Two annual SEC rivals clash again Saturday in Knoxville as Tennessee (3-4)(0-4 SEC) hosts the South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1) (4-1 SEC).
South Carolina is a team transformed form what the Vols thought they would be seeing Saturday night. All-American tailback Marcus Lattimore is shelved with a torn ACL and well-troubled quarterback Stephen Garcia has been permanently suspended.
In steps youngster Connor Shaw to run Spurrier's offense and after a rout of Kentucky and narrow escape from Mississippi State, is 2-0 at the helm. The Gamecocks still have All-American wideout Alshon Jeffrey and will need to target him as well as get a big game from Shaw on the ground.
The loss of Lattimore makes South Carolina's offense fairly one-dimensional, but with Tennessee's ever-struggling secondary, that's not so bad of a thing for the Gamecocks.
If Tennessee has any chance to win this game Saturday, they must move the ball with first downs from Justin Worley and definitely keep the vaunted SC defense off of him. In addition to the obvious, UT cannot afford turnovers and must not blitz Shaw.
With Lattimore gone, why blitz? Keep the secondary back and leave the front four and three backers to handle Shaw running or a backup RB. If UT's front seven cannot stop a backup QB and RB, then they deserve to lose.
While SC's defense is very good with freshman phenom Jadeveon Clowney and veteran pass rusher Melvin Ingram leading the sack charge as well as Stephen Gilmore in the secondary, Tennessee can make plays in the passing game.
I think with Worley, it is vital that Derek Dooley build his confidence early with some easy slant routes to Da'Rick Rogers, Mychal Rivera, Zach Rodgers, etc. Short passes will take the nerves and pressure away from Worley and allow him to get into a groove and bomb away a bit.
Coming off success against, in my opinion, the best defense in the country in Alabama, I also believe that Dooley needs to utilize Poole and Young. Without Lattimore this game is a toss-up and Tennessee will win IF they have 0 turnovers and minimize pressure on Worley. And that... is a prediction as pure as Honey!
