Steve Spurrier and South Carolina in 2008
Posted on April 15th, 2008 by Joe
Has it been as painful for everyone else to watch Steve Spurrier at South Carolina as it has been for us here at Coaches Hot Seat? There have been a few highlights for Spurrier in Columbia, but for the most part it has been very troubling, and we really don’t see it getting better anytime soon. Can Spurrier turn the Gamecocks around in 2008? Here is our analysis:
WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP… SOS AINT GOING ANYWHERE ASSHOLES..
Wow, where to even begin. Lets start with all the just plain incorrect facts in your analysis. First, Spurrier could have coached anywhere he wanted after the NFL. Spurrier choose SC, not because he was impatient, but because he wanted to take a mediocre team and make them winners. If you knew this you would realize that is what inspires Spurrier and he won’t leave until he gets an SEC championship. 2008 will also be the first year of a “all Spurrier recruited” SC team, so in essence, he is really just getting started, and true winners don’t quit after three years when it takes that long to build a team at a minimum. Spurrier did not hand off the play calling to his son, he said “ Jr will take on more play calling duties”, not take over play calling, big difference.
On to your comments about the talent level. You say we have no talent? How about Jasper Brinkley, Eric Norwood, Captain Munelyn, E. Cook, Kinney McKinley? All of them are all SEC with McKinley the number one receiver in the SEC and J. Brinkley one of the best LB in the country. Also, Spurrier’s 5th rated recruiting class become sophomores this year, meaning we played with more freshmen last year than any other team in the country and therefore we have even more starters coming back. You say we have no QB, we have two excellent QB’s in Smelley and Beecher as well as the red shirted freshmen Stephen Garcia who will return and take us all the way. And your comment concerning kicking Garcia off the team for keying a car, are you serious, NO team that has any expectations of winning would do that. Most teams have way more problems with student athletes than SC, just check the Fulmer Cup and see that SC isn’t even in the top 20 teams with problems. Seriously, if you think that Florida, LSU, Alabama, or any other Div 1 powerhouse team would dismiss their star QB for keying a car, then you guys at the Hot seat do not know the first thing about college football.
Now on to your game analysis. Georgia will be a toss up, every year it is a toss up and no matter how good Georgia is, they always have a tough time with SC. Although the score does not reflect it, SC beat Ga last year handily and we should be a much-improved team than last year. So Georgia beat up Hawaii, ooh, Hawaii, the team with the 120 easiest strength of schedule out of 120, ohh impressive. You have our next loss at Ole Miss, are you serious? You think a coach in his fourth season with 18 starters returning is going to lose to a perennial bottom dweller in the SEC with a completely new coach in his first year with the fired former DC of SC? Yea I will take any bet you want to lay down on that game. Oh by the way, Vandy and Kentucky won’t even be close, not even a match. So the rest of the schedule, LSU? A decimated team coming to Columbia? Last year the Gamecocks did not play so bad, what hurt were injuries to our key defensive players with no depth to replace them. This year we have them back and we have some depth so I expect the outcome to be much different. Tenn. needed overtime and a lot of luck to be us last year, the year before we beat them and this year they lose cutcliffe, guess what, Tenn. loses to us again. Florida has big time OL problems and a terrible secondary, jury still out on that game. Arkansas, yea, see “ole Miss” for how this one turns out. Clemson is always a toss up. My prediction, best case 10-2 worst-case 8-4.
Mark my words; you will be eating your words come Dec 6th.
NICE COMMENT DUDE… GO COCKS. IS THIS STUFF IN THIS WEBSITE WRITTEN BY A BUNCH OF MORONS OR WHAT….
Great website. They really tend to tell it like it is. And I agree, Spurrier should have been more patient.
Spurrier isn’t going to win squat in Columbia. Not that there’s anything wrong with him; he’s definitely a proven coach. And SC has definitely done well in hiring proven coaches the past two go-arounds after they dumped that waste-of-space Brad Scott (Clemson could learn a thing or two from SC as far as hiring proven coaches).
But at the same time these great coaches are failing, failing, failing. Spurrier, Holtz, and way back when to Paul Dietzel, who won a national title at LSU before going to SC.
There’s something in that athletic department that keeps great coaches from succeeding. It’s not Spurrier’s fault or any other coach’s fault; SC’s problems go way deeper. SC is simply a graveyard for good coaches.
What everyone’s analysis of the cocks seems to lack is mentioning of the one single weakness in their game that wholly prevented them from winning the SEC in ’07 and possibly even in ’06: Their inability to stop the run. In case you didn’t notice, no matter what national power they seem to be playing in any given week (with the exception of a few “foul ups” i.e. Vandy, UNC, or Blake Mitchell throwing INTs like its his job) their offense cannot be stopped. Last year, take away merely 100 or so rushing yards by McFadden when they played Ark. and USC wins the game. Take away merely a few of Tebow’s 7 TDs last year and USC wins that game. The point is: opposing teams are putting up record breaking offensive numbers against USC, yet they are still in the game somehow. Their offense is an anomoly, somehow they are not ranked very high offensively, yet they seem to be unstoppable. One quarter they have -25 yards of offense, the next they put up 223 yards passing. They seem to be able to shred any SEC defense at will, but they can’t do it for more than 2 quarters at at time. With even a mediocre defense, the cocks will be neck in neck for the SEC title with my Gators. And IF, just IF by some chance their defense turns out to actually be GOOD, then look out, there will be a new beast in the East. The problem with USC is not Spurrier, it is the run defense and with Ty Nix gone, their run defense has nowhere to go but up. My prediction: Cocks 10-2 with losses to Georgia and, of course : Florida.
Former Gator, I would love a 10-2 season and your comments are on the money. I hope Ellis Johnson’s simplified schemes improves the defense and Rychleski improves our special teams. If Gracia comes back and Spurrier’s run option package works we could be a great team in ’08 and with just about every player coming back, spectacular in ’09.
I have still have nightmares about what might have happened in ’06 had Jarvis Moss not had the game of his life. Or maybe if Leak hadn’t somehow pulled off the only spin move of his career to avoid your LB when running for a first down when it was 3rd and long towards the end of the fourth quarter. Or maybe if Meyer hadn’t been crazy (or stupid?) enough to run Tebow on 4th and long, barely picking up a first down with about 3 minutes to go in the game with USC up by 6. If Tebow is stopped 2 inches shorter, USC takes over on downs:game over. If Jarvis Moss jumps 1/10th of a second later, you’re blocked FG is no longer blocked and probably goes in (wasn’t Succop like 19 for 20 in FGs that year or something?) There were numerous other instances in that game, where there is about a 2% chance that it would come out the same way if it happened again, but it all seemed to work. Then we somehow squeaked into the NC game and beat the O Holy Piss out of Ohio State. Its almost like it was meant to be.
Its really hard to win in SC. Two great coaches in a row have proven that.
The USC gamecocks are the greatest team in the universe! They will prove you wrong in 2008. Spurrier is our captain and he never says never. Our entire defense is returning and we have the greatest QB of all time as a RS-freshman in Stephen Garcia. So what if he got into some trouble with drinking and running from cops and keying a random car and drinking some more and pulling the ole’ fire extinguisher shananagans. That just means he thinks outside the box! Mark it down, USC will goe 11-1 next year!!
I can tell you this. I have been a Gamecock fan for as long as I can remember and this hot seat crap is just that. Regarding the comment about him being at LSU and already winning conference titles, etc. Yeah who couldn’t win those there. Anyone that has a half decent coaching abilities could … LSU is so deep in the charts that it’s crazy. SOS is building our program and this isn’t something you do over night and everyone in the Gamecock Nation understands that. I just can’t wait to come back here and read the remarks from the writers after SOS proves you wrong. Former Gator … great read my man …
Spurrier is right where he wants to be. He obviously isn’t seeking a high paying, high profile job, he did choose USC. And I do mean “choose” he could have gone anywhere he wanted, so there’s a reason why he’s at USC and I think it is in large part b/c he has a 5 year plan: Bring in the high profile recruits, Coach ‘em up, leave the place stocked for his son to take over. He is a human being with a family afterall. What father doesn’t want to leave his kid in the best possible scenario? And at this point, what other SEC school would have offered Jr. a head coaching position? Probably none. Spurrier’s already accomplished everything there is to accomplish in college football as a player and coach. Do you really think he’s saying to himself “I’m just dying to coach 5 or 6 more years so that I can possibly win one more SEC title” ??? No way, he’s got a plan, and that plan is to build an offense, win an SEC title, and then announce to the world “Oh by the way, my son has been running the offense” – Then everyone will watch as colleges from around the country pounce on him, thinking they’ve got another Spurrier. Its brilliant. Not only will Jr. bring the traditional 90s era Spurrier offense with him, but he’s younger and more in-tune with the modern mobile QB offense as well. And then, after Jr. has taken over at USC, won an SEC title or two and beat up on a Tebow-less gimmick Florida running offense (lets be honest, its all downhill after Tebow leaves), Meyer gets canned and into the Florida press room, wearing a retro see-through green visor, walks the one thing that every Florida fan has been dying to watch roam the sidelines in the swamp again – Steve Spurrier (Jr.)
