Around college football: Steve Spurrier tries to change the tone
Steve Spurrier is legendary for using sarcasm to motivate his players, but with South Carolina in the midst of arguably the most disappointing stretch during his decade-long run, he used the Gamecocks' bye week to change the tone.
"We're not into tearing down anymore," Spurrier said this week. "We're more into encouraging. I had my one little outburst after a couple kickoff returns and stuff happened that one game, but again, you look back and obviously we'd like to have a few offensive and defensive calls and plays over in the fourth quarter of a couple games but you cant get 'em back. You try to learn from them and move on and that's where we are."
Spurrier's "little outburst" occurred after South Carolina's 48-34 win at Vanderbilt on Sept. 20 when he called the Gamecocks' performance "embarrassing," said they had poll voters fooled and was particularly perturbed by allowing two kickoff returns for touchdowns. Spurrier, in fact, was so upset by the performance that he threatened to fire at least one assistant coach later that night before changing his mind in the morning, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter was supposed to be private.
Spurrier has since realized that the problems at South Carolina run deeper and acknowledged that talent is also an issue. The Gamecocks coughed up a 20-7 fourth-quarter lead against Missouri the following week and then fell to Kentucky 45-38 despite gaining 500 yards on offense.
At 3-3 going into the bye week, South Carolina ranked among the nation's most disappointing teams, but Spurrier still hopes to salvage something out of the season beginning Saturday against Furman.
"We've got a lot of ball left, a lot of big games hopefully and let's see if we can have us a winning season," he said. "Our guys actually worked pretty hard, and I think they want to finish with a good season, I really do. We have a lot of seniors, fourth year players and so forth and hopefully senior leadership will kick in and we can start playing better."
Defense, not offense, drives Louisville
Take heed, all you preseason prognosticators: Louisville has deviated from the script.
Bobby Petrino's return was supposed to yield a return to offensive potency; Charlie Strong's departure was supposed to yield a defensive decline. Instead, it's been the defense, led by first-year coordinator Todd Granthan, that has propelled the Cardinals to a 5-2 start while the offense sputters in a new scheme.
"Going into the summer, we read all the reports," defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins said. "You know, 'the weak link is going to be the defense, they're going to need to score 80 points per game.' So we came out with that chip on our shoulder."
The numbers speak for themselves. Louisville leads the Football Bowl Subdivision in total defense and rushing defense. The Cardinals haven't allowed a touchdown in 17 quarters, and only 78 points in total through seven games. The defense hasn't allowed a single team to gain more than 300 yards of offense, and only one opponent had gained more than 100 yards on the ground.
In the meantime, Petrino's offense ranks second-to-last in the Atlantic Coast Conference in yards a game and eighth in scoring. Yet Petrino's system, with its multiple looks and varying formations, has played a vital role in the Cardinals' defensive growth, Grantham said.
"We kind of got exposed to a lot of things in the spring and in August that I think allowed us to prepare for the season," Grantham said. "I think that because our offense is multiple and they do a lot of things, I think it exposed us to multiple formations and how to play things. I think they helped."
While Grantham's defense is not markedly different schematically than the system run by Strong and the previous staff, the former Georgia coordinator's biggest impact might be felt in the Cardinals' stingy and aggressive mentality.
It can be boiled down in simple terms, according to linebacker Keith Kelsey: Get after the quarterback, be aggressive, get off the field on third down, go make plays.
"Go out there and feel like no one can score on us, no one can cross the 50-yard line on us," Kelsey said. "That's the mentality that we have. Go out there with that mindset every day. We know you can't have a perfect football game but we try to be perfect as much as we can."
Eventually, Louisville's blueprint for countering Florida State, Clemson and the rest of the ACC calls for equal parts defense and offense. The latter might lag behind the curve, but the play of this defense paints a pretty picture once Petrino's system takes hold: Louisville as complete team.
"When we're able to put up all those points on the board, the sky's the limit for us," Kelsey said. "When we put it all together we'll be a force to be reckoned with."
— P.M.
Changes at Buffalo
It rarely moves the needle these days when a college coach gets fired, but Buffalo's decision to part with Jeff Quinn this week caused some ripples in the profession. Though the Bulls were off to a disappointing 3-4 start, with two of those victories coming against lower-division opponents, Quinn led the Bulls to an 8-5 record last season and just their second bowl game since moving up to the FBS level in 1999.
