Fisch Tank: College Football’s Cookin’

It’s finally here, after months of racking our brains and speculating about who would win the SEC or the ACC, not to mention the Big South or the National Championship. I’m ecstatic to say college football is back. So that means put the jive talking away, because the facts are about to come out!
Week one is in the books and boy did we learn a lot in a day. We now know whoever says the ACC is better than the SEC better put down the sauce. After Clemson’s performance against Alabama, Tommy Bowden may have a couple of real estate agents salivating for his listing. That 60 minutes was the most uninspiring football I’ve scene since covering South Dakota Tech. For an offense that is supposed to have more weapons than North Korea, the Tigers attack was docile. Clemson had 189 total yards for the game compared to Bama’s 419. This stat blows me away, the thunder and lightning duo of James Davis and C.J. Spiller combined for a sultry 1 yard (NOT A TYPO). Cullen Harper waved bye-bye to the Heisman Trophy as he exited the Georgia Dome; boy did that campaign last long. Everyone was so quick in the off-season to throw every accolade at the Tigers, while managing to overlook one crucial element. If you can’t block, you can’t win. For an offensive line that returns only one starter from a year ago, these puppies better learn quickly or the tag “overrated” could be attached to Clemson.
Moving on to the Gamecocks and the “Head” Ball Coach Steve Spurrier, his offense actually looked like the Ole’ Ball Coach in the fourth quarter against N.C. State. I completely agree when he said the Wolfpack aren’t quite the same caliber of competition the Gamecocks will face this season. I also agree with him Thursday night made Ellis Johnson and the defense look a whole lot better than he and Tommy Beecher did. Beecher’s a nice guy and can run a little, but he belongs with the clipboard and the head set. If Spurrier believes he has to go to the tape to review who should be the starting quarterback against Vandy, he needs to be checked for senility. Chris Smelley proved he should be the Gamecocks starting quarterback without a shadow of a doubt. South Carolina still seems to be having problems on the offensive line, yet I think they are in much better shape than Clemson.
Now we come to Coastal Carolina. I wish I could give the Chanticleers multiple positive criticisms but they played Penn State, and that one should take care of them all. I’m not saying the Nittany Lions are a top three team, but when you lose your starting quarterback through no fault of his own and most of the players have never scene a place or maybe even a city with 110,000, something has to give. And the Chants definitely were giving; JoPa’s boys hung 594 yards of total offense and 52 unanswered points. If you watched the game, tell me you weren’t thinking CCU stood a chance when Trent Usher scored in the 2nd quarters. Like David Bennett, I sure did, but Derrick Williams erased the Chants and my own thoughts of Appalachian State and Michigan revisited. All I can say is this, lets’ hope the Chants run defense won’t get ripped like that again for the rest of the season.
It’s a little early for next weeks predictions but I’ll leave you with this; calm down Clemson fans you still have an outside chance for a trip to Miami. Gamecock nation, don’t get too Cocky, the win was step one in a 12 step program for your program. And as for Coastal Carolina the publicity and $450,000 you got in the pummeling at Penn State will go to help out your whole athletic program.

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