South Carolina Gamecocks
Prove It
By: Charlie Moon
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
You’re going to Golden Corral (or your favorite buffet spot). You got it all planned out.
“Imma get some BBQ…. some mac-n-cheese… some of that steak with rice-n-gravy. Then, some of those collard greens….and those yeast rolls!”
You haven’t eaten in 24 hours. Yeast rolls been dancing in your head all day at work. You pay at the register. You got that sly grin and a bounce in your step.
You walk to the buffet and start looking down and around. Suddenly, “I don’t know what to get first.”
You start piling up stuff. By the time you get to the bottom, half of it is cold. You get more. You finish. You walk out.
“Mannnn…..I don’t know. Nothing was great. It was all just kind of okay.”
I can’t help but think the first year of this new 12-team playoff is the same, just a pile of really good teams. When you stack it all up, nobody can tell the difference.
#1 Oregon is undefeated, but they’ve only played two ranked teams, Ohio St and a fading Illinois team.
#3 Penn State is just 1-1 after only playing two ranked teams.
#9 SMU has only played two ranked teams.
Look at blind resumes. Take off the helmet. Don’t watch the games. Just look at the schedule difficulties and how teams have fared.
What have they proven?
If you do that, the top 3 resumes in college football, in no certain order, are Texas, UGA and the University of South Carolina.
Skeerrrr…..(insert brake sound here). Yeah, that’s right. If you only look at the resumes and what the teams have proven, you simply cannot make an argument otherwise. You just can’t. You can try, but those arguments would not be meaningful.
Against ranked teams…. Texas (4-1), UGA (3-2, including three top 10 wins) and South Carolina (4-3, including an LSU loss with a horrendous game-changing call).
Don’t come at me with “They beat them by…. They lost to…..” Whatever.
And between all three, Texas, Georgia and South Carolina have ZERO losses against unranked teams.
I’m sorry. I get it. Teams can’t be totally blamed for their schedules. But I think there needs to be a rule. If you haven’t played at least 3 ranked teams, then you shouldn’t be allowed in the top 8. You get no home playoff game or a 1st round bye.
Right now, if you forced Penn St, Oregon and Indiana to take a back seat and move to 9 through 12…or worse, then you’d have a much more quality comparison of teams.
I would absolutely guarantee you South Carolina would be in, over an Indiana. Why?
Because their current ranking would be based off the idea of being undefeated or only having one loss.
Right now, if South Carolina played Penn State and Indiana on neutral fields, I guarantee you the Gamecocks would be at least a 4-point favorite. They might even be a 1 or 2-point favorite over Penn State, but no more than a field goal underdog.
I know, the elephant in the room. How would South Carolina be in over two teams it lost to? That argument is pointless based off the current system. Why?
Well, if Clemson beats SMU Saturday, they’ll be in over South Carolina, who it JUST lost to, at home.
To me, the bottom line is this. There will always be arguments about these last 3-4 teams getting in, but this is still so much better than the old system.
So, what’s the only way we can know who should be in? Teams like Oregon, Penn St and Indiana should no longer get passes, simply because they only have one loss or less, but have only played 1-3 ranked teams.
What have they proven? Easy….nothing.
Killer Cocks
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The SEC East has an odds-on favorite to take the crown for the third straight year in the Georgia Bulldogs, but one team that looks to rival the Dawgs comes up third in the SEC preseason media poll in the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Head Coach Shane Beamer begins year three at the helm in Columbia looking to build on the 8-5 record a year ago.
After the Gamecocks totaled 6 wins in 2019 & 2020 combined to end Will Muschamp’s tenure, “Beamer-ball” has brought in a seven win and an eight-win campaign.
The 2022 season embodied the old adage “Play your best ball at the end of the season”. The Gamecocks round out the year winning three of their last four games including demolishing #5 Tennessee 63-38 (albeit a Vols team without QB Hendon Hooker) and knocking off the in-state rival and then #7 Clemson 31-30.
A huge reason for the resurgence of the Gamecocks squad in the back half of 2022 was transfer quarterback Spencer Rattler from Oklahoma. Rattler finished the season with 438 yards and 6 passing scores against Tennessee and threw for 360 yards against Clemson.
The offense for South Carolina seems to have picked up where it left off to finish last season with Rattler along with 5 other starters back on the offensive side of the ball that helped South Carolina average 44 points per game in their last 3 regular season games (all against top 25 opponents).
Defense has been a struggle for Beamer’s club the past few years and gave up an average of over 400 yards per game last year. The rush defense is going to have to step up after opponents netted almost five yards per rush in 2022.
The schedule is not favorable for Beamer’s bunch with Phil Steele rating the Gamecock’s 2023 schedule as the 2nd toughest schedule in FBS football (only behind Florida).
The season gets kicked off with the battle of the Carolinas on September 2nd in Charlotte against the Tar Heels.
