Who Should Be USC Starting QB?

[TrueGCFan]

Who should be USC starting QB Mitchell, Smelley, Thompson, or Newton?

Personally I still think Mitchell is the best option. Although he has regressed in the last 4 starts. Smelley should and will see a lot of playing time, but Mitchell has the most experience and at least right now is the best option.

What do you think?

[GTmorris1970]

I say Smelley. Sorry, tired of Blake. If we are building, let's start building with the best we have. Smelley is poised, even as a freshman, and has shown me he can play the game.

[TrueGCFan]

While we're building we're not at the ground clearing part. We have the structure up. I think we'll win more games this year with Blake. Next year may be very different.

[GamecockinIL]

OK guys....I have to go with Smelley here, but I want to prove that it's not to be on the Smelley bandwagon...it's what I see...or maybe better said - What I don't see in Mitchell. Take a look at some of these old observations...

This was in the aftermath of the Missouri loss.....

Well guys, I went away to someone else's house to watch the 2nd half and the LSU game. I'm back now, and I can't believe we lost this game. After being up 28-7, we lost the remainder of the game by the horrible score of....get this....

31 - 3 .......to friggin Mizzery of all teams. This wasn't Auburn, or Texas, or Southern Cal....this was Mizzery. That's just insane.

As for Blake Mitchell...he most definitely regressed in the last few games of the season. Was it just me, or did anyone else have a flashback on the last interception to the SAME STINKIN' PLAY IN THE CLEMSON GAME?

Blake, thanks for helping us to have a winning season...couldn't have done it without you. But don't see you in our future. Good luck.....

Shortly after that, I started a thread about my observations regarding Mitchell. Here are a couple...

First of all, I have to say that I think without Blake Mitchell at quarterback, there's no way Carolina would have had the season we did. It was his play in the backfield that helped us to some of the key wins we got this year.

BUT...what were our options?

In the end, Mitchell was good, but he was good because we didn't have much else to work with, so he got Spurrier's full attention.

IMO, Mitchell regressed in the last few games of the season. The last interception of the game tonight against Mizzery looked eerily like the last interception against Clemson...mid field...thrown into coverage...open reciever missed. :eek: We cannot get better with a quarterback making those kinds of mistakes at the END of the season. Those are early season mistakes, not end of season. That tells me that Mitchell wasn't learning. :mad: And that's why I think we need a new QB for 2006.

Don't know much about our freshman QBs this year. But I'm sure they weren't ready for the SEC. Don't know if Smelley will be either. It's a brutal league defensively. But I don't think we can improve on 2005 with Mitchell.

and...

His decision making in the last two games was AWFUL!! One of the key indicators of good talent to me is when you see they are PROGRESSING in the decision making, not the opposite. Mitchell never even looked at Davis on the last throw. Rice is all-world, but the QB has to be able to assess the entire field, and Mitchell clearly is going backward in that regard.

Don't know how he can be a part of the answer next year. We just need to develop someone that is showing the ability to IMPROVE.

and....

Granted, we had an extremely young group at the skill positions...but look at the progress of Davis over the last few games. Look at the development of Rice. I didn't see that development with Mitchell. In some ways, Mitchell reminds me of Phil Petty, fairly solid QB, but nothing great. But he makes more mistakes than Petty ever did, and they got more frequent as the season progressed, instead of improving.


It may be an indication of lack of depth, but more than that, we have NEVER developed the killer instinct at USC. I think Spurrier has it, I just hope we're not getting the "kindler, gentler" version of SOS, like we did with Holtz. I agree that SOS should shoulder some of the blame for the loss. The play calling went in the tank. But no coach can execute the plays. That's up to the athletes on the field, and that's where Mitchell is going backwards.

I have never felt like USC was a good finishing team. Witness what LSU did to the Canes last night. That was a lesson in finishing. It has to start with the coach, but you need a leader on both sides of the ball to implement that instinct on the field. That's another area where I think Mitchell is lacking. He just seems too relaxed for me. I want to see some more intensity from the field leader. Don't think Mitchell has that.

The same deficiencies that I saw at the end of the year last year are just as prevalent now as they were then. There is an intangible that good leaders have, and BM just doesn't have it.

I think two fairly easy games to win would be an ideal situation to start Smelley and let him get his legs under him in order to be ready for Auburn. While we still may not be ready to beat AU with Smelley, we for sure will not win with BM.

