Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008

Morris: Tigers made sure class was in session

IN THE SOUTHEASTERN Conference, this is class warfare.

South Carolina had another chance Saturday night to inch closer to escaping the league’s middle class. Following the 24-17 loss to LSU at Williams-Brice Stadium it appears the Gamecocks are at least another year away from approaching elite status.

As anyone who has followed USC football knows, escaping the middle class has been a hundred-or-so-year proposition. Of course, a victory against 13th-ranked LSU would not have qualified USC for an automatic upgrade.

Still, a win would have served notice that in Steve Spurrier’s fourth season, USC is at least on the verge. Following road victories over Mississippi and Kentucky, USC appeared prime to upend the defending national champions.

A win would have rated near the top among those during the Spurrier era at USC, right up there with the 2007 victory over 11th-ranked Georgia and the 2005 defeat of No. 12 Florida.

Really, the way to judge such wins is to consider where those opponents are ranked at season’s end. Georgia finished last season No. 2 in the polls, and Florida closed out the 2005 season at No. 12.

Rest assured, this LSU team will finish in the top 10. Yet, for most of three quarters, USC played the Tigers straight up. The game was tied until LSU went on an 11-play, 83-yard game-winning drive that left USC with 4:16 to counter. USC could not.

In many respects the game showed why USC is close to joining the league’s big boys such as Georgia, Florida and LSU. In many others, it showed why USC is still a ways away.

USC now knows it has a top-level quarterback. If there were any doubts about that, redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia put them to rest with a spectacular first-half showing in his first career start.

As we know, good teams counter such a performance, and LSU did just that. For most of the second half, LSU recognized that USC had little semblance of a running game. So, the Tigers began sending all-out assaults at Garcia whenever he dropped back to pass.

“If we’re going to be a big-time team, we can’t play like we tried to play tonight,” Spurrier said. “We’ve got to run the ball. I don’t know how to do it right now, but eventually we’ve got to find a way to run the ball.”

Even the most seasoned of quarterbacks could not have dealt with the kind of pressure Garcia faced in the second half. Understand, this was an LSU team that rarely blitzes. At least over its opening five games, LSU’s defense preferred to line up and dare an opposing team’s offense to beat it, straight up.

Not on this night. After watching Garcia run for first downs and pick apart the LSU secondary in the first half, LSU changed course. It sent five, six, seven and sometimes eight defenders at Garcia time after time.

The result was a dominating performance by LSU over the final two quarters. LSU, which had nine sacks in its opening five games, had six against Garcia. The Tigers allowed USC five first downs and 42 total yards after halftime.

That is what elite-level teams do.

“It came down to getting our butts beat in the second half, the offense did, that’s for sure,” Spurrier said.

Too bad, because Garcia was magnificent in the first half. He did everything in leading USC to a 17-10 halftime edge. He was equally effective with his arm as his legs.

By halftime, Garcia had run for 41 yards, both on designed plays and on scrambles out of the pocket. He completed eight of 13 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown.

Then reality caught up with USC. Garcia was USC’s only threat on the ground. So, in addition to blitzing from all angles, LSU cut off all of Garcia’s escape routes. Even though he gained 64 yards rushing, he lost 49 on sacks.

“He was learning. It’s all learning for him,” Spurrier said of Garcia. “He hung in there and carried our offense pretty well there in the first half... . But that was a lot to ask of him.”

Garcia was 6-of-13 passing for 55 yards in the second half. He, no doubt, learned that the top-level defenses in the SEC can counter even the best he has to offer. Over the final two quarters, LSU showed Garcia and USC the difference between a middle-class team and an elite one.

USC still has a ways to go to escape that one class and join the other.

Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM

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