Ess-E-Cee The Early: Sakerlina Survives, Tennessee Survives, UGA Survives

((HT: SECDN/ESPN))

It was the theme of the day (early on, anyway) in the Ess-E-Cee where teams got skeered and still won...

Example Number One: Sakerlina was on the road and had to deal with this injury while playing in one of the more obnoxious environments around- the on-campus stadium at UCF...


The HQ covered Davis in high school at Stephenson High in suburban Atlanta... the kid can flat out run...
And UCF made a lot of people happy with their back door cover...

Example Number Two: The HQ never thought we would ever hear the voice of the Volunteers, Bob Kessling, ever talk about the Volunteers "surviving" a game against South Alabama (of all teams), but that did happen...

Vols only win by 7...
At home...
Against South Alabama...

The HQ would write that line again, but we don't know if we would believe it if we wrote it ourselves...

What is the world coming to...???


And, then, the 3:30 game...

Aaron Murray throws for four scores and may be the best one-loss team in 'Murica right now having gone 2-1 in the top ten with the early part of their schedule in a 44-41 win...

Evidence below that tied the game at 14...
((HT: SECDN/SEC on CBS))

Lattimore Hurt Again: South Carolina escapes Tennessee (UPDATED)

It was a tough day, which extended a string of tough weeks for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Though they did find a way to hold on and beat a game University of Tennesse 38-35.

South Carolina, once a Top 3 team, had to run a gauntlet of Georgia, LSU and Florida before this game. They won 2 of the 3.

They'll finish the season without star tailback Marcus Lattimore. Lattimore who missed last season after a serious left ACL injury, was carted off the field and taken to the hospital in the 2nd quarter after a gruesome injury to his right knee. He had run for 70 yds and a TD when it happened

Thanks for the video ESPN:



The Volunteers fought hard, Tyler Bray threw for 368 yds and 4 TD's, but Connor Shaw had 356 and 3 scores.

Check out Bray to receiver Zach Rogers for a 4th Quarter TD.

Thanks again ESPN:



In the end South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney  forced a late Tennessee fumble and the Gamecocks move to 5-2 in the SEC. Tennessee with apparent lame duck coach Derek Dooley, drops to 0-5 in the conference and 3-5 overall.

PM UPDATE: Lattimore's news is not good...

From Brian van Ochten's Twitter...

The news on South Carolina's Marcus Lattimore is awful: Broken femur and all four knee ligaments torn.

Payne Insider is also reporting on his Twitter feed that Lattimore's knee cap is also chipped to go with the ligament and bone damage...

The University is scheduled to give the official update Sunday...

So Much For That Whole South Carolina Thing...

((HT: ABCColumbia.com))

A lot of people were not surprised that this game in Death Valley:

1) Was a grinder and was played nowhere near the 20's and,
2) Would not be an upset if LSU actually won

So, there we are...

The LSU defense completely handcuffed Connor Shaw, kept him in the pocket, and forced the passing game to beat them instead of having the running game beat you in a confined space.

Offensively, it was simply to have Zach Mettenberger manage (as much as the HQ HATES THAT TERM) and just try not to screw things up when they needed him not to screw things up.

Freshman Jeremy Hill took up the slack on the ground with two scores and South Carolina, on the other hand, was held to 34 yards on the ground- 211 total.

Here's your wrap from FOSG Merissa Lynn in Lou-zee-anna...


"I don't know if he got hit in the head tonight or not," Spurrier said of Shaw after the game. "Some of his decision-making was a little off. Connor has played beautifully all year. He had some good plays tonight but he wasn't as sharp as he's been."

But, probably, the more telling words came from JD Clowney.

Whether or not the team pays attention to the words below will be the answer over the next few weeks as we hit the home stretch in the Ess-E-Cee:

"Some guys came out to play but some guys didn't. It may be because they were scared. We will address that in practice. We can't come out against Florida like that."

Now, will everyone listen to the young'un, or did he step out of line...???
That's the larger question...