USC NOTEBOOK: Spurrier wary of Tebow

 In facing No.18 Florida on Saturday, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said the Gamecocks will be up against possibly the most balanced offense in the Southeastern Conference.
It makes sense, considering Gator quarterback Tim Tebow displays equal ability in running and passing.
The left-hander might be known more for his running, considering how the Gators love to use the 6-foot-3, 235-pound sophomore in short-yardage and goal-line situations.
He’s run for 598 yards and 14 touchdowns this season and has 22 rushing TDs in his two seasons in Gainesville.
But he can throw, too, Spurrier said.
“He’s a very good thrower,” Spurrier said. “The tapes I’ve watched, he doesn’t miss many open guys. If they’re open, he doesn’t zing it five, 10 yards over their heads. He hits the guys when they’re open. He’s made some unbelievable plays when they’re not open and guys hanging all over him. So he’s sort of the quarterback of the future. He’s a guy that can run and pass. Or the quarterback of today. I should say that — today.”
Tebow certainly has the numbers to back Spurrier up.
He averages nearly 250 yards a game passing and leads the nation in pass efficiency. He has completed about 68 percent of his passes, thrown 21 touchdowns and only four interceptions.
Spurrier hopes he has his own Tebow-in-training waiting in the wings in freshman quarterback Stephen Garcia. Garcia isn’t quite as big as his Florida counterpart — he’s an inch shorter and some 20 pounds lighter — but has the reputation of having a strong arm and the ability to run, as well.
So it should come as no surprise who’s playing the part of Tebow on scout team this week.
“He (Garcia) will be wearing (Tebow’s) number 15 this week,” Spurrier said.
As far as Garcia being another Tebow?
“We’ll wait and see,” Spurrier said. “He can run around a little bit. The ball comes out of his hand nicely. He’s got a lot to learn about trying to play quarterback. So we’ll see. We’ll worry about that in spring practice. Let he and (Chris) Smelley and (Tommy) Beecher fight it out to see who will maybe start next year.“

Bowl or no bowl?
With six wins, South Carolina is eligible to go to a bowl.
But that might not mean anything this year. There are already nine SEC teams that have at least six wins, and if USC loses out, there’s a possibility the Gamecocks might be home for the holidays.
According to NCAA guidelines, a bowl can’t accept a team with six wins over a seven-win team, even if it wants to, which one might, given South Carolina fans’ propensity to travel in the postseason.
Spurrier, though, said he isn’t worried about it. He’s got more pressing matters on his mind.
“I got a lot more concerns at this point,” Spurrier said. “Trying to find somebody who can make a few tackles, a little blocking. Blocking and tackling is my concern right now. Whatever happens happens down the road.“
What’s more, Spurrier doesn’t sound convinced that a 6-6 team should be considered for a bowl, although it wouldn’t be the first time a team got rewarded beyond its credentials, Spurrier said.
“I didn’t think Notre Dame should have gone to those BCS bowls they been to every year, but they went,” he said. “All they had to do was go 9-2 and they went. Don’t ask me about fairness in college football, now. That’s another story.”
A pair of nine-win Notre Dame teams — in 2000 and 2005 — went to the Fiesta Bowl.

No mas
USC senior linebacker Cody Wells said he didn’t get tired of watching highlights of Darren McFadden on SportsCenter over the weekend.
Why? He refused to watch Arkansas’ star tailback run for an SEC record-tying 321 yards against the Gamecocks.
“I know what happened,” Wells said. “I was there at the game. I just didn’t want to see it again. It was ugly.“
Wells, from Belleview, Fla., said he thinks the Gamecock defense can get well against his home-state Gators. Much of McFadden’s success, he said, was because USC defenders missed assignments and were out of place on several plays, something that had not been a big problem until Saturday.
“That hurt our pride. It really does,” he said. “We know we’re a lot better defense than that. We came out and watched film to see what happened, see what went wrong. And we’ll fix it this week. We don’t want anyone to run on us like that ever again.”