And now it's Garcia's turn (again)
posted by David Cloninger, 10/12/2008 03:59:00 PM
We don’t get fooled again.”
------------------------- THE WHO
I knew this would happen and I still let myself get suckered into believing it wouldn’t. As if I haven’t profiled Steve Spurrier enough in four years.
There’s been another quarterback switch at South Carolina.
The buzzings swept through the Kentucky faithful as quarterback Stephen Garcia took the field on Saturday, playing the first meaningful minutes of his career and calmly guiding the Gamecocks to a 24-17 win. The consensus was, “This is the backup? Who the hell is third-string, Dan Marino?”
So naturally, Spurrier sat down in the postgame and said Garcia would receive his first collegiate start next week, when the Gamecocks host LSU. Big surprise. When Chris Smelley sputtered around and generally took five steps back from a great performance at Ole Miss last week and then Garcia rode in on his noble steed and saved the day, Garcia should have been endorsed as the starter.
It was about that point that I realized, after a well-deserved week off from the constant quarterback carousel that is permanently set up on Bluff Road, how much of a fool I’ve been.
I’ve endorsed Smelley this year. I’ve endorsed Garcia this year. I’ve endorsed Tommy Beecher this year.
And I thought it was settled after Ole Miss, when Smelley was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week, that he was the starter forever and Garcia was the clear backup.
Oh, no.
As Syvelle Newton and Blake Mitchell and even Antonio Heffner before him, Smelley played badly enough to receive a glowering look from the Head Ball Coach and a trip to the sideline. The Chosen One took the field and acted like he’d been starting for the past three years, making it look way too easy after the Gamecocks had stumbled around on offense for the better part of the afternoon.
And when it was over, USC once again had a new quarterback.
“We’re going to play Garcia now,” Spurrier said. “Yeah, we’re going to play Stephen. He’s earned it. He’s the quarterback.”
Spurrier has taken some lumps from fans and the media about not sticking to one quarterback, but the way I look at it, why would any coach want to be consistent if the result is consistently bad? If a kid who’s been rewarded with his coach’s loyalty throws three interceptions every Saturday and the team keeps losing, the kid may be safe but the coach will be looking through the want ads.
So we get the constant shuffle of the past four years at USC, where Spurrier pulls the handle on the slot machine in his office each week and gets a signal-caller. ‘Why can’t he stick with one guy, as he did for most of his tenure at Florida?,’ the question is always asked.
Simple. He doesn’t have the talent he had at Florida. There are no Danny Wuerffels in Columbia that are spot-on every week and deserve to stay in place.
It’s what makes it so maddening for a writer because most every week is filled with re-doing the same story – who’s starting at QB? But I realize now that it’s simply the way it has to be in Columbia.
Take Saturday, for instance. Smelley was given every chance to own that job. He had the great performance against Ole Miss, he had his coach in his corner, he had one easy week of practice where he never had to wonder if he’d get the call on Saturday.
Then he threw two picks, one that was returned for a touchdown, fumbled once and floated almost every one of his passes completely out of reach of the receivers. Garcia comes in, facing an Everest of an uphill climb, and all of a sudden, he’s bombing downfield to Jason Barnes as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Garcia will start against the Tigers – assuming he doesn’t do something in practice this week that will cause Spurrier to change his mind – and Smelley will be in the wings. I can’t tell you how Garcia will play on Saturday because if I could, I’d be relaxing by the Caribbean right now with a pina colada in one hand and an Ole Miss coed in the other.
But I’ll guarantee that this is not a permanent switch. Garcia and Smelley will continue trading off the duties for the rest of this season and the rest of their careers. Neither will bring their star-making games to the table every game.
It may be frustrating to some of the fans, but put it this way – does it really matter who’s under center as long as the Gamecocks win?
I’d rather have an ugly win over a pretty loss any day.
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“And I get on my knees and pray,
We don’t get fooled again.”
------------------------- THE WHO
I knew this would happen and I still let myself get suckered into believing it wouldn’t. As if I haven’t profiled Steve Spurrier enough in four years.
There’s been another quarterback switch at South Carolina.
The buzzings swept through the Kentucky faithful as quarterback Stephen Garcia took the field on Saturday, playing the first meaningful minutes of his career and calmly guiding the Gamecocks to a 24-17 win. The consensus was, “This is the backup? Who the hell is third-string, Dan Marino?”
So naturally, Spurrier sat down in the postgame and said Garcia would receive his first collegiate start next week, when the Gamecocks host LSU. Big surprise. When Chris Smelley sputtered around and generally took five steps back from a great performance at Ole Miss last week and then Garcia rode in on his noble steed and saved the day, Garcia should have been endorsed as the starter.
It was about that point that I realized, after a well-deserved week off from the constant quarterback carousel that is permanently set up on Bluff Road, how much of a fool I’ve been.
I’ve endorsed Smelley this year. I’ve endorsed Garcia this year. I’ve endorsed Tommy Beecher this year.
And I thought it was settled after Ole Miss, when Smelley was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week, that he was the starter forever and Garcia was the clear backup.
Oh, no.
As Syvelle Newton and Blake Mitchell and even Antonio Heffner before him, Smelley played badly enough to receive a glowering look from the Head Ball Coach and a trip to the sideline. The Chosen One took the field and acted like he’d been starting for the past three years, making it look way too easy after the Gamecocks had stumbled around on offense for the better part of the afternoon.
And when it was over, USC once again had a new quarterback.
“We’re going to play Garcia now,” Spurrier said. “Yeah, we’re going to play Stephen. He’s earned it. He’s the quarterback.”
Spurrier has taken some lumps from fans and the media about not sticking to one quarterback, but the way I look at it, why would any coach want to be consistent if the result is consistently bad? If a kid who’s been rewarded with his coach’s loyalty throws three interceptions every Saturday and the team keeps losing, the kid may be safe but the coach will be looking through the want ads.
So we get the constant shuffle of the past four years at USC, where Spurrier pulls the handle on the slot machine in his office each week and gets a signal-caller. ‘Why can’t he stick with one guy, as he did for most of his tenure at Florida?,’ the question is always asked.
Simple. He doesn’t have the talent he had at Florida. There are no Danny Wuerffels in Columbia that are spot-on every week and deserve to stay in place.
It’s what makes it so maddening for a writer because most every week is filled with re-doing the same story – who’s starting at QB? But I realize now that it’s simply the way it has to be in Columbia.
Take Saturday, for instance. Smelley was given every chance to own that job. He had the great performance against Ole Miss, he had his coach in his corner, he had one easy week of practice where he never had to wonder if he’d get the call on Saturday.
Then he threw two picks, one that was returned for a touchdown, fumbled once and floated almost every one of his passes completely out of reach of the receivers. Garcia comes in, facing an Everest of an uphill climb, and all of a sudden, he’s bombing downfield to Jason Barnes as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Garcia will start against the Tigers – assuming he doesn’t do something in practice this week that will cause Spurrier to change his mind – and Smelley will be in the wings. I can’t tell you how Garcia will play on Saturday because if I could, I’d be relaxing by the Caribbean right now with a pina colada in one hand and an Ole Miss coed in the other.
But I’ll guarantee that this is not a permanent switch. Garcia and Smelley will continue trading off the duties for the rest of this season and the rest of their careers. Neither will bring their star-making games to the table every game.
It may be frustrating to some of the fans, but put it this way – does it really matter who’s under center as long as the Gamecocks win?
I’d rather have an ugly win over a pretty loss any day.
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.