ATE 'EM UP Award versus Miss St

Sometimes I know exactly who I'm picking, even before the game is over, and sometimes I have no clue who I'm going with, even as I start typing it up.

It's a great problem to have, because that means multiple guys had great performances, and that's usually going to mean we came away with the W.

If you would have told me that Spencer would throw more TDs than incomplete passes, we'd rush for 179 yards, and only give up 63 on the ground. I would have said we beat the breaks off of them. Something we haven't see in a long time at South Carolina is DBs chasing behind the other team's receivers.

Now, we have to remember, most of our secondary are Freshmen and Sophomores. Mistakes are going to happen. If there was a group on our Football team that I trusted in that if they have a bad game, they're going to lock it down and get better, it'd be the DBs. Coach Gray has done a great job with that room.

Going into the game, most expected Mississippi State to try to run the ball against us, since that had been an area of struggle, but the Dline has improved tremendously already during this short season, and I think it's easy to say, they played their best game of the season Saturday.

Honorable Mentions:

Mario Anderson - Mario carried the rock like a man on a mission, and I loved it. We've had a lot of good backs at Carolina, but one thing we haven't seen a lot of are guys that get hit but keep moving forward. Mario took the first hit, bounced off, and kept trucking. I can't wait to see how he grows.

Xavier Leggette - I mean, the guy is the leading receiver in the nation for a reason. Another huge game Saturday night, and 2 plays that his size and speed made massive differences on.

Spencer Rattler - I mean the guy had 2 incomplete passes the entire game. One was a penalty that wasn't called and the other hit the TE in the hands and in stride, so he basically played a perfect game throwing wise. Let's not forget about the mobility and scrambling that he's added to his game.

Offensive Line - No question about it, the best game these guys have had all season. The left side of Tree and Nick have looked great the last two weeks. I kept going back and forth on them as a group winning or who I went with.

This guy has shown flashes but coming up through the depth chart and nagging injuries have kept him from being consistent.

When this team needed someone to step up and take charge vocally early this season, he stepped up.

Week after week this season, this guy has continued to make more and bigger plays when the D has needed it the most.

Fans have been screaming that we need more pressure on the QB, and this guy stepped up and recorded 2 sacks Saturday night. He didn't just take the QB down, but he also batted 2 balls down on plays he didn't get home to the QB. That's why

THE ATE 'EM UP WINNER AGAINST MISSISSIPPI STATE IS ...

Alex "Boogie" Huntley