mind of a gamecock

In Observance of Kenny McKinley

2010-09-23T14:24:00.004-04:00

There will be no blog this week. If you know or love someone who you think might be suffering from depression, take a minute to tell them what they mean to you.

Quick Thought Before The Weekend

2010-09-10T08:33:00.004-04:00

NCAA Letters of Inquiry aren't sent to notify schools that nothing is wrong. They are usually followed by lengthy probations and losses of scholarships. The last person I heard say, "I'm not worried about this LOI" was a Southern Cal fan. The time before that it was a Bama fan. As one astute Gamecock fan put it, "The NCAA is moving from our backyard to our kitchen." In the course of two months of informal investigations into one player (Saunders), the NCAA uncovered a massive free rent scandal involving The Whitney, a luxury hotel in downtown Columbia on Devine St. near Yo Burrito; "inaccurate" paperwork involving an insurance policy for Chris Culliver; and a couple of free meals provided to Marcus Lattimore by a booster. The NCAA stated in their letter that South Carolina was already aware of the issues being investigated, but that new issues could be discovered in the course of their investigation.....that they hope to have concluded by the end of the calendar year.

That's 1, 2, 3, 4 more months, at minimum, of formal investigation into an SEC football program. It's akin to the FBI telling Buffalo Bill they are planning to search his house, for 4 months, looking for skin vests. Oh, they'll find the vests, but odds are pretty good they'll find a whole lot more. At a school where systematic recruiting violations have been taking place for years, it will be like shooting fish in a barrel. This time I wouldn't count on getting a slap on the wrist either. Just think, Gamecock fans, we cheated our butts off in the 80s and we got a return on it. We won multiple conference championships and a national title. But back then cheating was acceptable, even encouraged. That's not the case anymore. Y'all have been cheating for (at least) 5 years under Spurrier and the best you have managed is a bowl win over Houston. I hope it was worth it. Better get busy hiding your skin vests, and don't even try to put them in the closet. Too many skeletons in there already.

BREAKING: NCAA Announces Formal Investigation Into South Carolina Football Program

2010-09-09T18:23:00.004-04:00

Hats Off To You, Larry Fedora

2010-09-03T14:28:00.005-04:00

Steve Spurrier is a queen. I'm not talking about queens in the traditional bigoted sense of the word, but rather the modern hipster version. If this latest NCAA flap has taught us anything, it's that Spurrier's legacy of being a pull no punches, smarmy S.O.B. was built entirely on being nothing more than a drama queen. Back in the day everyone ooh'd when the Ol' Ball Coach talked about Free Shoes University, and ahh'd when he said you can't spell citrus without UT. Spurrier told anyone who would listen, as much as they would listen, that he didn't suffer lightly teams, coaches and players who violated NCAA rules. "Oh, my!" how times have changed. It's easy to be an ass when you're the young, moderately attractive head coach at the University of Florida. It takes considerably more diplomatic acumen to pull it off when you're trapped in college football purgatory, waiting for the ghost of Bear Bryant to come spirit you away to Florida retirement, where, when you say the words "we" and "national champions" in the same sentence, nobody will think you are going senile. Nobody really thinks that (yet), but after last week's hypocritical display, people are starting to question what, if anything, is left of the pre-Gamecock Spurrier.

In the hours leading up to kick-off against mid-major superpower, Southern Miss, it looked as if the Gamecocks were going to be missing up to 10 key players because of NCAA violations committed in relation to the illegal free rooms they had received at The Whitney, a luxury hotel in downtown Columbia on Devine Street near Yo Burrito. Somehow, at the 11th hour, the NCAA issued a reprieve, clearing all but 3 of the players involved in the scandal. Apparently, being cleared by the NCAA was good enough for Spurrier, the man who publicly whined for 10 years in Gainesville any time a player at another school received so much as a ride home from practice with a graduate assistant. Never mind the fact that all the players involved had been receiving illegal benefits. This season is too important for Spurrier's legacy to let something like character interfere with his decision-making process. Everyone knows it's 2010 or bust for Spurrier in Craptown, SC, but it's just sad to see a man who pretended to stand for so much, for so many years, reduced to a pathetic scavenger, all for the glorification of his massive ego (Seinfeld, Sn. 4, Episode 72). These guys all broke rules. He knows they all broke rules. But apparently having that magical, 9 win season that Gamecock fans dream about was more important than doing the right thing. Contrast that with USM's Larry Fedora, who refused to play his best player - the only player who gave them even a fighting chance at a win - because he didn't like the effort the guy was giving. That right there is something to applaud, but I doubt you'll see Spurrier quipping to the press about that.