If we lose, I would prefer to think that we are laying a stronger foundation for the future in the process and I just don't see how in the world BM will ever be what we need going forward.

[Dr. Pepper]

I am not going to vote in this poll, because I do not know. Spurrier will start whoever he wants to and he will have good reasons for doing so. I trust him.

Unless Blake's hand is truly bothering him, I think that if you see Smelley starting this week, then Spurrier is giving up on Mitchell and turning over the reigns. He has the opportunity to get two full games under his belt before we get into the meat of the season. Since there is the issue with the hand, a better indication of what Spurrier is thinking will be given with who starts against Florida Atlantic.

For what its worth, I think that our guys were just tight coming out of the gate Saturday night and when a few things went wrong, they fell apart and then couldn't get it back together. They knew that this was an important game for this season, and they did not handle the pressure well.

Thankfully, we now have Wofford and FLA Atlantic on which to take out our frustrations (which we better do). If we struggle over the next couple of weeks, then it is going to be a long season. Spurrier will want to have a confident leader behind center going into the Auburn game, and whoever that is, I do not care. If he stays with Mitchell this week, look to him playing the whole game unless we get up by more than 30 points. If he starts Smelley, look to him playing the whole game as well. Spurrier is going to want his Auburn QB to get as many reps these next two weeks as he can.

[OmahaBound]

I think Smelley should start on Saturday, but my guess is that Blake is the best man to start the rest of the season. I think Smelley should get a chance this week, but my thoughts on the matter have changed twice this weekend. Watching the game at the stadium I was dead-set that Smelley should be given a chance now. However, when I got to watch some of the footage of Smelley's drives he made a couple HORRIBLE passes near the endzone. Cook was wideopen in the back of the endzone and Smelley tried to force in between 3 DBs to another receiver. That just shows me that he's not ready yet.

My analysis at this point is that Blake has the skills, but not the poise....and Smelley doesn't have the skills yet but he does have the poise. What's the right decision there? It's hard to say, so I'm just going to trust in Spurrier since (I'm going out on a limb here) I think he knows more than I do.

[scunyon]

Look for Cade Thompson to come out of nowhere and have an outstanding game! Hell, I don't even know, but I say send in Newton. He's looked at SEC defenses and he knows what they have to do to beat them. He also has the legs to make something out of nothing. I am so frustrated that I don't know what to do. We have been cursed by the dreaded "P" word - potential. We had the potential to have a breakout season, but the way we look now, Vandy and UK will wax us this year.

I am no longer looking forward to the rest of the season...

[shanksta13]

I am no longer looking forward to the rest of the season...

Wow, you Gamecocks seriously need to take it easy on yourselves. You're expectations are way too high. Yall need some Prozac or something because honestly a lot of people didn't think you guys would beat Georgia. I would be disappointed as well, but seriously it's one game. Pick your heads up and support your team. They need it now more than they did before. You guys still have plenty of talent and can do plenty of damage, so quit moping about it and play some football.

[scunyon]

Wow, you Gamecocks seriously need to take it easy on yourselves. You're expectations are way too high. Yall need some Prozac or something because honestly a lot of people didn't think you guys would beat Georgia. I would be disappointed as well, but seriously it's one game. Pick your heads up and support your team. They need it now more than they did before. You guys still have plenty of talent and can do plenty of damage, so quit moping about it and play some football.


I understand what you're saying, but you guys were in the same boat Pre-Spurrier, and we are tired of waiting. Where else but at USC can you sell out a stadium behind a team with a 21 game losing streak :ohmy:

Again, we've been cursed with potential but there seems to be no clear-cut leader on the offense. We knew that the OL would have some issues, but we weren't expecting to be our own worst enemy.

USC has the most loyal fanbase in D1 history... if CUM started out like this, you would already be calling for his head (which some did and he started out winning.)

The season is just not starting like we (and I'm sure the Coaches and players) expected. Someone has got to lead the offense and it may be Beecher or Thompson that come out of nowhere. I think that BM could, but he has lost his confidence. In fact, he looks like Leak did at the end of last year when he spent more time watching his OL than he did looking for receivers.

