The South Carolina Gamecocks are set to battle with the Florida State Seminoles in the 2010 Chick-Fil-A Bowl. Recently, our blog gave you our perspective on the questions that our pals at ACC Rivals provided concerning this game. Now it is time to gain insight on FSU from ACC Rivals, which is the best ACC sports blog around.
Below you can find the answers to our questions –
1. Are FSU fans happy with the 2010 season overall and Jimbo Fisher’s first year?
I don’t see how you couldn’t be pleased. Jimbo came in after such a mediocre season- bad enough to get one of the greatest coaches of all time fired- and led us to the ACC Championship Game, as well as wins over rivals Miami and Florida. The defense looked remarkably better, the offense also looked great, and overall, this team is in tremendous shape for the future. Everyone expected great things from Coach Fisher, but not this quickly. So, to answer your question in one sentence, FSU fans are very happy with how the 2010 season and Jimbo Fisher’s first year went.
2. What has been the key(s) to FSU success in 2010?
The ‘Noles have found winning games much easier now that the defense doesn’t give up 40+ points a game. But when the defense does break down, it’s been hard for FSU to win. Florida State has 4 losses this year. The score of the opponent in those 4 games was 45, 28, 37, and 44. If the defense doesn’t show up, don’t expect FSU to win. The other key would probably be the running game. While the offense clicked on all cylinders this year, it was the first time for a long time that FSU had a legitimate running threat. I think that really helped FSU out a lot this season.
3. Name 2 players for FSU that have to step up for a chance to win.
I already talked about how the defense is a huge key to the game, but if I had to choose two specific players- probably Willie Haulstead and Rodney Smith, both sophomore receivers. Most would say EJ Manuel, which is very true, but I’m confident that he will step up. Haulstead and Smith, not so much. But if they can play like they did in, say, the Florida game, it might be a long night for the Gamecocks defense, and South Carolina overall.
4. If you had to inform Coach Spurrier on what needs to be done to beat the FSU Seminoles, what would your advice be?
Based on what I think FSU’s weaknesses are, there’s one main thing I would tell Coach Spurrier to do to beat FSU. On offense, he needs to follow the game plan that Oklahoma had against FSU. South Carolina is a lot like the Sooners, and as I’m sure you remember, Oklahoma destroyed FSU. Landry Jones (much like Stephen Garcia) continued to connect with Ryan Broyles (Alshon Jeffery) and when the Seminoles covered that up, they gave it to Demarco Murray (Marcus Lattimore) and let him go to work. I’ll have an article on the comparison between the two teams up at ACC Rivals later this week, but in a nutshell, that’s what I think South Carolina should do.
5. Give me your prediction for the FSU v USC game.
I hate making predictions in big games like this, because I’m way too much of a homer, and I always seem to jinx my team. But I do know one thing- this is going to be a great game. Both teams were one championship game win away from winning their conference, so this could legitimately be a BCS matchup. I’ll be at the Georgia Dome on New Year’s Eve to see this one, and while I will be hoping for FSU to win, I know I’m in for a great one, regardless of the outcome.
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Thanks again to ACC Rivals.
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