At least one positive thing came out of South Carolina's surprisingly good performance last Thursday night. Expectations in Columbia might be at an all-time high, which, as we say in the blog industry, is good for business. Take a look:

On the Georgia game

- We know it'll be a tough game and it always is, but we'll typically win in the end.

- Their trash talk won't stop if we win, it'll just turn into excuses of how they lost to themselves.

- I'm not so sure they're better anywhere other than o-line and kicker.

- Make no mistake about it this is (Besides beating Clemson 3 straight) the most important game in Steve's stay here and when we win we will be playing with the houses's money. It is a two-game swing any way you look at it and UGA has a very favorable schedule compared to us. Arkansas will be their toughest opponent after us and Fla. LSU appears not very good, at least until they rotate back on our schedule.I believe we are more ready than we have ever been with weapons galore and a stellar defense. Most of these kids come from a winning program and a NCAA title trumps a stupid curse if you believe in that sort of thing and I don't. I do believe in prayer and pray the Lord will be with all our young men, keep them safe from injury and help us to do and give our best and to him be the honor and glory. Amen GO COCKS1

- Most like to think uga and us are close to equal on talent but there is still a sizeable gap after the top 22. But our coaching for now more than makes up for it. I think I saw where one of their defensive ends squatted 795 lbs.

- I would love to see Stephon on AJ. He would shut him down I am sure.

- Those people have convinced themselves that Georgia is the '85 Bears and we're the '76 Bucs. Bunch of arrogant, bombastic pricks, all of 'em. Nobody deserves to lose and lose and lose as much as the UGA fanbase.

On Clemson

- I can tell you for a fact Clemson football players get preferential treatment. When a party is busted and underage football players are there drinking, the cops just tell them to leave. I've seen it with my own eyes and my bro in law who is a HUGE clemson fan said when he went there, it was the same exact way. The local cops are almost all Clemson fans. They're not gonna arrest one of their own players and risk harming their season...

- Bottom line is it takes money and a lot of other benefits to make them hang around that place for an extra year or in some cases to go there at all.

- Pickens county has highest rate of incest as well as other crimes than anywhere else in the State of SC. Clemson is smack dab in the middle of that.

- My Nephew the Tater student taught up there. The way he tells it people with money are a rarity up their and their biggest source of income is from the Goverment.

The Price of Greatness

2010-08-25T07:40:00.003-04:00

"Paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep."

It's been said that paranoia can be good in small doses. Problem is, paranoia, like meth, can be habit forming and bad for your mental piece. Famed educational philosopher, Robert M. Hutchins, put it more succinctly, saying of paranoia, "You know you've got it when you can't think of anything that's your fault." So here we stand on August 25, just 8 days away from the start of the 2010 college football season, a season that once appeared to hold so much promise for Steve Spurrier's University of South Carolina Gamecocks. The Gamecocks were coming off a record-tying 2nd consecutive bowl appearance in 2009, they had signed a really good running back on National Signing Day, and Stephen Garcia had gone at least 365 days without getting arrested for the first time since joining the program in 2007. There was even chatter of challenging Florida for SEC East supremacy. Then the bottom fell out.

In July, starting tight end Weslye Saunders became embroiled in an NCAA investigation into the legalities of an agent-sponsored party in South Beach last Spring, thrown for potential high-round picks in the 2011 NFL Draft. Though the school and the NCAA have been tight-lipped about the issue, MOAG has learned that officials are concerned with two things at this point. Who paid for Saunders to go on the trip, and what the hell was he doing at a party for 1st day draft picks? Despite this setback, the team still had reasons for optimism. After all, according to ardent Gamecock supporters, Saunders was officially listed as 2nd on the team depth chart behind noted hustler Patrick DiMarco. And though that was solely a product of his week-long suspension during the Spring, it was still a reassuring thing for fans to tell themselves. Besides, if they could get through the next few weeks without further trouble, the Gamecocks still had plenty of reasons to believe their magical season, the season they have waited on since (insert the year you were born here), was on the horizon. But so was something else...

