By and bye, Spurrier will keep eye on Clemson-B.C.
South Carolina might be off this weekend, but Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier plans to keep his TV turned on.
Spurrier said he expects to tune in for the Clemson-Boston College game Saturday night that will decide the ACC’s Atlantic Division. USC faces the 15th-ranked Tigers next week in Columbia.
“It’s a big game, an important game. Yeah, I’m going to watch it,” Spurrier said Wednesday. “Georgia-Kentucky is an important game. A lot of important games — I wish we were in one of them. But we had our shot. We didn’t get it done, so we’ll watch the other teams this week.”
Spurrier predicted Clemson would defeat Boston College.
“What I’ve seen of both teams, I think Clemson’s a little bit stronger team,” he said.
The Gamecocks will have a short practice today before taking the weekend off. USC quarterback Blake Mitchell said it does not matter to him whether the Tigers are coming off a win or a loss when they square off against the Gamecocks.
“We’re going to have to play them either way,” Mitchell said.
Black out. It might be a while before the Gamecocks break out the black uniforms again.
USC did not fare as well in black as Georgia, whose players said the pregame jersey switch pumped them up for their 45-20 victory against Auburn last week. The Gamecocks lost to Florida 51-31 while wearing black jerseys and pants for the first time under Spurrier.
“It helps if you can block and tackle. But since those are two areas we’re really not all that good in, I don’t think the uniforms have much to do with it,” Spurrier said. “But it was something the players wanted to do. We haven’t done that since I’ve been here. But we’ll return to our normal garnet jerseys and white pants against Clemson next week.
“It’s something the players sometimes want to try. So we tried it. But obviously, it had no effect whatsoever.”
No peeking. The Gamecocks have had a firsthand look at two of the top Heisman Trophy candidates the past two weeks. But Spurrier, who won the 1966 Heisman as Florida’s quarterback, refused to say whether he would have Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow or another player at the top of his ballot.
“The Heisman is a private vote,” Spurrier said. “So I’m going to keep my vote private this year.”
He said it. “When they only rush three, those guards look pretty good. We’ve been playing against a lot of three-man rush lately, so that helps those fellas out quite a bit,” — Spurrier on the offensive line play.
Extra points. Freshman quarterback Stephen Garcia, who is redshirting, received extra reps Wednesday. “He pitched it around pretty well,” Spurrier said....
Receiver Kenny McKinley (toe) returned to practice, while cornerback Carlos Thomas (shoulder) and tailback Mike Davis (concussion) were back in a limited capacity.
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