Issue 11, 2012

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Editor Vance Leavy

Editorial & Ad DirectorCheri Leavy

Sports GuruJeff Dantzler

SalesCaroline Kinney, Holly Stanfill

SportsMurray Poole

Travis Ragsdale

Layout/DesignCheri Leavy, Vance Leavy

Cover photoRob Saye

Sports PhotographyRob Saye

ColumnistsCarlton DeVooght

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Jake Davis, Will Hayes, Frank Sinkwich IV, Champ Vance

South Carolina, October 2, 2012

From the editor : vance leavyAs I sent down to write this offering it comes with a heavy

heart for Golden Isles resident Davis Love III and his USA golfteam who just ran into a Sunday European buzz-saw that provedto be too much. As always, Davis represented with the upmostclass. And even though it hurts, I know he will carry on being agreat ambassador for both golf and his hometown.

The sting of defeat is painful no matter what sport you aretalking about. And by 11 p.m. on Saturday, either Georgia orSouth Carolina will be feeling thatagony. Anyone that follows collegefootball knows the first loss of the sea-son is always terribly brutal.

Yes, there’s a ton at stake inWilliams-Brice Stadium this Saturday.Will our boys in Red and Black rise tothe occasion? Or will Georgia’s neme-sis Steve Spurrier turn the knife onemore time in the Bulldog Nation?

As he does every year that we playSpurrier, Jeff Dantzler (page 4) re-minds us of the old ball coach’s reignover Georgia. Saturday night’s gamerepresents an opportunity for theGamecocks to beat Georgia three yearsin a row for the first time ever. In caseyou don’t know, the Bulldogs andGamecocks first played each other in1894. Yes, the two teams haven’tplayed every year between then andnow, but they have played 66 gamesduring the said time period. Withoutquestion, Steve Spurrier will be gun-ning to add this Georgia accomplish-ment to his many others. But morethan anything, it would represent an-other clear sign that he has South Car-olina on par with all the other top

teams in the South-eastern Conference.

While I wasn’t at all surprised the Dawgs’game with Tennessee was close, I figure I’mprobably like most folks in trying to put ahand on how our team gave up so manypoints. But instead of getting too worked upabout it, I’m going to put my faith behind ourcoaching staff that this week’s practice isn’tgoing to be easy. It’s obvious there’s a ton ofwork to be done if this team doesn’t want to

get blown off the field by Spurrier and the Gamecocks. The good news is there was plenty to be excited about from

the Tennessee game. How about our awesome freshman runningback duo, Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall? While I know CoachRicht and company would prefer not to have freshman on thecover of any publications, I had to do it for this issue for a coupleof reasons.

First and foremost, both their play and overall attitudes makesthem cover worthy. And the goodnews is that it appears they are man-aging to stay away from developing bigheads.

The second reason I put them onthe cover is because I think they willbe the difference in whether we comeout of the Chicken Coup with a win ora defeat. Thankfully, Aaron Murraycontinues to be very steady, but if ouroffensive line and tailbacks aren’t ableto establish the ground game, it couldbe a long night for #11.

Man oh me, don’t you know thiswork week is going to move at a snail’space in anticipation of kickoff on Sat-urday night. The vibe in Columbia isgoing to be like we’ve never seen, par-ticularly with the ESPN Gameday crewsetting up shop. It might not even besafe for women and children, but Iknow that won’t keep Cheri frombeing at this slobberknocker. It’s goingto be a blast.

Enjoy this issue of BI. There’splenty of game coverage from JD, Mur-ray and Travis. And the BI camera wasout in full force for the last home gamein Athens until November. It’s time totake to the road in October and come

away with nothing but Ws. It all begins Saturday night under thelights. Look forward to seeing you there.

Finally, just a reminder that our next issue will come out Oct.16 leading into the Kentucky game following Georgia’s open dateon Oct. 13. Everyone here at BI works extremely hard to bringyou a fun publication week in and week out and I expect they willenjoy a little breather. But of course the time off will be evensweeter, if the dream season is still alive and Spurrier and theCocks are smarting with their first loss of the 2012 season.

Go Dawgs!

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4 Bulldawg Illustrated

Steve Spurrier doesn’t like Georgia.One of the great players and one of thegreat coaches in Southeastern Conferenceannals has quite the history with Georgia.

Saturday night in Columbia, his planis to add another historic chapter.

Georgia’s aim is to, as was the case atthe league’s new Columbia, Missouri’s firstintra-conference SEC game, be on the rightside of history.

Spurrier’s disdain for the Dogs datesback to 1966. The week prior to the Cock-tail Party, undefeated Florida was tied withAuburn 27-27. The Gators faced a fourthdown in the closing seconds. Florida’skicker was honest and said the field goalto win it was out of his range. Spurrier saidhe could make. He did. It was a 47-yarderon the lone attempt of his career. It wasthe stuff of legends. On the verge of theirfirst ever SEC championship, Florida ledGeorgia 10-3 at halftime. The Bulldogsdominated the second half, holding theGators without a first down. Bill Stanfilland George Patton anchored an awesomedefensive line that chased Spurrier allaround the Gator Bowl. Lynn Hughes hadthe big play, an interception returned 39yards for the go ahead touchdown. TheBulldogs led 20-10 in the closing secondsand punched in another touchdown tomake the final 27-10. It was a signaturemoment in an SEC championship seasonthat concluded with a 10-1 record and No.4 national ranking. It was Florida’s loneregular season blemish and it cost Floridathe conference title. The Gators also lostthe Sugar Bowl, 19-18 to Missouri, costingthe Gators a 10-win season. It would be25 years before Florida won its first SECtitle and posted its first double digit winseason. It took until 1991 – Spurrier’s sec-ond year as the Gators head coach.

November the 5th, 1966 is the root ofSpurrier’s hard feelings, and that Georgiatriumph remains Florida’s most heart-breaking SEC loss ever.

Well he would get his revenge. When Spurrier was hired as the

Gators coach prior to the 1990 season,Georgia led the all-time series with Florida44-22-2. Spurrier’s Florida squads went11-1 against the Bulldogs, with several ofthose wins coming by embarrassing scores– including a 52-17 bludgeoning in San-ford Stadium in 1995, while the GatorBowl was being renovated. And he lovedto jab the Bulldogs with zingers that gotunder red and black skin in large part dueto their accuracy. Under his watch, theGators won six SEC titles and the 1996 na-tional championship. The series is now48-40-2, with Georgia winning just fourtimes since 1990 – including last year’s 24-20 victory.

Perhaps Georgia can turn the Floridaseries back around. Last year was a hugestep forward.

But Spurrier can make more negativehistory for the Bulldogs for South Carolina.

Georgia has dominated the all-time se-ries with the Gamecocks, leading SouthCarolina 46-16-2. The interesting twist isthat South Carolina has beaten the Bull-dogs in back-to-back years six times, that’s12 of the 16 losses, in 1903-04, 1958-59,

1978-79, 1988-89, 2000-2001 and 2010-2011.

Well you don’t to be too sharp at Mathto figure from this that the Gamecockshave never beaten Georgia in three con-secutive years. They have that opportu-nity again on Saturday night. In year’s past,like the knee-knocking vitally importantvictories over the Gamecocks in 1980 and2002, the Bulldogs avoided historic lossesen route to greatness. The Bulldogs hadhistory on their side.

But with Spurrier, he turned aroundone series against his arch nemesis andbadly wants to do it again and add yet an-other chapter in what will be one of col-lege football’s biggest showdowns thus farthis season.

Georgia is 4-3 against Spurrier’sGamecocks. The worst of those threelosses was a 16-12 setback in Athens in2007, which cost the Bulldogs a shot at theSEC Championship Game and the nationaltitle. Last year’s stung badly as well. At 0-1, Georgia gift wrapped 28 points for theGamecocks on defense and special teams,losing 45-42. The Bulldogs would then goon to 10 straight victories.

Since South Carolina joined the SECin 1992, the game has been the first, sec-ond or third of the year every time. Untilnow, another round of expansion hastweaked the schedule. This is the latest theBulldogs and South Carolina have playedsince that unforgettable showdown be-tween the hedges on November the 1st,1980. Georgia outlasted South Carolina13-10 and Herschel Walker outrushedeventual Heisman winner George Rogers.That was the eighth game of the year. Youknow the rest, Georgia won all 12 and wonit all.

For the Gamecocks, these are thegolden times. They don’t have near thehistory of the traditional SEC powers. Infact, last season’s 11-2 mark was just thesecond double digit win season in programhistory. The Gamecocks went 10-2 in1984. Florida had never had one either.

Spurrier has taken a second SEC pro-gram starved for greatness to glory days.Since 2010 – and let this really sink in, be-cause the thinking was there was no waythe Gamecocks would be able to win twoor three times in the same year againstGeorgia, Florida and Tennessee – SouthCarolina is 10-0 against the Bulldogs,Gators, Volunteers, arch-rival Clemson, Al-abama and Nebraska!

So Spurrier again will try and crushGeorgia’s dreams.

But a victory for the Bulldogs meansthey can all come true. The results of 1980and 2002 can be repeated. Those wereheart-attack inducing hang-on for dear lifevictories. They broke two-game losingstreaks and were big steps forward toamazing years – 12-0 and 13-1. ThisGeorgia team can have that kind of year.

One of the biggest road-blocks thoughwill come against a coach who has beatenGeorgia like no one before or since.

However, as “Nature Boy” Ric Flair,another of sports and entertainment’s great-est smack-talkers always says, “To be theman, you gotta beat the man!”

‘To be the man, you gotta beat the man’

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photo by Rob Saye

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www.bulldawgillustrated.com 5

This northern girl has embraced Dogs, Deep South football

Growing up in upstate New York andthen attending a Division III school whereno athletic scholarships were given, JenniferSamp was much more a fan of professionalfootball than she was of the collegiatebrand.

But once Samp joined the University ofGeorgia faculty in 2001 and attended hervery first game at Sanford Stadium, she wasliterally blown away by the pageantry ofDeep South football … as you can readilysee at the end of Samp’s question-and-answer with Bulldawg Illustrated when shetalks about her favorite UGA sports mo-ment.