"It starts when you're always afraid. You step out of line, the man come and take you away."

In early August, NCAA officials returned to Columbia. They even reportedly stopped practice and ordered Saunders to come with them for another round of You $#%@ed Up, Kid. Most South Carolina fans had believed that the issue had been put to rest. And why shouldn't they have, given the NCAA's history of starting and concluding major investigations in a matter of weeks? Despite their well-reasoned belief that it was over, the investigation was still active. Saunders' eligibility was now officially in question. To make matters worse, another investigation was underway. Various media were reporting that 3 players had been living all summer at The Whitney, an upscale hotel on Devine Street near Yo Burrito. Whitneygate, America's first gate scandal since Watergate to involve an actual hotel, was dismissed by fans as a non-issue. After all, coach new about it and compliance signed off on the lease. Yet it was still proving to be a distraction for a team that, at one point, appeared poised to do great things. Assistant Head Coach for Defense Ellis Johnson even admitted such.

Over the past two weeks, it has come to light that as few as 7, and as many as 10, players were living at the hotel. The NCAA is concerned that the players might have been staying at the hotel rent-free, or possibly at a reduced rate not offered to the general public. If their investigation bears that out, it could be deemed a violation. For a team that showed so much promise, these investigations so close to the start of the season could prove costly. Assistant Head Coach for Defense Ellis Johnson said yesterday that he didn't know exactly what the penalty - or penalties - would be, but that the staff has been given a range of potential punishments depending on what the NCAA finds. As a precautionary measure, the school told all the players to move out immediately and settle up on their bills. As a precautionary measure. In Saunders' case, being at the heart of two investigations could sideline him for some or all of the season. Coach Spurrier has said he expects the NCAA to let him know something before the start of the season next Thursday. But Saunders, apparently not content with just having his eligibility at risk, has decided to up the ante this week. On Monday, Spurrier announced that Saunders has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. He'd missed several team meetings and was late to a scrimmage last Saturday morning. When questioned by coaches about his tardiness, Saunders realized he had two options. He could tell the coaches the truth, whatever it was, and accept his punishment, or he could lie. In a stunner, Saunders chose option 2.

"Stop, hey, what's that sound, everybody looks what's goin down."

Many coaches will tell you they would sooner coach scrubs than liars. Coaches need to be able to trust their players on and off the field. At the beginning of the initial agent investigation, Spurrier went to bat for Saunders, saying, "Weslye told us he didn't do anything wrong, and we believe him." And it was the right thing to do, because players need to know their coach has their back. A lack of reciprocal trust can destroy team chemistry, but every now and then such truisms need to be put to the test. Sensing that now was one of those times, Saunders decided to conduct an experiment to see if he could somehow find the perfect blend of selfish behavior, public humiliation, and total lack of respect for the school and coach who gave him a free ride to college. Not only did Saunders lie to the coaches about where he had been, the lie itself was that he had been - get ready for it - meeting with NCAA investigators about his case(s). A quick check with the compliance office uncovered that no such meeting had taken place. So not only did he lie, he actually used the investigation, that he created, as his lie. If there were ever three words that Spurrier wishes he could unsay, "we believe him" would have to be them. Now Spurrier not only has every reason not to believe a word that comes out of his mouth, but he also has a reason to believe that Saunders would lie to anyone, including the NCAA, to save his own skin. For his part, Saunders has skillfully played the victim card from jump street, accusing others of misunderstanding him and trying to bring him down, which brings us back to the paranoia issue.

For a long time it was just the crazy, crazy South Carolina fans who felt that the world was out to get them, but this summer has turned even the players into true believers. Even so, our focus here at Mind of a Gamecock is the crazy, crazy fans and the funny things they say. We don't yet know how these investigations and suspension(s) will affect the promising 2010 season, but we do know this - that 9 win, 2nd in the East dream season might be on hold until further notice. What I can give you right now is this:

- "Riddle me this.....a player at Clemson can be allowed to live in a house on Lake Hartwell (owned by a CU supporter) along with his girlfriend and their baby for 3-4 years and the NCAA doesn't find fault. A player at Carolina has a legitimate contract with a local hotel for an extended stay and the NCAA finds fauult? At what point will the playing field be level? Clemson has multiple players staying 'off campus' in 'put up' situations on or near the lake. Always have and always will. It's time USC stands up to the NCAA, The State, and any other group that is creating this constant harrassment."

