Gamecocks vs UAB: The Last Warmup

September 8, 2012; Columbia, SC, USA; Injured South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw (14) jogs off the field following their win against the East Carolina Pirates at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-US PRESSWIRE

Next week all the talk will be about competing for an SEC Championship for the Gamecocks.

Sure, there’s talk about that every week in Columbia these days, but against the UAB Blazers most people are talking about ironing things out, making sure everything looks good heading into that matchup with Mizzou.

Somethings, in fact, aren’t ironed out yet. Connor Shaw is a game time decision tonight.

South Carolina doesn’t yet have a go-to wide receiver.

The secondary, while good over the past two games, isn’t great (yet?).

SC’s kickoff and punt teams have work left to do if they want to be key parts of a championship run.

Tonight, Carolina has to figure all of those issues out, except for the Shaw problem. His injury is one where if he had to play tonight, he would. Steve Spurrier doesn’t want to risk re-injuring his shoulder against one of the worst teams in FBS, though.

D.L. Moore has to step up after his week two performance. Two catches for two TDs is nice, but five or six catches for 100 yards and two TDs is better.

Jimmy Legree and D.J. Swearinger have to prove their half of the defense is one that can shut opposing passing games down. A few more pick sixes against the Blazers would help that cause.

Finally, almost every kickoff has to get into the endzone, and Tyler Hull has to bring his punting average over 40 yards tonight. He blasted one for 51 against ECU, it’d be nice to see a few of those tonight.

With one more week left until the schedule starts to get rough, the Gamecocks don’t have much more time to iron out their weaknesses.