At the least the defense will be known for taking out the starting quarterbacks two games in a row :excl:

[shanksta13]

I understand what you're saying, but you guys were in the same boat Pre-Spurrier, and we are tired of waiting. Where else but at USC can you sell out a stadium behind a team with a 21 game losing streak :ohmy:

Again, we've been cursed with potential but there seems to be no clear-cut leader on the offense. We knew that the OL would have some issues, but we weren't expecting to be our own worst enemy.

USC has the most loyal fanbase in D1 history... if CUM started out like this, you would already be calling for his head (which some did and he started out winning.)

The season is just not starting like we (and I'm sure the Coaches and players) expected. Someone has got to lead the offense and it may be Beecher or Thompson that come out of nowhere. I think that BM could, but he has lost his confidence. In fact, he looks like Leak did at the end of last year when he spent more time watching his OL than he did looking for receivers.

At the least the defense will be known for taking out the starting quarterbacks two games in a row :excl:

I have to admit that I had very high expectations for you guys this year, but they probably weren't as high as yalls. Yall have definitely not met my expectations so far this year, so I can imagine how upset you guys must be right now. I would have to say that my expectations were probably a little unfair and biased, which means that yalls were probably borderline unrealistic. It's a good thing to have high expectations, but I think to fire Spurrier and move on because he doesn't meet those expectations just yet would be a HUGE mistake for you guys. Bottom line is that the bar was probably set too high for you guys this year and that is not Spurrier's fault. He left himself an escape route by saying that he expected to win more than lose this year. I think you guys expected a little bit too much from him this year. When you think about it, just 3 weeks ago we were talking about how good you guys were gonna be just based on Spurrier's half grin and spunk in his press conferences. Maybe we read into it too much and put way too much pressure on this team.

[scfan5338]

I really want Chris Smelley to start but I dont know if it is going to happen. Right now Mitchell is our best option because he is the most experienced. Smelley hasnt grasped Spurrier's system yet and well Mitchell probably hasnt either, but more than Smelley. But if we start Smelley right now and he dosent do too well, what happens when we bring Mitchell back in? The guys confidence will be extremely low and he will probably play even worse. If our offensive line improves, Mitchell has the potential to be decent, we saw this last year. Hopefully we can follow Spurrier moto of "We wanna win more than we lose," and get through this season. Smelley will most likely be starting next year. If Mitchell dosen't improve drastically and it dosent look like he will, Spurrier will be tired of him and throw him out and bring Smelley in. I just think that in the situation we are in, it is best for us to ride it out with Mitchell and then get Smelley in the next year.

At the end of the day, our offensive line has to improve and then Mitchell and our offense will get back on track. I said this before, if we are going to lose, then lets lose with freshmen's and sophomores who will gain experience and help us next year.

[scunyon]

Firing SOS was never a thought, and you're right, we put the bar higher than the team can reach. So we'll lower the bar, but we expect them to fight like hell to get to it. I can stand losing, we're pretty used to it, so it's nothing new. However, to lose with what seems like a lack of effort is just too much to stomach.

I blame us as fans because we put these kids on pedastals and then snatch it from under them when things don't go the way that we want them to. There will continue to be very supportive fans of USC, you can count on that. We just thought that those magical winning traditions were right around the corner when SOS showed up and it's not going to be microwave instant. It's going to be a slow-cooked, Beaufort stew type of process.

[shanksta13]

Firing SOS was never a thought, and you're right, we put the bar higher than the team can reach. So we'll lower the bar, but we expect them to fight like hell to get to it. I can stand losing, we're pretty used to it, so it's nothing new. However, to lose with what seems like a lack of effort is just too much to stomach.

I blame us as fans because we put these kids on pedastals and then snatch it from under them when things don't go the way that we want them to. There will continue to be very supportive fans of USC, you can count on that. We just thought that those magical winning traditions were right around the corner when SOS showed up and it's not going to be microwave instant. It's going to be a slow-cooked, Beaufort stew type of process.

That is exactly what I mean!

[Dr. Pepper]

Who said anything about firing Spurrier? That is the furthest thing from anyone's mind. Don't try to make more of this than just pure frustration at the lack of effort put forth on Saturday night. No one is calling for Spurrier's head. Some are calling for Mitchell's though which basically are the same people that called for his head last year. Spurrier will play the man who he thinks is best suited for it right now. Mitchell has the experience, Smelley doesn't. Smelley has the leadership quality that Mitchell lacks. Either way, we know that we are not there yet.

Just keep focusing on the fundamentals. We did not do that Saturday night, and everyone knows it.

