Here's the situation:
1. On Saturday, Georgia State played South Carolina in Columbia.
2. South Carolina isn't scaring anyone. They are ranked lower than us (taking into account "Others getting votes").
3. South Carolina's quarterback played horrible. Spencer Rattler (what the heck happened to him? He was up there on the Heisman preseason watch list with Sam) was 23 out of 37 for 227 yards but with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. He had a QBR of 28.6. Yep, you read that right. 28.6.
4. Little Carolina had a grand total of 79 rushing yards.
5. So Little Carolina played some pretty bad offense. Or viewed differently, Georgia State has a really good defense.
6. But the GSU quarterback was 7 out of 29. Yep, you read that right. He had a 24% completion rate. Only 111 yards. 1 TD and 1 interception. 47.4 QBR. This was a real passing exposition, folks.
7. Their running game was okay, with 200 yards. Their leading rusher had 76 yards. But 41 came on one play. Take that one run away and he gained 35 yards on 12 carries. 3 yards per carry. Meh. Their second leading rusher had 57 yards in 5 carries. Not bad. But he had one run of 44 yards. Take that one out and he ran 13 yards in 4 carries or 3.25 yards per carry. Maybe they broke a lot of tackles on those long runs. Or maybe they just got lucky. Who knows. I didn't see the game. But that doesn't sound like all that impressive of a rushing attack.
8. So, USC finished with 306 yards and GSU finished with 311 yards. Probably not going to get many highlights on Sports Center.
9. But here's the kicker. USC wins 35 to 14. With only one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown, how did they do that? They blocked two punts. Shane Beamer learned some special teams Beamer Ball from his dad.
10. So, to summarize, GSU seems to have a decent defense but didn't appear to be challenged too much by Rattler or the Gamecocks rushing attack. They have an awful quarterback and a so-so rushing attack (unless South Carolina's defense is just really, really good). And they have some questionable special teams play.
But here's what I don't understand. A so-so South Carolina team beats these guys by 24 points and this morning, we are favored by only 7 points? It's now 7.5. Yeah, our defense isn't looking great (although they did put together 2 good quarters against a much more formidable offense) and I think we aren't going to panic in future games like we did in the fourth quarter against Happy Appy. I think Drake Maye will slice and dice their defense. And I bet our running backs will rack up a lot of yards, especially late in the game.
So, why are we only 7 point favorites? I'm not complaining. I'll take that spread. But it's puzzling. I guess the odds makers just really feel that our poor defense totally neutralizes our potent offense.
1. On Saturday, Georgia State played South Carolina in Columbia.
2. South Carolina isn't scaring anyone. They are ranked lower than us (taking into account "Others getting votes").
3. South Carolina's quarterback played horrible. Spencer Rattler (what the heck happened to him? He was up there on the Heisman preseason watch list with Sam) was 23 out of 37 for 227 yards but with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. He had a QBR of 28.6. Yep, you read that right. 28.6.
4. Little Carolina had a grand total of 79 rushing yards.
5. So Little Carolina played some pretty bad offense. Or viewed differently, Georgia State has a really good defense.
6. But the GSU quarterback was 7 out of 29. Yep, you read that right. He had a 24% completion rate. Only 111 yards. 1 TD and 1 interception. 47.4 QBR. This was a real passing exposition, folks.
7. Their running game was okay, with 200 yards. Their leading rusher had 76 yards. But 41 came on one play. Take that one run away and he gained 35 yards on 12 carries. 3 yards per carry. Meh. Their second leading rusher had 57 yards in 5 carries. Not bad. But he had one run of 44 yards. Take that one out and he ran 13 yards in 4 carries or 3.25 yards per carry. Maybe they broke a lot of tackles on those long runs. Or maybe they just got lucky. Who knows. I didn't see the game. But that doesn't sound like all that impressive of a rushing attack.
8. So, USC finished with 306 yards and GSU finished with 311 yards. Probably not going to get many highlights on Sports Center.
9. But here's the kicker. USC wins 35 to 14. With only one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown, how did they do that? They blocked two punts. Shane Beamer learned some special teams Beamer Ball from his dad.
10. So, to summarize, GSU seems to have a decent defense but didn't appear to be challenged too much by Rattler or the Gamecocks rushing attack. They have an awful quarterback and a so-so rushing attack (unless South Carolina's defense is just really, really good). And they have some questionable special teams play.
But here's what I don't understand. A so-so South Carolina team beats these guys by 24 points and this morning, we are favored by only 7 points? It's now 7.5. Yeah, our defense isn't looking great (although they did put together 2 good quarters against a much more formidable offense) and I think we aren't going to panic in future games like we did in the fourth quarter against Happy Appy. I think Drake Maye will slice and dice their defense. And I bet our running backs will rack up a lot of yards, especially late in the game.
So, why are we only 7 point favorites? I'm not complaining. I'll take that spread. But it's puzzling. I guess the odds makers just really feel that our poor defense totally neutralizes our potent offense.