- "This is a media created this whole story, before the season starts their looking for anything to talk about."

- "Just like the NCAA to do away with athletic dorms and then look into housing. What is up with these hostesses at Cheating Clemson Tech and Kiffin's kittens? Why doesn't ESPN run with that? That's what continuously gripes my tail. Spiller and his girlfriend living on the lake driving a Tahoe. Heck I can't even afford the gas for a Tahoe, how does he?"

- "I'M SURE JOE PERSON IS BEHIND ALL THIS!!!!!"

- "Joe Person and The State rag need their media credentials pulled!!"

- "Joe Person has worked feverishly to report anything negatively on our program true or not. Joe's been busting our balls over this hotel situation almost every day and would like nothing more than to see it be true and NCAA sanctions befall our program. The state rag as been that way for as long as I can remember and I'm 60!"

- "Reading papers across the country over the years, I have never seen any local paper covers the local sports team with more negativity than The State. Plain and simple.

- "I really think it bothered the snake that our baseball team won NationaL championship this summer!"

- "If it were Clemmers players, you wouldn't read a damn thing about it in the snake."

- "This has been going on at the State for over a half a decade and it's time it STOPS!"

- "Why is it The State will turn a blind eye to a politician they like, but go after Carolina at the drop of a hat? If the hometown paper can't support the hometown team, what use are they?"

- "Last minute bad luck always seems to stab us in the back, and we have more than a chance to win the SECEast and the title."

- "This is no curse, this is a conspiracy."

Gamecocks Trip To Clemson, Get Punked

2009-12-06T15:03:00.003-05:00

Another year, another victory for the Clemson Tigers over their pathetic midlands rival. Today's easy 72-61 win was the 6th in a row for Purnell's squad. That should come as no shock to readers, as beating South Carolina every year is just something Clemson does. But what made today's win exceptional was the way the Tiger defense completely shut down the gamecocks' best player, Devan Downey. Downey didn't score until 10 minutes were left in the game, and he ended up with 7 total points (5 of which were garbage points). Downey could not shake the Tiger D, his frustration showing with each possession.

Coming off a mind-numbing loss to Illinois the other night, frustration is just what the Tigers needed to exorcise. Amazingly, this might end up counting as a quality win for Clemson when the selection committee is deciding where the Tigers will land in the Dance. Soon enough conference play will begin, and this year the ACC is up for grabs. Clemson isn't ready to win it at this juncture of the season, but this is a talented bunch that could make a strong run once it's all said and done. With a week off to enjoy today's glorified practice, a rested Tiger team will run through its OOC slate before a showdown with Duke on January 3rd. The gamecocks will recover from this, largely because they play in the worst conference in the history of college basketball, but Downey won't soon forget getting pwn3d by his rival.......again.

Here's some MOAG, both football and basketball-related. Let's start with a doozie:

- Spiller Hurt His NFL Stock Last Night

- Classless Spiller sat on bench after loss and Tech player came over to him. He is such a puss; he can run all over the field but cant walk to congratulate the winner?

- Spiller only came back for his senior season to improve his chances in the draft and get a bigger paycheck, has nothing to do with being classy.

- If we had Holmes and Archie we would be killing Clempson !

- Sad fact is that Clemson is not that good...The team we just lost to is not that good. I think they will be on the bubble come March. With Archie and Holmes I am confident we would have won.

- Sorry taters you suck in basketball too!!! LOL (editor's note - this was said 23 minutes after the game)

- If we had Archie and Holmes this game wouldn't be close.

- I'm about to toss my laptop watching the team shoot after taking the ball away so many times. This is not the offense that showed up vs Jacksonville State. And this is not the Defense that showed up either.

- Even being Downeys worst game ever they still only won by 11. Taters happy we only play once a year.

- Pitt's secondary is very weak. You saw what that Cinci quarterback did yesterday just imagine what Garcia will do.

- We play in the SEC. Pitt's defense should be nothing to us.

Uncle Fester's

2009-11-29T16:57:00.002-05:00

I just got back from Columbia, and it was truly a great weekend. Lots of old friends, laughs, and fellowship. I used to live in Columbia, and it was fun being back in my old stomping grounds. Also, a couple of my friends unwittingly hung out and had a great time at a gay bar, which was an excellent encore to an already pleasant day. But even so, it's great to be back home with my family. There's nothing quite as warm as getting a big hug from your daughter after being away. I'll have more later this week as we prepare for the big ACC Title game this Saturday, but for now I'm going back for another hug.

Early Friday MOAG

2009-11-27T06:55:00.003-05:00

- Look. I have said it before and I will say it again. CAROLINA plays HANDS DOWN the toughest schedule out of CAROLINA and KKKLIMPSON!!! NOTHING and I mean NOTHING that happens on SATURDAY will change that! taters can brag all they want now or after the game on Saturday, but the BOTTOM LINE is that CAROLINA plays a MUCH, MUCH better conference than KKKLIMPSON. That's a fact. They can sugar coat it all they want, but that is the WAY IT IS. taters got NOTHING to brag about. NOTHING. If they win the rest of their two games the fact is that they played a much weaker A-SHE-SHE schedule than the GAMECOCKS. Period. They have to live with that. We can hold our heads up for playing the VERY BEST in the land!!!GO COCKS!!!

- The truth is we have NO reason to play clempson.We play the Highest profile schedule in America.Nothing and I mean Nothing good comes from playing clempson.On the other hand it is clempsons season maker.The best thing we could do is DROP em.That would be sweet.They would be left with nothing to hang their hat on.

- If it were up to me I would never play another ACC team in any sport unless it was a tournament. That charter group of clowns could not take it when we starting beating their a$$e$. They did everything they could to take us down and I would do the same if given a chance.Had we stayed I think we would have countless ACC championships in all 3 of the major sports.

- would not bother me one way or the other, taters, neighbors, but we have other teams we play that mean more to us financially and from a p.r. standpoint, so it would convince some with results

- Most Clemson fans have an inate ability to make people dislike them. That's why I decided after going to Carolina, that it was a more civil and cultured environment that suited my style and personality.

- rivalry be damned. Think with your head instead of your, well heart I guess. Is it logical for SC to keep playing CU? Nope, so why do something illogical year in and year out?

- Every Cock has its day. USC will soon start beating the Taters more and more. The losing shoe's gonna hurt on those orange stained feet.

- Clemson is the last school to talk to anyone about owning someone.

I'm Thankful For MOAG

2009-11-26T22:50:00.002-05:00

- Clemmons University about to run into a BUZZ SAW. This is one of those rare times that Ive felt this good about a USC/CU game. I know many of you have doubts due to the history but I think huge celebrations will be going on in here saturday night. This will be year one of a string of victories over the hated rival.

- Seems like Klempsin has the coaches' and players' full attention this year. That's the difference!

- I agree. I think Spiller and Parker get knocked out of the game and the domino effect is we win big. We're the best defense they will see all year since they don't play Virginia Tech (how is that anyway?)

- next year starts Saturday

- Tatersuck Fag Univ is just trying to copy what we did with Under Armour! They need to try and match the publicity that we got with the wounded warriors gig! That faget University will do anything to try and "one up" us!!!!

- Hey where can I down load one of those pictures of the kid pupping in the clumpsun helmet?

- Taters really do have an inferiority complex to us. They beat us regularly enough that they shouldn't. But then they do things like last Saturday. After we had a classy camoflage uniform and cleats with honor, integrety, committment etc. on the back, to honor the fallen warrior project. They come out and redneck up what is a nice gesture to honor our military. I guess the coaching staff saw our guys and rushed off to the local army/navy store and bought some camoflage hunting pants. I know they meant well, and it was nice. But you just kinda have to laugh at them. Bless their hearts.

- think we can shut Spiller down running. We match up better against the shifty types.

- Somebody has to win this ballgame so it might as well be us ....people near and far have Clemson so built up , yet they forget how they got that way , they play PoS teams that are all "use to be's"...

- he is good but who wouldn't be playing against the teams he has played against , put him against big powerhouse teams he would be CJ SPILT !!

- If our defense hits him hard and early, we could mentally take him out of the game. I dont think he has been physically challenged much all year with the acception of the FSU game.

Important Note

2009-11-25T00:14:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure what happened, but today's blog posted below the sunday and monday blogs. Scroll down until you get to the one entitled, Urgent.

Monday Night MOAG

2009-11-23T19:12:00.003-05:00

Just more of the good stuff:

- We are every bit as good as TCU or Georgia Tech, and we're better than Miami. Taters gonna find out on Saturday.

- If we suck so bad and yall are the future ACC Champs (at least champs of your division), then why did vegas set the line only at Clemson 2.5? I mean, it's such a SURE win and we're just this bottom tier SEC team... Why would the ACC champs only be a 2.5pt favorite over lowly South Carolina?

- Clemson is 22-47 vs Georgia Tech (32%)South Caraolina is 35-61-4 vs Clemson (37%)So if SC does not have a chance vs Clemson this weekend, why does Clemson even show up for the ACC Championship Game? The numbers show, as bad as SC is vs Clemson, its better than Clemson vs GT.

- We just came off a 24-14 home loss to the number one team in the nation, beat the number 4 team earlier in the year at home, and played the number 2 team well on the road. 20 points may be enough.

- fortunately for us we are facing a team that spit the bit against Maryland.

- This time next week....I will have been celebrating a Gamecock victory for hours. Not a shred of doubt in my mind. I BELIEVE! GO COCKS!!!

- This is rivalry week, time to get excited. This game is in our house and that western SC technical school full of inbred hillbillies should have nightmares after what is going to happen to them at WB next Saturday!!!! Get ready for a beat down you toothless redneck SOB's because next Saturday at noon hell will be unleashed on your sorry a$$es!!

- Keep Spiller and Ford from busting big plays and they are dead meat!

- James and Demps didn't do a dang thing and netiher will Spiller and Ford!!!

- We've played a MUCH more difficult schedule and when you look at the top 2 teams in America, we've played BOTH of them WELL into the fourth quarter! With the proper mindset, we SHOULD BEAT CLEMSON!!!!

- Carolina will win. The ACC does not stack up like the SEC. The only deserving team to go to the ACC championship is GT. Everyone else is mediocre (yes, the word used to describe our team and program). The SEC will be against 2 undefeated teams as of now. Clemson is 8-3 and has a chance to play for the crown and go to the Orange Bowl? Come on, no competition. We played a hard schedule with freshmen/sophmores and they at most times, gave it all they had. The SEC is a tough conference to dominate and if you do, you earned it. The thought of GT playing Clemson makes me sick. We are at home for the SC/Clemson game and the stands will rock again. This is our year to win and decent bowl depends on this game. 2010 will be interesting and should go our way as our guys gained a lot of good experience this year as a young team. We are a year ahead of other programs b/c we had freshmen/sophmores on the field. They should play well for the next few years.

- They havent seen a defense like ours all season and our home field advantage will be too much for them to overcome.

- If we play the way we did against florida we WILL win. Plain and simple if the players can get over making the #1 team in the country sweat for 3 quarters..... we WILL win.

Sunday Night MOAG

2009-11-22T20:24:00.002-05:00

Just some good ol' fashioned moag for a Monday morning.

- No reason to lose to the Taters this year....NONE! and don't give me any of that Spiller & Ford crap.....I ain't buying it.....we've had 2 weeks to prepare for this one.....we've played better teams all year long.....it's time to open up a can on the Taters.....this crap (losing to those rednecks) needs to stop and it needs to stop now!!! Am I fired up? You better believe it.

- You're absolutely correct!! I do believe if we don't give it to them (examples: Tenn. & Ala. - even some inexcusables in the Ark. game) & play smart & tough for 4 FULL quarters (unlike the 3 we played against Fla.), we'll beat them! No reason not to with 2 weeks to prepare!!

- If we come out on D and hit them and on O we try to run the ball like we did against Florida we should be fine. If Clifton plays like he did against Florida we should be fine.

- Clemson will come into next week with a vaulted 6 game winning streak(of course Im assuming they will win today} but who have they beaten? NOBODY! only MIA is hanging on to the top 25 and they are losing to Duke and got lucky to beat wake..

- when Garcia is done he will be 3-0 against Clemson.

- I just feel like we are better than them. I realize they have looked well at times, but outside of the Wake game, they have dicked around all year against everyone they have played. If I am not mistaken, they have been favored in every game they have played this year but 1. We are better than anyone they have played since September. We just have to put it together one time on Saturday and I think we could lay it on them.

- The frustrating thing for us is that we watch Klempsin stumble and bumble through a vastly inferior conference only to have their little hearts break year after year until finally they backed into it.