After a week 2 matchup with the FCS Furman Paladins, the Gamecocks hit the meat of the schedule in week three when they head between the hedges in Athens, Ga.
The first month of the season is no joke with that week three matchup at Georgia, then after a home game against Mississippi State, the Tennessee Volunteers will welcome South Carolina into Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
After the trip to Knoxville, South Carolina will get a much-needed bye week to start October. Then it’s a homecoming matchup with Florida at Williams-Brice Stadium, before back-to-back weeks on the road at Missouri and Texas A&M.
The saving grace of the schedule for South Carolina comes in November where the final four regular season games are in Columbia starting with the first ever Gamecocks vs Gamecocks meeting with Jacksonville State coming to Williams-Brice.
Meetings with Vandy and Kentucky will sandwich the four-game home stretch before finishing off the regular season against Dabo Swinney and Clemson.
If South Carolina is going to have a successful 2023 season they will have to go about it a different way than 2022.
Last season began 5-2 and the national polls had the Gamecocks ranked for the first time since 2018, but I don’t see that happening in 2023.
I do expect Rattler to have a huge year leading the Gamecock offense, and to give Georgia more of a run than the 48-7 routing that the Dawgs handed the Gamecocks last year, but the schedule is brutal.
This team can take a huge step forward on the field and still end up with less wins than the 8-win 2022, but South Carolina will be in that 7-9 win range. The difference between the 7 and 9 depends solely on the defense.
The Rattler Effect
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Coming off a 7-6 season with a win over North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, things are looking bright in Columbia, South Carolina.
Shane Beamer has the Gamecock Nation believing that Carolina will be contenders in the SEC East in 2022. I cannot think of a more optimistic fanbase than South Carolina in my history as a college football fan.
South Carolina is still in rebuilding mode; expectations are rising once again until you look at a schedule from hell.
South Carolina has a lot of experience returning this fall, it has a good young head coach and with the addition of Spencer Rattler at QB, the Gamecocks look to make noise in the SEC East.
South Carolina has put all their eggs in the basket of one Spencer Rattler, the Oklahoma transfer at QB. Can Rattler lead this program to 8 wins this fall? Let us look at the schedule.
9/3/22 vs Georgia State: South Carolina is only a 13-point favorite at home over Georgia State currently. Does that mean Carolina could struggle in this contest. Give me Carolina at home 34-17. 1-0
9/10/22 @ Arkansas: The Hogs are expected to be good, and Carolina must travel to NW Arkansas to play this one. This is one of those games Carolina must have if they want to be relevant in 2022. KJ Jefferson will be too much for Carolina on the road. Arkansas wins 35-24. Carolina is 1-1
9/17/22 vs Georgia: Carolina fans point this game as one that will shape a season. I believe it is listed as a noon kickoff in that furnace of a stadium.
September games in Columbia are brutal. If you lose to Arkansas on the road, then how do you expect to beat UGA? They will not. UGA wins 38-20. Carolina drops to 1-2.
9/24/22 vs Charlotte: Carolina bounces back with a 42-13 win to even the record at 2-2
10/1/22 vs South Carolina State: Carolina wins this one easily 49-10. 3-2 on the season.
10/8/22 @ Kentucky: UK thinks the UGA game at home in November will be for the SEC East Championship.
Could the Cats take South Carolina lightly? Carolina puts up a great fight, but they come up short in Lexington 24-21 to sit at 3-3 at the halfway point of the season. 0-3 in the SEC.
10/22/22 vs Texas A&M: This is where Carolina salvages their season when an overrated Aggie team travels to Columbia.
Everything comes together on this day for South Carolina and Sandstorm reigns as it is piped into a raucous crowd. Carolina wins 31-27 to go to 4-3 on the season. 1-3 in the SEC.
10/29/22 vs Missouri: Mizzou gets thumped by Carolina 31-14. 5-3 and 2-3.
11/5/22 @ Vanderbilt: Vandy is awful. Carolina easily 45-10. 6-3 and 3-3 in SEC play. Bowl eligible.
11/12/22 @ Florida: Toss up game. I like Carolina’s depth right now better than Florida’s. Shaky nod to Carolina 28-27. 7-3 and 4-3.
11/19/22 vs Tennessee: Senior night in Columbia. Tennessee is a trendy pick this fall based on their offense. Can they stop anyone is the key?
I like South Carolina’s defense better than the Vols. Give me Carolina in front of a jacked-up home crowd 38-35 in a wild affair. 8-3 and 5-3.
11/26/22 @ Clemson: I will not pick South Carolina to ever beat Clemson again until they accomplish it. Clemson at home 28-21. 8-4 regular season and Shane Beamer could run for office in the state.
Best case: 8-4 as outlined above with a bowl game in Orlando or Tampa on NYD.
Worst Case: 5-7 with losses to Arkansas, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas A&M, Florida, Tennessee, and Clemson.
We will see how the Spencer Rattler experiment transpires.