[shanksta13]

I understand what you're saying, but you guys were in the same boat Pre-Spurrier, and we are tired of waiting.


Sorry guys, I thought you meant that you guys were tired of waiting for Spurrier already. I just misread it thats all.

[uscrules]

Wow, I go away to Europe for 2 weeks and come back hoping for the best and it is close to the worst. I just finished watchiing both the games I missed and the game seems backwards from my expectations. I thought the offense would be smoking and I don't even see fire. The defense is much better than I thought. They played well in both games. Mitchell was AWFUL in both games. He has continued on the tailspin of last season. I like
Smelly, but I don't know if he is ready to start just yet. I think Mitchell needs a swift kick in the a## to wake him up. The season has started man. He looks like he is either nervous or unsure of himself. Hopefully Spurrier will get this worked out in the next two games. If not it will be a long season. Cory Boyd is the man.

[Dr. Pepper]

Now we know what the problem has been. USCRules has been in Europe. Now that he is back in Greer, all of the world's properties are back in order and things will start happening the way they are supposed to happen.

Welcome back Rules.

[uscrules]

Thanks, it is great to be back. No ice, no butter, no wash cloths. First day back I went to get barbacue and iced tea. NO PLACE LIKE THE USA. NOW COME ON COCKS, LET'S GET THIS THING GOING.

[TrueGCFan]

It's like pulling teeth to get some ice in a drink over. And if you ask they look as you like you just farted. Good to see you back Rules.

[GamecockDieHard]

We're in a great position to give Smelley gametime experience against teams that should be alot more forgiving of new QB mistakes. I think it would be a big mistake to not take advantage of this situation. Smelley should start and get significant playing time to develop confidence and rythym. Thompson should relieve toward the end. When Mitchell's hand heals, he should get a series or two, but no more. We've already seen what he can(t) do. If Smelley can do it, let him do it.

[TrueGCFan]

Here's another way to look at it. Which QB will we win more games with this year? I think because of playing time and he's proven he can beat big team that Mitchell is still the one to go with. Get Smelley some good playing time, but Mitchell should be the starter.

[scunyon]

Here's another way to look at it. Which QB will we win more games with this year? I think because of playing time and he's proven he can beat big team that Mitchell is still the one to go with. Get Smelley some good playing time, but Mitchell should be the starter.


Yeah, the starting waterboy. Maybe SOS should let him go back and get plastered in 5 Points...he plays much better after a hangover :dry:

[Bongo]

He sure is meaner when he's drunk. Or at least he thinks he is. I just saw the WIS link. That's a big boy he sucker punched.

[Dr. Pepper]

Yeah, the starting waterboy. Maybe SOS should let him go back and get plastered in 5 Points...he plays much better after a hangover :dry:

Had you already heard the news or was this a prophetic statement?

[scunyon]

Had you already heard the news or was this a prophetic statement?


I dare say prophetic. I go away from the computer for a little while and come back and this is what I see.

Now if I can just see a pay raise in my future... :unsure:

[DELTOR]

I think the answer is a little more obvious now with blake out indefinitely

[TrueGCFan]

Can I change my vote?

[uscrules]

This may be good for the future but for this year we are back to square one, no experience at the qb position.

[Neo]

This may be good for the future but for this year we are back to square one, no experience at the qb position.


Don't count out Syvelle. He's got 1 full year of experience playing QB in the SEC. Given his running ability and our lack of a decent OL, that may play to our advantage,

Give Smelley some reps and give them to him often, but the only option to salvage this season if Mitchell stays gone is Syvelle.

You all may not like it, but that kid can flat out play and make people miss. PERIOD!

[GTmorris1970]

Don't count out Syvelle. He's got 1 full year of experience playing QB in the SEC. Given his running ability and our lack of a decent OL, that may play to our advantage,

Give Smelley some reps and give them to him often, but the only option to salvage this season if Mitchell stays gone is Syvelle.

You all may not like it, but that kid can flat out play and make people miss. PERIOD!

I agree. I truly hope Blake is either gone or a waterboy the rest of the year. I have heard from so many people about him smoking in Five Points, hanging out there all the time, staying drunk a lot of the time, etc. I believe in morals and ethics, and when someone is paying your way you owe them something. That's not it. This kid is an arrogant *****. Let him transfer to a Div. II school where he can play and make something out of himself. :brick: