Wow, tough crowd
Steve Spurrier was wrapping up his postgame press conference on Saturday night, in a crowded, cramped interview room at Neyland Stadium. Eric Hyman, as he occasionally does, was listening in, standing a few feet away.
“I thought our coaches had a good game plan,” Spurrier said.
A voice could be heard behind me.
“I did too,” Hyman said as he left through the open door.
Hyman was frustrated. Spurrier was frustrated. The players who spoke next – Moe Brown, Eric Norwood, Stephen Garcia – were frustrated.
But nowhere was the aggravation more evident than among the fan base. A quick perusal of the message boards, and my own gameday blog, revealed an onslaught of visceral comments, many aimed at Spurrier.
It was a bit surprising, considering this was just one loss, dropping the Gamecocks – who entered ranked No. 22 in the country – to a still-respectable 6-3.
Look, you could easily understand the anger at not beating Lane Kiffin, or a seemingly-vulnerable Tennessee team. And maybe it was the way it happened – once again early turnovers leading to a rout, as it did last season in the Outback Bowl and the games against Clemson and Florida games.
But the reaction still seemed to outweigh the circumstances. What did fans realistically think this team would do, win the SEC East? With this schedule, that was never happening. Before the season I said a 7-5 record would be quite respectable, and at 6-3, the Gamecocks are on track for that or better.
Now if the Tennessee game is the start of another late-season slide, it would be acceptable to start heading to ledges. For now, though, the season appears to be unfolding nearly exactly as most expected.
25 Comments to “Wow, tough crowd”
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State newspaper sports writer Seth Emerson blogs on University of South Carolina basketball and baseball.
Good level-headed observations, Seth. Between Arky & Clemson it is possible to get one more win, plus a win in a small bowl to finish 8-5. I would have NO complaints about that.
But it is hardly possible to stay upbeat after the Montario Travesty against Tennessee, the “win” against Vandy…..and while the Alabama game was not a huge embarrassment, the offense left much to be desired. And the once-stellar defense? Don’t answer this please, but how many combined yards did we give up to Ingram & Hardesty?
I am scared of the Clemson game this year. Their speed + their attitude could make it another laugher if we don’t bring our A-game.
Before the start of the season, I didn’t see how the Gamecocks would win more than 5, so they’ve already exceeded my expectations. If they can find one more win on the schedule, I think this season would be a tremendous success.
Tenn was a tuff loss, but you are right that a lot of fans are blowing this loss out of proportion. We are not going to win that many games with 4 turnovers. The fans who are getting on Spurrier or calling for his head are crazy. He did not call for us to turn the ball over. He did have a good game plan. Our players just need to do a better job with execution.
Spurrier is the best coach we have ever had. The most wins in his first 5 years in Gamecock history. No losing seasons (this year included). First coach to beat Florida in SEC history. I could go on and on.
Quit crying and support your team!
Seth, I think the USC fans are all still waiting for the sign that this team has taken the “next step” in becoming an SEC contender. I didn’t think USC was going to win the SEC East knew the schedule was tough this year. But it is frustrating to fans when the team digs an early hole (like against Bama and UT) or gives up big plays (like against Bama and UGA) or doesn’t show the traditional Southern virtue of manliness (paging Mr. Culliver…). Even if USC had gone up there and played a back-and-forth game, exhibited some courage, but ended with a 17-16 UT win, the talk would be much different.
Fans, coaches and players had the same expectations Saturday. Even after promoting 7 guys to the NFL, it was only about 3 games into this season when we all began to realize that we’re an even better team now. Our guys didn’t make the stupid turnovers that plagued us the last 2 seasons and we have talent all over the field. We’re a better team than Ten but we beat ourselves in the first 90 seconds on Saturday. That wasn’t supposed to happen and now we need to step up and destroy Ark, upset UF and close out with a win over Clemsux. Finish 9-3 and make a statement. GO COCKS!
White Rock, I agree with you that calling for Spurrier’s head is NOT the answer. We’re all worried about yet another end-of-season disappearing act. But no matter what happens, losing Spurrier will NOT help.
I don’t pretend to have the answers, but if we can somehow get an offense going, we can go a looooong way. I guess some of the frustration is how many weapons we have on offense, but we don’t know how to fire them. Who can fix this? Maybe Garcia can, I still find reason to believe in him. Other than that fumble, I thought he played well Saturday. That one pick he threw was not something I would call a bad pass. And he got rid of the ball under pressure.
Seth, I didn’t think we’d win more than 6 games before the season. But that in itself–as we go through Year 5 of the Spurrier Era–shows the diminished expectations of what the Ol’ Ball Coach will do with our program. People have lost faith that we’ll do much more than win 6-7 games. Maybe that’s realistic. But the frustration comes from feeling like here the same patterns continue: turnovers, penalties, mental errors, average line play on offense have become standard and don’t show significant signs of improvement (despite flashes of brilliance by Garcia, Jeffrey, etc). By this point, Spurrier has all his recruits on the field, guys who have bought into and learned the system and who one would think would not make the same mistakes repeatedly. Just like the Holtz era, we rely on an excellent defense that gets worn down and weakened through injury by the end of the season.
So while Tennessee has shown significant improvement this year and Monte Kiffin is a brilliant defensive coach–the self-destruction was what was so frustrating. Sure the SEC is tough, but how can one not look at the Georgia and UT program–both having down years from previous glory days–and not see yet another missed opportunity? Look at the schedule–maybe we’ll get one more win?