Quinn, who was hired before the 2010 season by the previous athletics director, also signed a five-year contract extension in January of 2013.
So what happened?
It's worth remembering that Danny White, who at 34 is the youngest athletics director in the Football Bowl Subdivision and considered a rising star in the business, has worked aggressively to change Buffalo's image since taking the job in 2012. One of his first major moves was re-branding the athletics department, emphasizing the school's status as New York's flagship state university. White also didn't waste any time with the school's basketball program, firing Reggie Witherspoon after the 2013 season and making a splashy hire in Bobby Hurley.
And though last year was a success for Buffalo's football program, it followed seasons of 2-10, 3-9 and 4-8 under Quinn. Combine that record with concerning trends from this season, and it's not hard to see why White wanted to make a change now, coming off a woeful loss to Eastern Michigan and heading into a bye week with winnable games coming up against Kent State (0-6) and UMass (1-6).
Quinn could not be reached for comment.
— D.W.
Signs of resurgence at Purdue
After a rough transition from Danny Hope to Darrell Hazell, Purdue is finally showing some signs of life. The Boilermakers, who won one of their first 15 games against FBS opponents under Hazell, broke through in the Big Ten on Oct. 4 with a win at Illinois and then backed it up last weekend with a reasonably competitive 45-31 loss to Michigan State.
The change in vibe coincides with Hazell's decision to switch quarterbacks from Danny Etling, who started the final eight games last season and the first five this year, to sophomore Austin Appleby. Though Appleby had only a handful of snaps before the switch, he has provided an instant spark for an offense that gained just 156 yards at Iowa on Sept. 27.
"We really feel like we are starting to develop an identity with the offense, who we are, what things that we do well right now and continue to build on those things," Hazell said. "Regardless of who we're playing and what fronts or coverages we're seeing, (we're saying), 'Here's who we are identity wise and here are the things that we're doing well. So let's keep continuing to build on those things.' "
Though Purdue runs a zone-read type system, Appleby seems more adept at producing big-chunk plays and has completed 68% of his passes since becoming the starter. The fact that Purdue was able to get 340 yards against a good defense in Michigan State is a clear indication of progress and a sign that the Boilermakers have bought into the quarterback change.
"I think a lot of guys are feeding off of Austin right now, not only offense, but both sides of the ball, and I think that's why there's so much confidence," Hazell said. "When we get down two touchdowns or three touchdowns, I think we still feel like there's a chance that we can do some things and come back."
— D.W.
QB switch pays off for Houston
One of the season's most surprising developments is Houston's decision to bench quarterback John O'Korn in favor of Greg Ward, who switched to wide receiver in the spring because it did not appear he would be able to get on the field otherwise.
O'Korn was the rookie of the year in the American Athletic Conference last season, leading the Cougars to an 8-5 record while throwing 28 touchdown passes with just 10 interceptions. O'Korn, however, did not take the step forward many expected off his freshman season and just wasn't getting the job done as the Cougars stumbled to a 2-3 start.
"I think he was putting too much burden on himself," Ken Mastrole, his Florida-based private quarterback coach, told Paste BN Sports. "He wasn't performing like he's capable of and just cutting lose. He's just waiting to get his chance back, and I think it's the best thing for him."
Houston's quarterback switch has paid early dividends. Ward nearly led a comeback against Central Florida on Oct. 2, then threw for 188 yards and ran for 95 more in a 28-24 victory at Memphis last weekend. Ward's dual-threat ability gives Houston a bit of a different look as it tries to rebound from some early performances in which its offense clearly underperformed.
O'Korn might well get another chance this season, but Houston for now is going with the hot hand.
"We had some explosive plays in the passing game where he broke contain or started to scramble and a defender left their receiver uncovered and Greg was able to throw it to him," head coach Tony Levine said. "We also had plays where he felt like he could run it and he did that effectively. I would like to say that was by design, but we like to say as a staff that some of our best run plays are going to be when we call a pass. We knew coming in that he would bring that dimension to the quarterback position."
— D.W.
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