Is Carolina the swing game for next year?

I get what you're saying ... but I think it's tough to call the season opener--regardless of opponent--a swing game (look no further than the 2012 v Florida [we effectively shook it off]).

Short of a nuclear meltdown, the SCAR game should be history by week 3 or 4. Regardless of the outcome, I'd be stunned if this team notched 10 wins.

I would be surprised if we get to 10 wins on the season but our opener to USCe is far from an automatic loss

Perhaps, but having to start on the road on a Thursday (which is a big deal here) is not the easiest place for anyone to learn how to swim.

eta: Although Spurrier does love going for the throat early and always throws at least one bomb on the 1st possession or two if A&M's defense is as bad as it was last year I think we'll take the same approach as we have with Clem5on and their explosive offense the last 5 years. Run the ball, nickel and dime passes down the field, control that clock.

and if anyone is going to be able to do it, it will be a kid coached by sumlin and spav. especially with all the talent that will surround whoever wins the job. especially combined with the lack of experience in your secondary outside of your strong safety, I don't think the issue for us in our game will be whether or not we can move the ball. it will come down whether or not we can make enough stops

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I get what you're saying ... but I think it's tough to call the season opener--regardless of opponent--a swing game (look no further than the 2012 v Florida [we effectively shook it off]).

Short of a nuclear meltdown, the SCAR game should be history by week 3 or 4. Regardless of the outcome, I'd be stunned if this team notched 10 wins.

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Good point. Typically the opener would not be the swing game, but I think starting off the season with a huge win in essentially the first big CFB game of the year with all eyes could carry a lot of momentum into the season.

I wouldn't be stunned if we won 10 games, but I would be quite surprised. I could see us going 9-3 and winning our bowl game.

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Perhaps, but not as much as the Gamecocks are home warriors. I can't remember the exact number but I do know we have the nation's longest home win streak. Plus A&M already had a bad defense, now they've had 3 offensive starters go in the 1st round of the draft? That's a lot of kinks to work out for sure.

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I'm not going to say losing those guys will not hurt us, but we are going to have a good offense under Sumlin regardless. It also doesn't hurt that everyone of those guys we lost we be replaced by some pretty elite talent.
But, not to sound like a homer, there is a possibility Kyle Allen could struggle pretty mightily in that atmosphere.

We need to rely on our OL and our RBs early in that game.

Care to give us an objective breakdown of who you guys lost, what you have returning, strengths, weaknesses, etc?

It's a winnable game if we play our cards right, but it won't be easy. Carolina is tough at home and doesn't back down to quality opponents. But they're human and there's holes to exploit in both their offense and defense. It's not a devastating blow to the season if we lose, but it's one that could set the tone to a 9-10 win year if we pull it out.

I'd like to think we have a chance of coming out of Columbia with a win, but then again I'd also like to think that I have a chance with Kate Upton if given the chance.

The way I see this game playing out is having our starting QB (whoever it will be) proving that we won't need Manziel to continue fielding a productive offense. Hell, I even see the QB having a breakout game. Sadly, I also see our defense costing us the game.

And quite honestly, none of us should expect anything better than 8-4 this season. By this point it is obvious our defense will cost us more than a few games this season. But I will make this Ketchum-esqe prediction; if our defense shows up and contributes to a victory at SC (which I doubt will happen), then it could very well be the swing game that could ignite and change the identity of our defense. Hope this happens, but I'm not holding my breath.

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Someone on Texags posted that a true freshman QB has never beaten a ranked team on the road in his first start in NCAA history.

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Meaningless stat

1. Freshmen weren't allowed to play varsity games until 1972
2. The instances of true freshmen starting the first game at QB are incredibly low since then
3. Most P5 teams do not start on the road as they usually play patsies to start the season
4. Even when starting on the road, it's fairly unlikely to be facing a ranked opposition
5. QBs in particular usually redshirt

I'm going to go out on a wild limb here and say that there are fewer than 5 instances in CFB history when a P5, true freshman QB started on the road against a ranked opponent in their first game. It may even be a sample size of 1.

I'm honestly struggling with a true freshman that even started game one for a P5 team outside of Hackenberg last year (who they made a massive deal about). Hell they made a massive deal about Manziel being the first player classified as a freshman to start for us in game one at QB ever. I thought RG3 might have but he came on in relief in their first game as they were getting throttled by Wake Forest.

yeah that's a really good one and no idea how I missed it.

Here's a question, how many P5 teams are starting on the road vs a ranked opponent this year? Are Arkansas and us the only ones? I can't think of a single other one off the top of my head. Clemson could be but I don't think that UGA will be ranked in the opening poll.