From: Austin
Here are some key matchups that will decide the victor this weekend.
1) USC's interior linemen of Garrett Chisolm, T.J. Johnson, and Rokevious Watkins against the clemmon's defensive tackles, Jarvis Jenkins and Brandon Thompson. All of the hype is on stud DE Daquan Bowers, but the real matchup will be on the interior. clempson's tackles are solid. The South Carolina offensive staff will not let the success of the rushing attack hinge on whether their average tackles can block the nation's best DE. Coach Spurrier loves the draw and will likely run up the middle to avoid Bowers and utilize his 3 best linemen. If Chisolm and Watkins can handle the DTs, then Johnson will be freed to block the middle linebacker. This will lead to a big day for Lattimore.
2) clemsen's All-Everything Safety, DeAndre McDaniel, versus South Carolina QB Steven Garcia and Biletnikoff finalist WR, Alshon Jeffery. McDaniel is an interception machine. Expect the tigers to roll McDaniel over the top of Jeffery for the double team. Should Garcia still choose to throw Jeffery's way, he must put the ball where Alshon can make a play on it. Spurrier may counter by going to 4 wide and forcing single coverage or linebacker coverage on the 4th WR. If that is Ace Sanders, look out. Tori Gurley, D.L. Moore, or Sanders needs to have a big day to free up Alshon. clempson does not have a DB who can match up one on one with Jeffery. He abused one of the top CBs in the country in the Florida game before we went primarily to the rush.
3) Marcus Lattimore against the tiger linebackers. If Jeffery is double covered, expect a heavy dose of #21, with Jeffery running the safety off deep. This would force clemmons DC Kevin Steele to remove the double team to aid in run support. However, the focus here should be on the pass. Against Kentucky, the wheel route to Lattimore was working to perfection. Expect Spurrier to have Jeffery run the safeties to the middle and Lattimore to attack the slower tiger LBs down the sidelines. Garcia must hit this pass.
4) Kyle Parker versus the Gamecock secondary on the deep ball. clempson will be able to move the ball with short and intermediate passes. They have all year. Their problem is scoring in the red zone. The formula to score on South Carolina is play action and go deep. For clemmons to win, Billy Napier should dial up a large number of play action deep routes. The problem for the tigers is that they cannot seem to catch these.
5) Dwayne Allen against the SC pass coverage. TE Allen is arguably the tigers best receiver, and the Gamecocks have a bad habit of forgetting to cover the TE. They simply cannot expect to win if they let Allen run free down the field.
Go Cocks!