But from the days when she followedher favorite NFL team, the Buffalo Bills,Samp has evolved into a passionate fan andsupporter of the Georgia Bulldogs, so muchso that she now makes her contribution tothe UGA athletic program by serving as anelected faculty member of the Board of Di-rectors of the Georgia Athletic Association.And Samp, who is Associate Professor, As-sociate Head and Graduate Coordinator ofthe UGA Department of CommunicationStudies, quickly points out that her entirefamily is now dyed-in-the-wool supportersof everything Red and Black.

“My husband, Andrew Cohen, is a phi-losophy professor at Georgia State Univer-sity and we have two little boys, Spencer, 9,and Marshall, 7, who are complete, avidGeorgia Bulldog fans,” Samp said proudly.

Samp was raised in a suburb ofRochester, New York. She did her under-graduate studies at a small liberal artsschool called Hamilton College. “That’s aDivision III school that does not have grad-uate education,” Samp related. “It is a muchdifferent type sports program than what’vewe got here at Georgia. I then did my grad-uate work at the University of Wisconsin.”

So it’s not like Samp wasn’t in the midstof big-time college football before comingto Georgia. After graduating from Wiscon-sin with her master’s degree and PH.D in1999, she served as an assistant professorat the University of Oklahoma for two yearsand as you know, the Badgers and Soonershave played some pretty good footballdown through the years. After joining UGAas an assistant professor in ’01, Samp thenbecame tenured as an associate professor in2007.

Samp, herself, has an athletic back-ground, being a competitive swimmer forover 20 years. “I did swim at Hamilton buta Division III school is much different froma Division I school in a lot of importantways,” she said. “Of course, it’s muchsmaller than a school such as Georgia andlike I said, doesn’t offer athletic scholar-ships.”

In the following question-and-answersession, Jennifer Samp talks more about herbackground and her role on the Georgiaathletic board.

What is your occupation?I teach graduate and undergraduate

courses and a lot of my classes focus onhow we interact with one another face toface, how we negotiate conflict and how wenegotiate difficult moments in our relation-ships. So a lot of my work focuses on ro-mance but some of it focuses on frictions,too. I do teach a class in conflict, an upperlevel undergraduate course that the stu-dents really like.

How many years have you servedon the UGA athletic board?

I am in my second year of an electionterm (by the university council). I havebeen on the board for three years. However,I replaced David Shipley when he becamethe faculty athletic representative for the ex-ecutive board.

Where did you grow up and whatmade it special?

I grew up in upstate New York and itwould be irresponsible of me not to pointout there’s a lot of snow in upstate NewYork. I grew up about an hour east of Buf-falo. And the university system in New Yorkis a little bit different than a lot of the south-ern schools. Growing up in New York youhave a beautiful fall and that was an adjust-ment when we moved to the South. We

love it in the South but we do miss thecrisp, fall weather. Upstate New York is notvery well known for its excellence in col-lege football but it’s known for its excellencein professional football and I did grow up asa Buffalo Bills fan.

What has been the most excitingpart for you serving on UGA’s athleticboard?

It’s the opportunity to meet and workwith the athletic association in both aca-demics and athletics and I have many ath-letes in my classes. Many athletes takeclasses in communication studies so it’sbeen really a great opportunity to workwith members of the athletic association ona more personal basis as they continue todevelop and work on answering the aca-demic profile of the athletes. And they’redoing a great job of this.

What has been the most excitingaspect of your career?

I think the most exciting part of my ca-reer is a couple of semesters that go by afterI’ve had a student in my conflict class, forexample, and they email me or come backor they call me and tell me they realize thatI really taught them some useful informa-tion and they’re actually using the goals wetalked about in conflict class in their every-day lives. It’s the best; it exceeds any wordat all to hear back from former students andthey tell you that you made a difference.

What do you think are the biggestchallenges for Georgia athletics in thenear future?

Georgia athletics now are under theleadership of (athletic director) Greg Mc-Garity and he’s doing an excellent job in en-hancing the academic profile of thestudent-athletes. And it’s a continuing chal-lenge given the demands of being a student-athlete to continue to develop the profile ofexcellence. I know at Georgia the GPA ofstudent-athletes has gone up and they’repushing for it to go up even more so theathletic association is going to continue toembrace the challenge of how to increasethe GPA and the academic profile of the ath-letes.

How has the knowledge from youroccupation helped in the bettermentof UGA athletics?

Well, I’m all about face-to-face interac-tion and like I mentioned, we have a lot ofstudent-athletes take these classes. Andknowing how to approach your audienceand to think about the different experiencespeople bring to the table when we’re talkingabout our relationships and how we wantto interact with one another, that’s a prettybeneficial life skill.

Your favorite UGA sports moment?As I mentioned, I did go to a Division

III school for my undergraduate educationand so my favorite UGA sports momentwas the first time I was able to go to SanfordStadium and see a UGA football game andsee a crowd of nearly 93,000-plus enthusi-astic fans. That was incredible and it was re-ally awe-inspiring. I try to go to as manygames as I can. Like I mentioned, I was aswimmer so I go to swim meets and myboys are interested in baseball so we go toGeorgia baseball games, too. The enthusi-asm the Georgia fans have is really unparal-leled so it’s always a good trip.

