game and stop missing wide open receivers or we may not even get bowl eligible. I'm hoping and sticking with my 6-6 prediction for the season. A lot of that is riding on PT. Coach Stoops and Coach Dawson both said we cannot miss wide open plays like happened last game.

I feel SC's team is down this season and we have a huge opportunity to get a road win in the SEC. Our biggest opportunity of the season to get a road SEC win. That's where my
comment "or it will never happen" came from.

Basically, what you're saying is you need to calm down and you understand that right? Towles was not great last week he was actually very average. The point is there's no need in your banter as if this one game (in week 2 and ON THE ROAD IN THE SEC) is going to make or break the season... Get a grip man.