Gary Danielson will begin his third season calling SEC football on CBS with play-by-play announcer Verne Lundquist when Georgia meets South Carolina on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The former Purdue University and Detroit Lions quarterback discussed the game, Steve Spurrier and Matthew Stafford during a call Tuesday.
Q. How surprised are you that Steve Spurrier is still looking for a quarterback in his fourth year at South Carolina?
A. “Well, I mean, that’s the question, isn’t it? I’ve heard a lot of analogies, and one is that Spurrier without a quarterback that can run his offense is like Barbara Streisand singing with a sore throat. They’ve really struggled there. I’ll go on record and say this is the game of the season for South Carolina. This may be the game of Steve Spurrier’s coaching era at South Carolina. He really needs this football game.”
Q. Do you think South Carolina has the talent of the other SEC schools?
A. “I think South Carolina is extremely talented and can play person-to-person with anybody in this conference. It’s not that they lack talent. They are talented enough to win. Steve has just always had a less-than-marquee quarterback. But the defense and the wide receivers are good enough to compete with anybody.”
Q. Georgia is not the same team we saw this summer. Can you talk about the impact of the injuries to Trinton Sturdivant and Jeff Owens?
A. “I like to take a team and rank players of importance from 1 to 22. Of course, Stafford and Knowshon Moreno might be 1-2. But in the top six, Owens and Sturdivant are in there, and the fullback, Brannon Southerland, might also be in the top six or seven because of what he does. He’s out. So if you lose three of the top seven, that has to make an impact.”
Q. Do you think South Carolina’s defense can contain Georgia’s offense?
A. “Playing a spread team like Vanderbilt can sometimes paralyze you as a defense to try to match up with them. Jasper Brinkley only had one tackle because he always seemed to be going the wrong direction. The matchup is better with Georgia. South Carolina has a middle linebacker to handle the isolation plays Georgia likes to run. They’ll be more comfortable playing against Georgia.”
Q. Do you think there’s a big difference in speed?
A. “I think Georgia’s got more speed. Georgia’s defense is one of the fastest in the SEC. But South Carolina, and Mark Richt talked to us about this earlier in the morning, played two legitimate upper-division football teams. I don’t think Georgia can simulate the athletes South Carolina has on the team by playing Georgia Southern and Central Michigan. The plays against those two teams that looked so nice and pretty won’t look as nice and pretty against South Carolina.”
Q. Is this the season Matthew Stafford has a special year?
A. “I can watch practice after practice and never really go, ‘Wow, that guy can really throw the ball!’ Because you always measure guys against the ones you played against. I’ve played golf with pros who said they watch Tiger Woods and say, ‘Wow!’ That’s how I feel when Matthew throws the ball. It’s ‘Whoa, that guy has something I didn’t have.’ He finally has weapons around him and the experience of playing. Most importantly, he’s grown up. He’s become a man.”
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