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6 Bulldawg Illustrated

t turns out that the Dawgs aren’t perfect. That became ap-parent after the 51-44 win against Tennessee. But is any teamperfect? No. Last year, Georgia would have lost that game,so being able to escape with a Pac-12 type win in an SEC

game is perfectly fine. But there needs to be improvements andquickly. South Carolina is going to be hungry for a win and in a top-10 match-up anything can happen.

What’s happening on defense?

Last year, the Dawgs had one of the stoutest defenses in the coun-try. Going into this season, with 9 of 11 starters returning to thelineup, Grantham’s unit was expected to be one of the best in thecountry this year. Through the first four games the excuse was thatAlec Ogletree and Bacarri Rambo weren’t yet back from suspensions.But when they did come back this past week, the defense looked theworst it has all year. Something needs to be fixed. Georgia can’t giveup 44 points in a game and expect to win; the offense can only be sogood. Right now, the Dawgs are 10th in the SEC in total defense. For the Gamecocks,Connor Shaw has been one of the most efficient passers in the country completing 50 of64 on the year. This is of particular concern this coming weekend because of how poorthe Georgia pass defense has been. Now, here’s the big difference between last week andthis week; the offensive line. Tennessee’s O-line lived up to all the hype they’ve received.They were able to stifle all the different blitzes that Georgia sent at them and they wereable to open up holes for their running backs. South Carolina’s offensive line isn’t nearlythat good, but they do have #21.

Stopping Lattimore

Last year, Marcus Lattimore embarrassed the Georgia defense rushing 29 times for176 yards. Almost a year removed from a major knee surgery, Lattimore is back up to hisold tricks again this year with 446 yards on the ground to go along with eight touch-downs. Between Connor Shaw’s high pass efficiency and Lattimore’s affinity for showingout against Georgia, the Dawgs have quite the challenge on their hands. Coach Granthamand the rest of the defensive staff are going to have to scheme around not only Lattimorebut the short passing game of the Gamecocks as well. It’s much different than Tennesseethough. Bray and the Vols offense had big play ability from everywhere on the field.South Carolina is much more methodical with their attack. Don’t be surprised to seeMarcus Lattimore get the ball 30+ times to try and wear down the Dawg’s defense.

Surprise offensive line

Ask any of the Georgia coaches of players. They’ll tell you that at the beginning ofthe this past spring, they had major concerns about the future and potential of the of-fensive line. In fact, they are very candid about it saying that they really didn’t think they

would be able to compete this year. And now? This group of offensive line is probablyplaying the best of any Georgia offensive line in recent memory. They are protectingAaron Murray and allowing him to use those terrific decision making skills to distributethe ball to the myriad of receiving options. But perhaps more impressive and importantfor the Georgia offense is how this group is opening up holes in the run game. This is twoweeks in a row that the “heavys” have asserted their will against an SEC front seven. Andwith that came 282 yards on the ground with the phenomenal freshmen, Todd Gurleyand Keith Marshall. This week against South Carolina will be the first week that the O-line will be truly challenged though. The defensive front of the Gamecocks is without adoubt one of the best in the country with Jadeveon Clowney leading the pass rush. Thisgroup will prove to be difficult to handle but if the Dawgs can manage them, it would-n’t be shocking to see Gurley or Marshall rush for over 100 yards again. They are boththat good.

Intangibles

Georgia remembers what happened last year in Sanford Stadium. The Dawgs had nobusiness losing that game. Mistake, after mistake, after mistake allowed the Gamecocksto sneak out of Athens with a victory even though Georgia outplayed them. It’s safe to saythat game will be brought up a ton this week. This should provide great motivation forthe players who were in Athens for that embarrassment last year. Unlike last year how-ever, this game is in Columbia, which is never a nice place for visiting teams to play. It’salso a night game, which only heightens that hostile environment. Oh, and ESPN Col-lege Gameday will be there as well. It’s not going to be an easy win for either team by anymeans. The pressure and nerves will be high. Whoever can win the ground game on of-fense will probably take control of this game. And whoever takes control and wins thisgame, takes control of the SEC East and their destiny to reach Atlanta in December.

Dogs vs. CocksIt won’t get any bigger than Saturdaynight’s Georgia-South Carolina gameBy Travis Ragsdale

I

photo by Rob Saye

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10 Bulldawg Illustrated

Q: Other than Herschel, who is your favorite Bulldog and why?A: Brandi: Richard Seymour - I met him in college and he was very nice & humble. He continues to represent the best of the Dawgs in the NFL as a hard worker, leader, and class act. Matt: DJ Shockley - because he won the last SEC championship

Q: Who is your favorite player on the current UGA ros-ter and why?A: Brandi: Christian Robinson - he reminds me of David Pollack with his leadership, love of the game, and con-sistent play making. Matt: Jarvis Jones - Did you see the Missouri game?

Q: What makes you a true Bulldog?A: Brandi: The chills I get EVERY time I hear the trum-pet solo to start the Battle Hymn of the Bulldog Nation! Matt: Supports the Dawgs when they are down.

