Instant Analysis: N.C. State - South Carolina

Yes, it's early. Yes, there are no preseason games in college football. Yes, a season opener will undeniably feature a substantial amount of rust and inefficiency from an offensive unit. But with all that being said, South Carolina has to be very concerned about its 2008 season after a deceptively close win over North Carolina State.

Ever since Steve Spurrier brought his considerable reputation to Columbia in the attempt to win an SEC East title (before claiming bigger prizes), the one ingredient missing from the Head Ball Coach's arsenal has been a winning quarterback, a leader with the smarts, poise and instinctual giftedness needed to take command of an offense and turn Spurrier's chalkboard vision into gridiron magic. Thursday night in Williams-Brice Stadium, the final score might have read 34-0 in favor of the homestanding Gamecocks, but the outcome wasn't salted away until the fourth quarter, when the injury-ravaged Wolfpack could no longer sustain the fight. The reason why it took so long for Spurrier's boys to seal the deal is that quarterback--the position Spurrier once played, and has since coached with distinction--is continuing to betray him in Columbia. After the maddening inconsistency of the Blake Mitchell era and the unsteady play of Chris Smelley for portions of the 2007 campaign, the Visored One hoped that Tommy Beecher would be the answer under center this season. But after giving a start to a new quarterback, it seems clear that the Gamecocks are no closer to finding that savior of a signal caller they so desperately need. This has to worry everyone who roots for the Roosters.

If one wants to find the single most important key to this contest, it was simply this: location, location, location. Tom O'Brien's boys from Raleigh committed their turnovers in their own red zone, leading directly to South Carolina scores that broke open a scoreless tie late in the first half. South Carolina's turnovers, on the other hand--a bunch of interceptions thrown by Beecher, who had a deer-in-the-headlights look for much of the evening--occurred either in the middle third of the field or in Wolfpack territory. With a little luck, and better fortunes in the football equivalent of a real estate market, the Wolfpack could have stunned the home team and destroyed a season in the Palmetto State.

As it turned out, though, the Gamecocks persevered instead of panicking. With an abundance of restless and antsy energy in the ballpark after a decidedly unfulfilling first half, it would have been very easy for South Carolina to remain in a rut, exhibiting the pressure that comes with being an opening-night favorite at the beginning of a pressure-packed season. But the Gamecocks--led by Smelley, who came off the bench as a backup--gamely changed the narrative by settling down on offense while maintaining full-flight effort on the defensive side of the ball. As a result, they wiped away the bad taste of their stuttering, stumbling start in the game's first 30 minutes. While the South Carolina locker room and coaching staff breathe a sigh of relief, the contours of the Gamecocks' 2008 campaign now come sharply into focus.

Whenever you find a way to win in the first three weeks of the season, you take it and gladly move on, because the brand of football displayed in a season's earliest stages will always be filled with the most mistakes and the greatest uncertainties. Late August and early September football will always feature the roughest of rough edges and the messiest miscues. To win in spite of the jitters, runaway emotions and decision-making shortcomings of opening night is no small feat in a sport where the Appalachian States of the world can beat the Michigans of the world on the road. For one night, then, Spurrier and his staff should consider themselves happy to have notched a "W" even while their entire offensive unit experienced 50 minutes of teachable moments, before a strong finishing kick in the game's final 10 minutes.

Now that the Gamecocks have escaped with a win, however, they'll no longer be able to count on a mulligan as their season continues. Next week, against Vanderbilt, South Carolina's offense will encounter the same Commodore crew that smothered Spurrier's attack last season. If Tommy Beecher is asked to start once again, another boatload of turnovers won't be an option. More early-season sloppiness and panicky pigskin performances will severely harm Carolina's chances in the team's first SEC road game. And in a season where the locals are expecting more from South Carolina, an all-too-familiar train wreck at quarterback--which has to be eating away at Spurrier, given the standards he sets for that position--represents the biggest threat to the Gamecocks' plans for SEC supremacy. Whether it's Beecher getting a second chance or Smelley getting his shot as a starter, one thing's for certain: Against Vanderbilt, Carolina's offense has to show that this shaky win over N.C. State was an aberration, and not a sign of things to come.

It could very well be that Beecher's performance suffered because of opening-night stage fright. If that's all that separated Beecher from being a better quarterback against the Wolfpack, Spurrier and staff might not have too much to worry about. But oh, if Beecher's brutal ballgame is any kind of indicator of what the next three months will bring--starting with next Thursday's throwdown in Nashville--the Cocks will be anything but Cocky in 2008.

There's no time to criticize Tommy Beecher if you're a South Carolina fan. Openers will be rough, and manifold mistakes are to be expected. Winning, by hook or crook, is all that matters in the unique world of early-season football, where pure survival is the only real goal. But if Beecher doesn't learn from his missteps and Chris Smelley can't turn the ship around, the same old quarterbacking questions that have haunted one of college football's most decorated quarterback coaches will linger for another season, as the Gamecocks--so strong on defense and blessed with some special ballcarriers and receivers--will sag because of their deficiencies under center.

One's an accident, and two's a trend. South Carolina's football team hopes that this uninspiring win over N.C. State will prove to be an accident... at least with respect to the quarterback position.