Steve Spurrier Trying Quotations

All I can say is that I'm going to try to coach the way I've coached in the past. And if it ends up not being good enough, then so be it.

We felt like Blake is much better prepared mentally, physically. He's had an excellent summer working out, and it's clear to all of us here that he's our best guy to go out there. So when it's obvious, we've named him the starter. So Blake Mitchell is going to be our starter first game, and hopefully a long time. We'll go from there. Back-ups we don't know yet, we're trying a lot of guys right there. But Blake's earned it and he's our starter.

We're actually trying to separate them a little bit. They need to be their own person a little bit more,

Sidney Rice and Blake and all those guys had some super performances, ... Sidney, you know they're trying to stop him. He's close to unstoppable. Everybody's stoppable but he's some player. Little Kenny McKinley made a bunch of key catches all over the place. It was a fun game. This was big for our football program and the University of South Carolina. Hopefully we can gain some confidence and build on it, and not let it get to us.

If we didn't have a passing game, we didn't have a chance last night, ... If we didn't throw the ball successfully, we'd still be out there trying to score probably.

If something happened that I pursued it and went after it, I would be trying to redo what we did in 12 years,

I said, 'Dang, we've got big, strong, good-looking offensive linemen. How come they're not blocking as well as I hope? I'm trying to figure that out.

We're trying to make it a positive, ... We're trying to tell them . . . it's a big game for us. This is not just another game. This is a big game because we're in the national spotlight. We appreciate this opportunity, and let's take advantage of it. Let's try to show some high school kids out there what Carolina football is all about.

The only thing we try to do is prepare our team for the real season, ... To be the best we can on Sept. 8. That's what we're trying to do. ... We shoot for balance. We're going to try and hit enough, not too much. We're going to try and run enough, not too much. And practice plenty without running ourselves into the ground. I would imagine everybody tries to do that.

The only thing I know is he's got a lawyer talking to our lawyer trying to settle his deal. He told me he's not coming back. So that's all I know.

We're trying to get Blake quicker, quicker, quicker. He needs to get rid of the ball quicker. His throwing motion needs to be quicker. His decision-making needs to be quicker. Other than that, he's ready.

After being with a team that didn't score many points, I sort of realized why teams didn't like us (at Florida), ... We kept trying to score the whole game and for some reason, in football, you're not supposed to do that. If we lose by a big number, that's fine with me.

There may be a few that say, 'Well, he's trying to use that as an excuse for getting his butt kicked by some teams. I'm not trying to use any excuses. We sort of are what we are.

If I had a defense like Hal Mumme has, I would be trying them on every kickoff.