Stays to the end of the gameand gets there for kick-off. Does not schedule events during a game

Q: What is the most memorable play you have experi-enced in person?A: Brandi: ALL plays of the original blackout! Most awesome UGA game ever! Matt: Matthew Statford winning the Alabama game on the road the last time we played there

Q: Which one of our rivals do you enjoy beating the most?A: Brandi: Florida Matt: Florida

Q: What makes your tailgating scene so special?A: Brandi: My friends - the same group of us who tail-gated together in college still meet up from all over the Southeast to tailgate together on game days. Matt: Everyone gets extra d’d !

FANS OF THE WEEK TRIVIA CONTESTMatt & Brandi West Charleston, S.C.

Winner: Mark Dunbarof Statham, GA

What was the score of South

as a member of the SEC?Answer: Georgia 28, South Carolina 6 in 1992

Go to bulldawgillustrated.comChance to win $25 gift cards for

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www.bulldawgillustrated.com 11

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1. Lasso Lattimore – A charter member of the mightySoutheastern Conference, Georgia has squared off against some ofthe greatest tailbacks in college football annals. Bo Jackson andDarren McFadden are two all-timers who have had signature per-formances against the Bulldogs. Marcus Lattimore is in that class.As a freshman, he was incredible, carrying 37 times for 184 yardsand two touchdowns in a breakthrough 17-6 Gamecocks victory.Last year, Lattimore gashed the Dogs in Athens for nearly 100 yardsin the fourth quarter alone, finishing with 176 yards and a touch-down in South Carolina’s 45-42 win in Athens. Another performancelike that would likely But the Bulldogs must do a much better jobkeeping him in check. That’s one of this team’s greatest challengesin 2012.

2. Get to Shaw – What a start to the season it’s beenfor South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw. Despite an injuredshoulder, Shaw piloted the Gamecocks to a 17-13 victory at Van-derbilt to open the season, displaying tremendous toughness. Hissignature performance was in South Carolina’s 31-10 win over Mis-souri at Williams-Brice Stadium. Shaw completed 20 straight passesafter missing on his first attempt. He is an excellent runner andpasser. Shaw and Lattimore running the zone read gives the Game-cocks big play potential on every snap. Georgia must pressure Shawon the pass and be physical against the run. Remember, when youhit the quarterback, it’s no longer an option.

3. Win the Turnover Battle –Okay, it has been welldocumented and is painfully memorable for Georgia fans. Last sea-son, South Carolina returned a fumble for a touchdown, ran backan interception for a touchdown and set up another score with a re-

turn to the Georgia five. Clearly, the Bulldogs can’t have anythingremotely similar to that happen and hope to have a prayer at whatwill be a raucous Williams-Brice Stadium. Nothing gives a team onthe road a bigger lift than creating turnovers. Jarvis Jones had anincredible game at Missouri, returning an interception to the Tigersone, and forcing a fumble that was recovered on the Mizzou five.Those were the knockout blows. To get a second SEC road win, theDogs need to force turnovers and finish in the plus column.

4. Good Play in Kicking Game – So Georgia’sstruggles in the kicking game a year ago have been well docu-mented. And one of the unforgettable negatives was Melvin In-gram running down the North sideline on a fake punt for atouchdown. The Dogs got caught with their pants down. That’s 28points allowed/set up by the Gamecocks defense and special teamsin their 45-42 win. Georgia’s special teams have had some up’s anddown’s in 2012. This is the first game this season, where the Bull-dogs opponent has an offense and a defense as good as Georgia’s.Just getting a push in the kicking game this week may not beenough.

5. Lead with the Run – Georgia is at its best whenthe running game is rolling and Georgia can throw off of play-action.South Carolina has one of the country’s best defensive lines, and theBulldogs offensive front will be put to the test. But Georgia muststay patient and feature a steady and heavy dose of tailback car-ries, primarily featuring the magnificent freshman Todd Gurley.Aaron Murray, with his ability to run and throw the deep ball, couldproduce big plays off the lead of the run. And a strong runninggame, and that respect the defense must show it, would also slowdown the Gamecocks fierce pass rush.

Five keys for a Bulldog victory

By Jeff Dantzler

By Jeff Dantzler

By Murray Poole

Location: Columbia, S.C.

Conference: SEC East

Enrollment: 30,967

Gamecocks in a thumbnail: The Gamecocks are hoping to re-turn to the SEC championship game this season after rolling to an11-2 overall record and 6-2 SEC mark in 2011, which made SouthCarolina runners-up to Georgia in the East Division. From thatsquad, the Gamecocks returned eight defensive starters and six de-fensive regulars. And as they enter Saturday’s huge clash with theBulldogs, the 6th-ranked Gamecocks (prior to the Kentucky game)are right where they wanted to be. At 5-0 (3-0 SEC), South Car-olina has toppled Vanderbilt (17-13), East Carolina (48-10), UAB(49-6), Missouri (31-10) and Kentucky (38-17).

