Too much Tebow, not enough strength

James Davis and C.J. Spiller, Clemson's dangerous running back duo, must be licking their chops.
Yeah, I know. The Tigers have something else on their minds, like winning their division of the Atlantic Coast Conference and possibly playing for the league title. But surely those guys have had to look at USC's defense the last couple of weeks and hope Nov. 24 will hurry up and get here.
If South Carolina fans are looking for any slight little glimmer of hope, it's that the Gamecocks really do play hard until the game is over. Even USC coach Steve Spurrier said as much after Saturday's 51-31 loss to Florida in which Gator quarterback Tim Tebow ran for 120 yards and five touchdowns and threw for 304 yards and a pair of scores.
But the facts of the matter are simple, and Spurrier at least recognizes the problem.
The Gamecocks are not big enough, strong enough or fast enough yet to be relevant in the Southeastern Conference. That doesn't mean they can't get there, but it will take more recruiting classes like Spurrier landed last year for that to come to fruition.
USC's defense isn't the same one that played fast and flew around to the ball earlier in the season. And that injury to Jasper Brinkley back in September is looking bigger and bigger every week. Frankly, it looks like USC's defense has hit a wall, almost as if the unit is playing tired the way they get pushed around now. They'd never admit that, of course, and that might not be the case. It just looks that way.
But whatever the case, Spurrier spoke the truth immediately after Saturday's loss.
"If we don't get stronger and better," he said, "we might be in the same boat next year."
That's certainly not what Gamecock fans want to hear, but it's right on the nose.
USC, it appears, just doesn't have the players strong enough to compete on the line of scrimmage and subsequently stop the Tim Tebows of the world.

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