Cowbells, noisy Starkville crowd shouldn't affect road vet Orth
When it comes to playing in SEC stadiums so loud you must wear earplugs or risk diminished hearing, South Carolina quarterback Perry Orth has been there, done that.
After all, five of his nine career starts have come on the road at inhospitable SEC locations such as Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M and Tennessee.
Last Thursday night at Vanderbilt? Child’s play.
With Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium expected to be noisy Saturday night (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2) as thousands of Bulldogs fans scream their lungs out and aggressively clang cowbells for three hours, Orth will dip into his well of experience in an attempt to pull the Gamecocks through to a second straight victory to start the season.
“Any crowd noise could affect teams,” said Orth, expected to make his 10th career start Saturday night against Mississippi State. “I’m not going to stand here and say Mississippi State’s environment isn’t good because I know it is. I know it’s loud and it’s a tough place to play. But we’ve played in big-time places too. It will just be another big road test in the SEC.”
His younger brother Evan is a backup quarterback for South Alabama, which stunned Mississippi State, 21-20, last Saturday in Starkville.
“Since he went down there and got them, I have a little extra edge to go and get the win,” Orth smiled. “He has helped out a bunch and he will continue helping me out through the rest of the week as we get ready to play. It’s a good environment down there. My mom was down at the game sending me videos of the cowbells and all the stuff they do trying to get me ready to go.”
Will Muschamp has prepared the Gamecock players for looming moments like Saturday night by playing loud music at most practices since spring practice began in March. So, USC has snapped the ball hundreds of times with noise booming through loudspeakers.
Just like the racket they should encounter in Starkville.
“We have crowd noise at every practice and we practice with crowd noise on offense and defense, on both sides of the ball,” Muschamp said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “That’s something we started probably the seventh or eighth practice in fall camp. We did it throughout spring, so it ought to be something we’re able to operate pretty well with.”
While Muschamp will wait until USC practices Wednesday and Thursday before formally naming a starter, Orth’s second-half performance in Nashville, together with his experience playing on the road and McIlwain’s second quarter fumble, makes the Sunshine State native the overwhelming favorite to retain the role for a second straight week.
“Perry obviously deserves the opportunity to start the way he played the other night, especially the second half,” Muschamp said. “He played well in the first half also. He had some drops, had some opportunities to continue to move the ball.
“When Brandon got into the game, he played well. And we moved the ball when he was in the ballgame. We've got to take care of the ball and he understands that. Both of those guys will help us succeed.”
Orth dropped hints about USC’s starting quarterback when he told reporters Tuesday that “all I know is that I’m going to start off the game again and we’ll go from there.”
Orth and McIlwain are rotating first-team snaps in practice, he said.
After a sluggish first half in which the Gamecocks were held scoreless, Orth and the USC offense hummed along in the second half as he threw a couple of darts to Deebo Samuel and Bryan Edwards.
The Gamecocks gained 220 total yards and scored on three of five meaningful possessions, fashioning 10- and 9-play drives, controlling the ball for 15:28 after Vanderbilt dominated time of possession in the first half.
Equally important, the Gamecocks didn’t commit a turnover in the second half.
“We hit a rhythm in the second half and we showed what we were capable of,” Orth said, adding he normally has three progressions on every play. “Now we just have to score a few more points. As soon as Bryan caught his first deep ball, they started softening up and we were able to hit everything underneath.
“Once you hit a few passes consecutively, your confidence goes up. When they start softening up coverages, it becomes just like it is in practice. I didn’t turn the ball over and hit the guys that were open. I felt good about my second half performance and making plays. I know I can play. It was good to see everybody click and come together. The defense played lights out too. They backed us the whole game.”
NOTES
-- Tight ends Hayden Hurst and K.C. Crosby combined for three catches at Vanderbilt as the Commodores focused on keeping the duo underwraps. “They did a good job of taking our tight ends away. It may have been a game plan thing for them,” Orth said. “That’s why Deebo and Bryan were able to make some big plays for us.”
-- The SEC Blog at ESPN.com ranked the Gamecocks No. 10 in its latest SEC Power Rankings: “A win is a win, right? It wasn’t pretty, but the Gamecocks are trending up after they rallied from a 10-0 deficit on the road to beat Vanderbilt and give Will Muschamp a win in his debut. There are still plenty of kinks to work out on the offense, but quarterback Perry Orth proved to be the catalyst in the second half.”
-- Where did the SEC Blog rank Mississippi State, this week’s opponent for the Gamecocks? No. 14, dead last in the SEC: “The post-Dak Prescott era looks awfully bleak after losing to Group of 5 opponent and four-touchdown underdog South Alabama. The quarterback battle is ongoing, but the offensive line, running game and defense need to make significant strides this week.”
-- It’s still very early, obviously, but never too early for meaningless bowl projections. After Week 1, ESPN.com is forecasting the Gamecocks to the Birmingham Bowl. Hey, it’s better than no bowl.
-- Gamecock placekicker Elliott Fry was named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week on Tuesday after kicking the game-winning 55-yard field goal at Vanderbilt. He also earned a helmet sticker from ESPN.com: “Give Perry Orth credit for returning to the game in the second half and putting the Gamecocks in position to beat Vanderbilt. But the hero was kicker Elliott Fry, who drilled a career-long 55-yard field goal in the final minute to win the game. Fry missed eight field goals last year, but between the 55-yarder and a 48-yard kick he converted earlier in the game, the senior is a perfect 2-for-2 to start this year.”
-- Week 2 SEC Schedule (Sat. Sept. 10):
Nicholls State at Georgia, noon (SEC Network)
Prairie View A&M at Texas A&M, noon (SEC Network Alt. Channel)
Western Kentucky at Alabama, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Kentucky at Florida, 3:30 p.m. (CBS)
Wofford at Ole Miss, 4 p.m. (SEC Network)
Middle Tennessee at Vanderbilt, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Alt. Channel)
South Carolina at Mississippi State, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Arkansas at TCU, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Arkansas State at Auburn, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
Eastern Michigan at Missouri, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network Alt. Channel)
Jacksonville State at LSU, 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech (at Bristol, Tenn.), 8 p.m. (ABC)