A look at the South Carolina offense: The Gamecocks, ofcourse, like to throw a heavy dose of Marcus Lattimore at their op-ponents. The 220-pound junior tailback has snapped back wellfrom his knee surgery of last year by running for 110 yards againstVanderbilt, 85 yards each against UAB and Missouri and a season-high 120 yards against Kentucky. Spurrier has used two quarter-backs in junior Connor Shaw and sophomore Dylan Thompson. Inthe win over Missouri Shaw, from Flowery Branch, Ga. and theyounger brother of former Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern QBJaybo Shaw, set a new school record by completing 20 consecu-tive passes in a 20-of-21, 249-yards performance. Their favorite re-ceivers have been sophomore Bruce Ellington, junior Ace Sanders(who also excels on punt returns) and sophomore Damiere Byrd.

A look at the South Carolina defense: The Gamecocks cer-tainly boast one of the strongest stop-em crews in the country asno opponent this season has tallied more than 17 points againstSouth Caroliina. And it all starts with stellar defensive ends DevinTaylor (6-8, 267, Sr.) and Jadeveon Clowney (6-6, 256, Soph.).Clowney of course is a sack artist and both players make life mis-erable for opposing quarterbacks. But under new defensive coor-dinator Lorenzo Ward, the Gamecocks also get plenty of productionfrom senior linebacker Shaq Wilson – the team’s leading tackler –senior linebacker/safety DeVonte Holloman and senior safety D.J.Swearinger, who was suspended for the Missouri game by the SECdue to a flagrant hit in the win over UAB.

What Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier says: “We'll beready to play as well as we can. I don't know if we can beat Geor-gia. We have to go play. Hopefully, we won't play with the errorswe had early in this game, like being on the one-yard line and notscoring. We'll have to take advantage of our opportunities. It's a biggame, but it's not the only game in our season. Obviously, the win-ner has a huge advantage in the East. Again, we have a lot of biggames. We'll give it our best shot against the Bulldogs and seewhat happens.”

Game Prediction:Before this season kicked off, I said this wouldbe the Bulldogs’ only defeat of the regular season, tabbing Geor-gia to fall to the Gamecocks for a third consecutive season, by 27-24. But that was prior to each team going through its first fivegames of this season. This Georgia team seems to have the tal-ent, the unity and the will to win maybe unlike any Bulldog teamin recent years and with the great balance Georgia has displayedthus far on offense and with the way the defense is capable ofmaking the big plays when it matters the most, I go with the Dogsto get it done at Williams-Brice Stadium this coming Saturdayevening. But with ESPN GameDay on hand in Columbia, it won’tbe easy and, surely, the Gamecock Nation will be rocking. The Bull-dogs can’t afford the turnovers they made in the 51-44 win overTennessee and I’m sure they realize that. Make it Georgia, 28-21.

#7 JaDaveon Clowney, DE6-6, 256 Soph.Rock Hill, S.C. (South Pointe H.S.)

The undisputed top prep prospect in the country forthe class of 2011, Clowney had a monster impact andwas the nation’s premier freshman defender a yearago. He, first round pick Melvin Ingram and DevinTaylor were a wrecking crew defensive line a year ago.In Athens, he forced the fumble that Ingram scoopedup to give the Gamecocks a ten point lead in the 45-42 win over the Bulldogs. Clowney’s shown flashes ofLawrence Taylor and Bruce Smith. He and Taylor arearguably the country’s best defensive end combina-tion this year. Clowney has tremendous size, range,strength and speed. It is a pretty good bet that he’llbe the first player taken in the 2014 NFL Draft. Withso many positions and regions and scout and re-cruiters, it is rare that a high school player is the con-sensus best in the country. Clowney was. And he haslived up to incredible expectations. Steve Spurrier andthe reeled in Stephon Gilmore, then Marcus Lattimoreand then Clowney. That’s three years in a row land-ing a five-star in-state top prospect from South Car-olina. These are the impact players that have takenthe Gamecocks into the top ten.

#21 Marcus Lattimore, TB6-0, 218 Jr. Duncan, S.C. (Byrnes H.S.)

A bona fide All-American, Heisman Trophy candidate,Lattimore is on his way to being the greatest SouthCarolina player ever. He’s already broken some of1980 Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers’s records.His knee injury at the mid-point of last season was ahuge blow. But Lattimore has come back incrediblystrong, topping the century mark in South Carolina’sseason-opening win at Vanderbilt. Lattimore hastorched Georgia the previous two years. As a fresh-man in Columbia, this five-star blue-chipper gashedthe Bulldogs for 184 yards and two touchdowns on 37carries. Last season in Athens, he ran for 176 yardsand a score. Before going down against MississippiState last year, Lattimore had 818 yards in sevengames with ten touchdowns and an average of 5.0yards per carry. His freshman year, Lattimore ran for1,197 yards and 17 scores. He was SEC Freshman ofthe Week against the Bulldogs, Florida, Tennessee andTroy. As mentioned with Clowney, this is the type ofelite player that ten years ago would have likely woundup at Florida State, Tennessee or Georgia. But he hasbeen the centerpiece on the field of leading the Game-cocks to their greatest of days.

#14 Connor Shaw, QB6-1, 207 Jr. Flowery Branch, Ga. (Flowery Branch H.S.)

