By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Some things are just meant to go together. Peanut butter and jelly. Leslie Nielsen and any movie where the main character has his microphone turned on while going to the bathroom. And whomever was genius enough to combine vanilla ice cream and root beer should’ve been awarded some sort of Nobel Prize.

Unfortunately, not all things that go well together are as successful combinations as those mentioned above, and that’s kind of how I view Will Muschamp and the South Carolina Gamecocks. They really are perfect for each other, but I’m not so sure it should be taken as a compliment to either.

I’ve got nothing against Muschamp; he seems like a good guy and has been a decent defensive coordinator. But, I’m not a fan of the job he did in Florida and even though his coaching reputation took a little bit of hit after his time in Gainesville, he still brings a little more caché to the Gamecocks than deserved. That has the potential to be a pretty dangerous partnership at a place like South Carolina.

For most of their history the Gamecocks have been a fairly underachieving program, at least up until the past 10-15 years. They certainly didn’t have the winning clout you would have expected from the team that lured Lou Holtz out of retirement, or the tradition of a program that would be the landing spot for Steve Spurrier’s return to college ball. (Yes, I realize Spurrier wanted to be back in SEC in the worst possible way, but c’mon, South Carolina? Really?)

Here’s where you run into the problem; Holtz and Spurrier, both, probably brought South Carolina about as far as anyone can bring them, but because USC’s administration and fan base are like everyone else’s in the country, now that they’ve tasted a modicum of success those expectations have now become the norm.

Alumni and fans now expect the Gamecocks to be a Top 15 football team, competing for division titles on a regular basis, and I don’t think they’re going to be able to with Muschamp at the helm.

Especially when it looks like Florida and Tennessee are getting back to national prominence, along with renewed optimism in Athens now that Kirby Smart is leading the charge. It’s certainly not Muschamp’s fault, but more than likely he’s going to be scapegoat for unrealistic expectations.

I am intrigued to see how long a leash he is given by South Carolina’s athletic director, Ray Tanner. Because of those lofty goals being set will Muschamp be given the time incorporate his philosophy and scheme, or will the pressure that inevitably will come after a few probably subpar seasons be it?

Muschamp knows the defensive side of the ball, so you would think the Gamecocks will be respectable on that end.

He’s given control of the offense to Kurt Roper, who was with Muschamp during his last year at Florida. Obviously, that season didn’t go as planned for either of those guys, but I was able to watch Roper when he was OC at Duke for a few seasons and he is better than what he showed in ‘The Swamp.’

It could be a rough few years in Columbia and I don’t predict Muschamp to last more than a few seasons, which is a shame because they are both mediocre enough to be a really are a good fit for each other.

I could certainly wrong, but this just seems like one of those times where the “perfect fit” might be for all the wrong reasons.