Coach For A Day: South Carolina Gamecocks
Will Muschamp and his University of South Carolina Gamecocks play host to Derek Mason and the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday evening in Columbia, and the Gamecocks head man and his staff have likely had a bad week leading up to this one.
Losers of two straight, one where the Gamecocks feel they were victims of poor officiating, and the other where they no-showed in the second half and were blown out after leading at half.
It's easy to assume, and rightly so that there are issues with this team, though there is also talent and plamakers on this team.
On the opposing side, Vanderbilt enters off a bye week following their upset win over Missouri two weeks ago.
These are two teams desperately needing a win and feeling very differently about themselves today. The Commodores are healthy, rested and more confident, while Carolina is beaten, bruised and discouraged.
Muschamp is a fighter and will have his team ready to go because it is a must win for,both sides really, but the seat could trun hot on Will if his squad drops this one.
What would I do if I were Muschamp for a day?
OFFENSE
This game for the fighting birds is more about them and less about their opponents. This team is capable of going into Athens and beating Gerogia, and cabale of last weeks collapse and loss in Knoxville.
I'd spend the week repping what my team did best and try to find a new level of comfort for freshman quarterback Ryan Hilinski. I'd also work on finding a renewed running game and look to come at Vanderbilt like Ole Miss did.
The Commodores are a bit of a mystery in that they looked as bad as any team this season just three weeks ago and then boom, upset and in one week looked like a totally different team.
The thought of which team will show up Saturday has to worry Muschamp, and it would me too, so keep it simple with your young quarterback and run the football to set up the pass.
DEFENSE
Once again, the unknown of which Commodores offense will show up, one who was thumped or the one who did the thumping.
A lot changed from the loss to the win offensively for the Commodores but seeing how they played with Mo Hasan at quarterback will be easy enough. Still a mobile quarterback adds another layer to work on defensively.
It starts with stopping Ke'Shawn Vaughn and making Hasan beat you with his arm.
The Gamecocks defensive line is their strength, but they also have solid players on the back end as well.
Look for a stacked box to try to stop Vaughn and force the game onto the quarterback where that tough d-line can look to pressure Hasan into mistakes where the back end can take advantage.
Yes, I know this all seems very simplistic, but when two teams are in the situations these two find themselves in, sometimes the simple things are the best.