Often when you hear that a quarterback isa good “game-manager” and gritty, it is abackhanded compliment. Well ConnorShaw was behind center for most of SouthCarolina’s snaps a year ago, as the Game-cocks had their greatest season ever. Andhere in 2012, he has taken things to an-other level. Battling a badly injured shoul-der, Shaw, through running and passing,led the Gamecocks to an exciting 17-13victory over Vanderbilt in the season-opener. He had the breakout performanceof his career – after backup Dylan Thomp-son performed exceptionally well in routsof East Carolina and UAB, in a 31-10pounding of Missouri. Shaw missed hisfirst pass and then hit an astounding 20straight. That’s right, 20-for-21. TheGamecocks are 10-1 in his career starts.With his ability to run and throw, Shawteams with Lattimore to give South Car-olina an explosive and consistent, danger-ous quarterback/tailback duo.

Scouting the CocksSouth Carolina Gamecocks stars

Kevin Butler, former University ofGeorgia legendary kicker and a mem-ber of the Georgia radio broadcastteam, will each week during the 2012football season select his offensive,defensive and special teams playersof the week for Bulldawg Illustrated.Here are Butler’s selections and rea-sons why for the Bulldogs’ 51-44 winover Tennessee Saturday.

OFFENSE – Freshman tailbackKeith Marshall, who ran for 164yards on just 10 carries, includ-ing touchdown runs of 75 and 72yards.“The 75 and 72-yard touchdowns

were certainly game-changers,” saidButler. “A lot of focus has been onTodd Gurley (who ran for 130 yards inthe win) with his power but Keithbrings a very special talent to the of-fense. It was great to see a Georgiarunning back hurt a team with hisspeed and Keith certainly did that onboth of his long runs. The 1-2 combi-nation of Marshall and Gurley is givingGeorgia an average of 166 yards pergame at tailback and as we know,when a Mark Richt team has a 100-yard rusher, the record is 50 and 5and Marshall was a huge factor thisweek.”

DEFENSE – Junior linebackerAlec Ogletree, who returned tothe starting lineup after a four-game suspension and led theBulldogs with 14 total tacklesand three pass breakups, onewhich resulted in a Georgia in-terception.“Alec had 14 tackles and a tippedpass for an interception” said Butler.“His leadership back on the defense isonly going to be a positive movingforward against South Carolina. Notonly is his physical presence a factorin any game but playing now full-time, his leadership is going to playjust as an important role this week ashis physical performance.”

SPECIAL TEAMS – With no Bull-dog standing out on specialteams against the Volunteers,Butler singled out all the specialteams as a whole while, at thesame time, urging them to stepup their game.“The specialty teams this week isgoing to have to be the whole unitand I mean every facet of the spe-cialty teams,” said Butler. “And thereason I’m giving it to all the spe-cialty teams this week is becausethey all need to step it up. We needto become more efficient on our fieldgoal kicking, our kickoff coverageteam, our punt coverage team andour return guys. That will give us theopportunity to be the best team wecan be against South Carolina.”

Kevin Butler’s Players of the Game

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DAVID POLLACK

WEARS MILLER BROTHERS

ESPN analyst and Georgia Bulldog, David Pollack

What a week in college football. There were crazy shootouts in Morgantown, Athens and the PAC-12. There are two hugeSoutheastern Conference showdowns Saturday. Georgia goes to South Carolina and Florida entertains LSU. The league races will clearlybecome a bit clearer. The PAC-12 and Big-12 are the next two best conferences behind the SEC.

1. Alabama – The Crimson Tide cruised past Ole Miss on the strength of big plays.Nick Saban wasn’t ecstatic with his team’s performance, and worried about a letdown. Heplayed the team Tim Tebow’s speech following Florida’s loss to Ole Miss in 2008 during theweek. Bama’s defense is superb. Dee Milliner is the best corner in the country.

2. Florida State – Not too long ago, the Seminoles lost to South Florida in Tallahas-see. Coming off one of the Seminoles biggest wins in the past decade – a 49-37 comebackwin over Clemson – there was worry of a letdown in Tampa. But Florida State took careof business. The Seminoles are dreaming big and have a favorable schedule the rest of theway in the ACC.

3. LSU – The Fightin’ Tigers didn’t exactly blow Towson State away. Now comes thebig showdown with the Gators in Gainesville. LSU has an awesome defense and excellentstable of running backs. This figures to be a tight defensive battle. LSU absolutely drubbedFlorida last season at Tiger Stadium.

4. Florida – Not too many saw this coming after squeaking by Bowling Green inunimpressive fashion in the opener. But Florida has since won at Texas A&M and Tennesseeand romped Kentucky at home. The Gators had this past Saturday off to get ready for thisweek’s mega-showdown with LSU in Gainesville. It was ugly in Baton Rouge last year.

5. Oregon – Give credit to Mike Leach and Washington State. The Cougars hungaround with Oregon for a while in the first half, but the Ducks just have too much juice.Washington won’t be able to sneak up on Oregon after its impressive win over Stanford.The Ducks can strike for big plays in a variety of ways.

6. South Carolina – It’s one of the biggest games in Williams-Brice Stadium history,as the Gamecocks host Georgia in a top ten showdown. It was scary in Lexington, as Ken-tucky led 17-7 and was in the red zone. But a bizarre play ran the clock out on Kentuckyand the Gamecocks absolutely dominated the second half.