I like Spurrier a lot, but part of me wonders if we shouldn’t change our Legends hiring policy and go for a Brian Kelly type.
No Seth, people are upset b/c they’re afraid that we’ll go 0-4 down the stretch like the last few years. You’re right…6-3 isn’t bad, but 6-6 is real bad.
Before the season started most of us thought we had at least one of the toughest schedules in the country.We now see the fallacy there. NC State is bad, Georgia is a disaster, Miss. is a huge disappointment, Alabama has a poor offense overall, Tenn. is no better than we are but certainly more motivated by their coaches. I believe Ky. would have beaten us with their qb intact. WE struggled to beat Vandy, the worst team in the SEC.
By the way, I was talking about the next time we hire a coach–I certainly don’t think anyone should be calling for Spurrier to resign or anything. He’s a great ambassador for the university and has upgraded our talent/facilities. He should leave whenever he decides to, on his own terms. I just meant that whenever it is that we have to hire another coach, it would be interesting to see what would happen with a different type of hire.
I also think Spurrier could still break through with a big season–I’m just trying to explain the frustration. Winning 2 of the next 3 would cure all!
This post is whats wrong with this program.NO we did not think we could win the east, but we HAD to beat Tennessee. Talent wise we matched up. We preformed just like we have done the past 2 years under spurrier- we choked offensively. We’re an undisciplined team. If we lose to Arkansas, Florida, and Clemson Spurrier should be gone. 5 years its enough. Lets get Tuberville!
I am not frustrated with Spurrier… yet. If we don’t improve next year, I will be. This year we’re playing too many underclassmen and last night, as much as people hate to hear it, I think we had a bad case of the “Chicken Curse.” However, we have started that decline, just like the last two years, and I don’t see us winning another game in 2009…
I think peaple(like me) are upset because for 120
years of football we realy have not done much.
This year Ga is down Tn is down Ar is down and Clemson is down. Yet it is a good bet that we will lose to all those teams this year. Next year all those teams will be better and that will be our excuse to lose to them next year.
I have been a fan for many years but some things never seem to change.
I don’t understand why we choose the ball to open the game in a rain storm and risk giving up field position when defense is the strong point of both teams.
If Carolina had been competitive in the Tennessee game, and lost, that would be one thing, but they gave the game away in the first five minutes and were never competitive. This is Spurrier’s fifth year, we should be better by now. Why aren’t we?
I would like a coach who emphasizes recruiting linemen, offensive and defensive, and likes to run the ball. Good teams can run the ball, stop the run, and have a good kicking game. We really have none of that, at least to a high enough level. I think Wolford might be the guy to improve the offensive line, but it will take time.
Disappointed- that’s a great question and no one seems willing to ask Spurrier about it. This team wins when the defense has a great game. The offense has not done anything early in games except turn the ball over. It’s pure stupidity on Spurrier’s part to take the ball when he wins the coin toss.
“What did fans realistically think this team would do, win the SEC East?”
Yes I did. I think we should win every game. And I hope the coaches and players have the same attitude. If they don’t, get rid of them. We have 2 great minds in Spurrier and Johnson. We have SEC caliber talent. We have shown we can compete but I’m tired of just competing. I want to win. This is the attitude players and coaches should have.
We are all just mad, winning will help the weekend.
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The disappointment is that in his 5th year Spurrier does NOT appear to be making any real progress at USC – we still can not beat Georgia, or UT, or Florida on a regular basis. The offense shows absolutely no imagination and we still do not have an offensive line or a running game. And it appears that we will suffer another end of the season collapse to end up 6-6. While I recognize that it is rare for USC to have 5 or 6 non losing seasons in a row – when do we start winning? Beating Vandy, Kentucky, and S.C. State is one thing – when do we start beating Georgia, UT, Florida, Alabama?
Seth, I don’t think it is necessarily the fact that the Gamecocks lost to an up and coming Tennessee team, but rather the way they lost. Ball security is one of the basic fundamentals of football, along with using common sense when going for a block that results in a punt return being called back. This team lacks fundamentals at times, and it really bugs the Gamecocks nation. I personally hope Spurrier stays our coach, and hope our team can get to 8-4 in the regular season and get a nice bowl game, but I fear this team will lose confidence down the stratch and will finish 6-6. If that happens, where does this team go from there?
Same ole Cocks! Nobody can fix this. We are what we are. Mediocre.
I could care less about UT, ARK, Fla, Vandy or any other SEC school. I’ve said since end of last season that if we beat Clemson, the season would be successful. I said it / I meanat it/ and I’m here to represent it.
The coaches didnt blow this game, the players that fumbled and threw int. blew this one.We will learn from this and be a better team from it. We knew that we had a chance to win the last 4 or lose the last 4. We have a young team and the best coach. Quit being dumb and second guessing the best coach we have ever had or our team that we should be proud of this year. I think we are going to be a lot better than any of you think this year. We have lost to 3 good teams, now it time to beat a few more good teams. PULL FOR THEM NOT AGAINST THEM!!
NJ Gamecock,
That is absolutely horrible thinking. I would much rather us win every SEC game and lose to Clemson than for us to lose every SEC game but beat Clemson. Clemson is our rival, but we have 8 conference games that are just as or more important than a non conference game with Clemson.