Shotcallin' - Week 3

Pick your poison...

I'm not gonna lie...we really thought Steve Spurrier would have Carolina among the SEC East's beasts by now, competing for trips to Atlanta every December. At the very least, Sue figured that he would supplant Phillip Fulmer in the pecking order of SEC coaches. Obviously, this has not happened and there are several possible reasons why Spurrier's time at SC has played out as it has (lack of recruiting pool talent, a dry and dusty [read: dirty] cupboard left by Holtz, unlucky injuries, increasing quality of the conference etc.).

I also gotta admit...I don't really take much delight in seeing Spurrier's fall from SEC grace. Sure, I know every Georgia fan is supposed to squeal with delight with every SC loss but I just can't do it. If that awful and embarrassing stint with the Redskins humanized the man, the subsequent shunning by his alma mater in favor of Urban Meyer had to make even the most ardent of Spurrier-haters cringe (tho it's worth noting Jeremy Foley and the UF brass made an excellent decision). The question holds...if Spurrier had his QB and WR recruits as he would have at UF had he been hired, would defense even matter or even any of the aforementioned factors? To an extent.

Even Spurrier's jabs at his opponents didn't bother me too much. His cracks on Ray Goff, FSU and Tennessee were pretty good from a comedic standpoint. Mostly because they were true. Sue's favorite is the infamous FSU shank in the dogpile, which back then was calling out the refs hardcore. He backed up his big mouth with on the field results. His comments after beating UGA last year about Georgia not having won an SEC East game in a year angered me...but not at Spurrier, he was just stating a fact (a fact/quote that Georgia is hopefully using as bulletin board material). Compare that to Urban Meyer's pre-emptive whining and thinly-veiled threats about The Celebration last year, and I think it's evident who's the better trash talker.

But now it's pretty clear that the game has passed the OBC by. I have never really seen a 2-QB rotation that works, and when you're dealing with the marginally talented Blake Mitchells and Tommy Beechers of the world...well that is not just going to end well. At Florida, the Gators had enough talent to weather the QB inconsistencies, so his pulling of future NFL quarterbacks Doug Johnson and Rex Grossman didn't end up hurting the team too much (though the same can't be said of their personal development in the NFL).

Blake Mitchell flat out sucked. Tommy Beecher isn't much better. Steven Garcia can't stop getting in trouble for 16 and 17 year old crimes (really? Keying a professor's car? Did said professor sleep with his boyfriend??). It's been 12 years since OBC has won a title and in almost all of those years, he has employed the two-QB system he holds so dearly. Chris Smelley is the 'Cocks best option at QB and for once, as someone who enjoys entertaining football, I'd like to see what a QB can do in Spurrier's offense without looking over his back after every incompletion.

Hopefully, though, the visor won't figure it out until after this week.

Onto the picks...

Kansas (ML +135) over South Florida - $10

Kansas (+3.5) over South Florida - $10

Tulane (+13) over East Carolina - $10

Georgia (-7.5) over South Carolina - $25

UCLA (+7.5) over BYU - $25

Auburn (-10) over Mississippi State - $10

USC (-11.5) over Ohio State - $20

Last Week: 5-4

2008 Record: 11-5

2008 Pot: $165