Yesterday caught up with former teammate and good friend Michael Strahan (current NFL on Fox Tv analyst).

  Michael Strahan Interview listen to the interview.

The Carolina Gamecocks have pulled out a back-to-back victory over the
University of Georgia for the first time since 2000 and 2001, which has only
been done six times in the history of the schools meetings. It was the Gamecocks
first time being favored in Athens, but they didn’t play like the
12^th ranked team in the country would be expected to play against an
unranked SEC rival. Coming off the major second half win in Charlotte over ECU,
Steve Spurrier knew that Georgia would be bringing their biggest weapons, like
the highly recruited RB Isaiah Crowell and their biggest playmaker of the game
CB Brandon Boykin. Being Garcia’s first start of the year, the pressure was on
in the first quarter. Blair Walsh for the Bulldogs set the tone with a 37yd FG
and another 39yd FG about two minutes later, but for the first time in a long
time, the Gamecocks didn’t give up. The second quarter started the back and
forth brawl between the two teams when Jeffrey caught Garcia’s 34yd pass for TD,
and UGA answered with Murray’s 26 yd TD pass, but again, USC didn’t stay quiet.
Lattimore rushed for 176 yds in 27 carries, Jeffrey had 5 receptions for 85 yds
and the play-making star, Melvin Ingram with the 68 yd punt return and his 5yd
fumble recovery for TD were all key in the Gamecock win. The O-Line in general
looked like they had never played a football game before the first quarter, but
they later came together and started to work together like a team. I thought
they were not good for the overall game, struggling mainly with pass protection
and fly pressure . USC gave up some really big plays, but they made some pretty
big plays as well. The second week in a row Carolina’s special teams has had a
TD and Ingram was a top 10 player on SportsCenter.  The good news is despite the performance, you
have to feel good if you’re a USC fan being 2-0, and if you’re just not a
Georgia fan, feel good about Mark Richt’s job insecurity. Richt hasn’t gone 0-2 in a decade, and they
were picked to end up second in the SEC-East this year. Up next for the Carolina
Gamecocks is the Navy Midshipmen, also 2-0, who is coming off of a 40-14 win
over Western Kentucky. The offensive
players to watch will be Howell, who had 113 yds in 3 carries last week, and
Proctor who had 176 yds in 22 carries in their victory over Delaware. Kickoff is
at 6 PM in the big bad William’s-Brice Stadium, see you there!

The Fighting Gamecocks have won in Charlotte despite falling behind 17 points quickly in the first quarter. Going into the week, head coach Steve Spurrier named Connor Shaw the starting QB over 5th year senior Stephen Garcia, despite being up for breaking the school record for most consecutive starts. If Shaw is allowed to play so he can gain some experience, he could be the better QB. Spurrier announced at the pep rally Thursday night in downtown Columbia that they would each get a quarter to play in the first half and he would decide at halftime who had, thus far, had an overall better game. The way Spurrier handled this, in my opinion, forced the fans to make a choice between the two QB's. Most thought that Garcia being a senior should start, because Shaw was still unproven in college game time experience. When Shaw starts, he needs to play longer than 15 minutes, in order to get into a rhythm and to settle his nerves down. Spurrier’s strategy was, in theory, a great one: test out each player at the given position and whomever performs to their best ability will be rewarded with more playing time. However, it only put Shaw into a lose-lose situation. The offensive line gave him no help in pass protection and opened no holes for Lattimore in the running game, and as a result Carolina was dominated by ECU with the 25 yd pass for touchdown in the first quarter. Yet still the first drive he moved the ball down the field despite several dropped balls by Jason Barnes, one that would have been a touchdown and another a first down. Shaw’s only personal mistake was a fumble. The ECU pirates surprised all Gamecock fans and players with their willingness to win in the first half, not only with the previous TD, but another 19 yd pass for TD, a 24 yd FG and also a 8 yd pass for TD, bringing the score to 24-14 at halftime. But it wasn’t all pirates for the quarter. The team fed off Garcia’s emotion and energy after he was finally brought in for his first drive of the game, contributing to two TD’s in the quarter. Garcia was 7-15 with 110 yds and one TD, and also ran for 2 scores including a 32td scamper. Gamecock fans now blame Shaw for being down 17-0 in the first quarter, but I totally disagree, because if he had stayed in the game, USC still could have won. Even after Garcia was in, it took him a few drives before he finally turned the game around. Connor Shaw is ready to play and the Gamecocks can win with him as starting QB, and they’ll have to rely on him unless they can recruit a new QB. He can make all the necessary throws, scramble when needed, and can lead the team, just as Garcia has been able to as well. His time will come again this season, possibly as soon as next week. In spite of this, I am very disappointed in some fans that I overheard while in the stands being overly critical. Shaw doesn’t deserve the backlash and harsh words that were said about him and/or his performance. He is a skilled football player (if he hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have been recruited) and a polite young man who works hard and represents the university in the right way. I would encourage fans to support both these quarterbacks because they will both be needed to have the year gamecock fans are expecting. If you still feel the need to be angry, then voice that to the coaches who make the decisions and don’t crucify the players, like Shaw, who only do as they’re told. So stay tuned, because this week will be a very interesting week to say the least.

...The Palmetto State native and ESPN.com blogger joined Corey to talk about the Gamecocks, the SEC, and the chance we'll see mega-conferences coming to college football.

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