All you South Carolina fans make me laugh. He will go 6-6 this year again, and you guys will invite him back again. There isn’t any shame in admitting the obvious. Just because Coaches Hot Seat did it, don’t get all huffy.
Actually, I have to say, it’s been great. Spurrier’s a scumbag and a weasel and a perfect representative of that university. I hope he stays there, because it’s only proving how pathetic of a black hole, coach-killer program u-suck really is. Maybe next year, fellas (or not)! 23-21!
Who said anything about Clemson? lol
My how quickly people forget. This is Steve Freakin Spurrier people! As a general rule, you never kick a man while he’s down. As an absolute universal stone cold lock rule: You never kick Steve Spurrier when he’s down. Because one day, he’ll get up, and when he gets up, he’s gonna be pissed. And oh yes, he holds grudges. Just ask any 90s era Georgia fan what happens when Steve Spurrier gets mad. Go ahead and beat him down now Clemson, Georgia, Tennessee because he’s sitting back and taking names. Tommy Bowden and Phil Fulmer can all but kiss it goodbye in the next 2 years, it going to be a blood bath. All they need is a QB to bring it all together……….somehow I think he’ll have one soon.
Florida gator,
you’re right about the 06 gators, they had a lot of luck to win the NC, but i can’t think of a single NC team that didn’t have a lot of luck in winning. I think that is what Spurrier teaches, play your best, never give up and if luck goes your way, you win national championships. I keep seeing football analyst’s predicting this years florida-USC game as the game that decides the east div champ. Both teams have some question marks but would love to see that come to fruition.
WOW that would be awesome if we had an annual Florida-USC matchup for the East every year (with Florida winning of course). That’d be the next best thing to having Spurrier come be our offensive coordinator. Thats all he really wants to do is call ball plays, he doesn’t really want to waste his time w/defense and special teams, recruiting, booster club meetings, etc. He’s gonna retire down here anyway, why not just come be our OC? Its a win-win situation for everyone. Of course Meyer would have to go once Tebow leaves (or just crumbles to pieces after his 766th slam to the body by a 250 pound sprinting SEC linebacker) b/c the chances of getting another Tebow in here, or even 1/2 of a Tebow are about 1 in a million. So we can expect a steady decline in our offensive performance over the next few years, then once we start losing games to the ol ball coach on a regular basis, its going to get ugly down here. That would be a perfect time to announce Spurrier Jr. as our new head coach and Spurrier Sr. as our new offensive coordinator. It would truly be one of the most exciting moments in Florida football history – 2 Steve Spurriers.
I agree there are some question marks about the QB and o-line. However, Spurrier is one of the greatest Qb coaches in college football and I am confident he will get the QB’s straightened out by the fall.\
Where is disagree with this author is about the Cocks defense this year. We have the number one secondary in the SEC returning. Plus we have added several very good db’s to the mix (Barnes, Culliver, Auguste).
We get the top MLB in the SEC back in Jasper Brinkley.
And we are extremely deep on the defensive line this year. We can go 3 deep in most positions along the d-line.
The Cocks defense will win them an extra 2 games at least on this years schedule. I am predicting an 8-4 season and going to either the Peach or Outback.
2009 and/or 2010 the Gamecocks will win the SEC east.
You’re right, the cock’s D will be improved this year. I predict Tebow will only rush for 3 TDs this time around.
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Steve Spurrier and South Carolina in 2008, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
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