7. Kansas State – These are happy days in the little apple, and the Wildcats faithfulshould be smiling again Saturday, as they tangle with rival Kansas. The gap between BillSnyder and the second greatest coach in Kansas State history is arguably the largest of anyprogram in America.

8. Texas – The Longhorns are back and they are winning big games. Texas took careof Oklahoma State in a shootout and now welcomes West Virginia to Sixth Street. DavidAsh is playing outstanding at quarterback. The Longhorns have outstanding talent on thedefensive line.

9. Georgia – This is one talented team that had far too many unsound first half mo-ments, yet survived for an unforgettable 51-44 victory over Tennessee. Now comes atremendous challenge against Steve Spurrier and South Carolina, seeking the program’sfirst ever three-game winning streak against the Bulldogs.

10. Notre Dame – The Fighting Irish are undefeated – and they’ve taken down someold rivals in Navy, Purdue, Michigan State and Michigan. Now Miami comes to town.Back in 1988, these two hooked up in one of the all-time great regular season games. Therewas a lot of bad blood. It won’t be easy, but the Irish have a golden opportunity to pick upanother win over a team they have a lot of history with.

11. West Virginia – What a shootout it was in Morgantown, as the Mountaineerswon a record-setting track meet, downing Baylor 70-63. Geno Smith is putting up amaz-ing numbers. He was 45-of-51 for 656 yards and eight touchdowns. Amazing. West Vir-ginia heads to Texas Saturday for one of the biggest games in school history.

12. Oklahoma – The Sooners will have revenge on their minds as they head to Lub-bock to take on Tommy Tuberville’s undefeated Texas Tech Red Raiders. Oklahoma’s of-fense has been inconsistent thus far, and Bob Stoops would most certainly like to see morestability out of his running game.

13. Clemson – Coming off of that emotional loss to Florida State in Tallahassee,and with Sammy Watkins sidelined, this trip to Boston College was a scary trap game.But the Tigers prevailed 45-31, and now the Yellow Jackets come to town. They gotbeaten badly by Middle Tennessee this past Saturday.

14. Mississippi State – Dan Mullen has a terrific team, and they are the sleeperin the SEC. Tyler Russell is the best passing quarterback Mississippi State has had inseveral years, and the Maroon Bulldogs have weapons at tailback and receiver. The de-fense and offensive line are physical.

15. TCU – These are happy days in Fort Worth. Gary Patterson led TCU to a per-fect season and Rose Bowl crown, and now they are back in a major conference. TheHorned Frogs took care of old Southwest Conference rival SMU, and host Iowa StateSaturday.

16. Oregon State – How ‘bout the Beavers, they are smokin’ hot. Oregon Statetook a thriller 38-35 over Arizona to make it 3-0. Their opener with McNeese Stategot cancelled because of the hurricane, so OSU is a game behind. But they are in playin the tough PAC-12.

17. Ohio State – The Buckeyes didn’t exactly blow away UAB. It was a slowstart, as UAB got three of the first four scores. Then the Blazers cut it to 21-15 in thefourth quarter, but Ohio State pulled it out. Now comes a big test with Michigan Statein East Lansing.

18. Washington – Steve Sarkisian has the Huskies – a one-time powerhouse pro-gram and class of the PAC-10 – heading back in the right direction. Washington gotits signature win before a national television audience, coming back to edge Stanford17-13 on Thursday in Seattle. The Huskies defense played great.

19. Stanford – Coming off of that major win over Southern Cal, Stanford’s fourthstraight in the series, the Cardinal had an open date before heading to Seattle. Whoknows, maybe a little too much patting on the back on the Farm. Stanford didn’t scorean offensive touchdown and suffered a big loss in the race for the PAC-12 North.

20. Southern Cal – Before the season, this Thursday night’s game at Utah lookedvery scary. But the Runnin’ Utes are struggling in the PAC-12. And the Trojans havealready been saddled with a loss. Matt Barkley will probably put up some big statis-tics. This is an intra-division game, so USC cannot afford any kind of a letdown.

21. Boise State – Chris Petersen has done great work in Boise. The Broncos losta ton of elite offensive and defensive talent off of last year’s standout squad. But theyare still strong. Boise jumped out to a big lead and then held off New Mexico.

22. Northwestern – There are now two teams in the Big Ten (which has 12teams) that are undefeated – Ohio State, and the Wildcats. Pat Fitzgerald is an stel-lar coach. It was no problem for Northwestern in a win over Indiana. It’s happenedbefore in Evanston.

23. Rutgers – The Scarlet Knights take on Connecticut Saturday. Rutgers is goinggood again, highlighted in part by a win at Arkansas. This was once one of the twoor three worst programs in all of major college football.

24. Texas Tech - Tommy Tuberville has the Red Raiders looking good. TexasTech is off to an undefeated start, a streak extended with a win over previously un-beaten start over Iowa State. Can they possibly make it two in a row over Bob Stoops’sSooners?

25. Cincinnati – The Bearcats are undefeated and they’ve put together a couple ofnice wins, including this past Saturday’s over Virginia Tech in Landover, Md. Cincin-nati, Rutgers and Louisville are the class of the Big East.

Jeff Dantzler’s Top 25

photo by Rob Saye

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