- Your team usually beats us because of a lot of intangibles not the least of which is you have seemed to want it more.

- The defensive gameplan for Ellis Johnson could not be more simple. On top of that, we have the personel defensively to shut them down. No reason whatsoever why we should not win this game and with somewhat of a cushion to spare. NO REASON WHATSOEVER.

- We will win by two touchdowns, even if Clemson brings us their best game. We have them at home, had a week off,and can build on a strong showing in the Florida game.

- We bring in more money than Clemson, will soon have better facilities all the way around than Clemson, play in a more attractive conference with better TV exposure than Clemson, have a better bowl record over the past 15 years than Clemson, have a better winning percentage against the rest of the SEC and ACC this decade than Clemson, and based on all that have landed more highly regarded recruiting classes this decade than Clemson.

- We have an 80% winning percentage against the rest of the ACC this decade. Clemson doesn't have that. Clemson has a 17% winning percentage against the rest of the SEC this decade. We are obviously well above that.

- The WAC deserves a BCS bowl tie in more than the ACC does. Just a fact and really can't be disputed.

- Boise would go undefeated in the ACC. Nevada and Fresno would both win Clemson's division.

- We played #1,#2 and #4,we won aginst #4 so we are at least 1-2 aginst top 10 teams.You will finish 0-3.

- Carolina-clemPson opening line is out. It's a PICK 'EM. Goes to show you what Vegas thinks of the ACC

- Clemson beats teams the Byrnes High could beat and now there world beaters. I think we have just as much talent as Clemsucks and we are going to win that game Saturday.

- I credit Dabo for doing a good job with an average team this year. USC can easily win this game if they play sound football.

- I think there is NO EXCUSE for us losing to them again.

- Didn't realize that Dabo was still running down "The Hill" way out front of his team, acting like "Attila The Hun". Does he beat his chest too? When he's at press conferences - he keeps talking about team, team, team but when he's on the hill in front of all the fans, AD, TV cameras, etc - it's about me, me, me.

- clem won't beat us, we can only beat ourselves...***

Urgent

2009-11-22T11:03:00.006-05:00

Your desire is insane
You can’t stop until you do it again - Foreigner

I don't know how old I was the first time I heard these lyrics. I don't know how old I was the first time I watched a Clemson/South Carolina football game, though it probably came when I was an infant in 1978. All I know is, these words were first sung in 1981, the same year Clemson won its first national championship in football, and effectively kicked its program into hyper-speed, leaving South Carolina choking on its cosmic dust. Nearly 40 years have passed since those two events collided to create the University of South Carolina's worst nightmare, and 40 more will certainly pass in kind.

Every November the South Carolina Gamecocks offer themselves up as sacrificial lambs to the mighty Tigers of Clemson, yet every year they enter the game actually believing they have a chance to win. They are fools. So are their fans. Since the Great Year, Clemson owns a 20-7-1 record in the series, dominating their arch rival in every imaginable way. Though that record is thoroughly impressive and shameful, consider that the record in Columbia over that same period is even more of both. On Clemson Tiger field at Williams-Brice stadium, the Tigers are 12-2. In four days that record will be 13-2. The Gamecocks are, in a word, goosed.

Nobody knows whether or not the bard, Lou Gramm, was specifically thinking of the Clemson/South Carolina rivalry when he first sang this song, not of forbearance, but of desperation. I have my opinion, but that's not important. Urgency breeds carelessness, and carelessness breeds 2-13 records against your arch rival on your home field. They want to win, but they aren't good enough. Their desire is insane. After losing on Saturday, they and their fans will spend a few months wallowing in their athletic crapulence. They'll talk of moving the game to the start of the season, or canceling the series altogether. They'll turn on each other, half of them wanting to fire Coach, the other half supporting Coach because "he's really building a winner here." It's become as much a part of the holidays as turkey and naps. But then around early February, the Gamecock faithful will come to life again, celebrating a vastly overrated recruiting class, its ranking bloated by worthless 4 star JUCO linemen and no less than 6 average safeties turned wide receiver. And then it will start anew. They won't be able to stop, and they'll do it again. They're so urgent. Emergency.

Just as I was born at the start of the Danny Ford era, my daughter came to us at the start of Dabo Swinney era (make of that what you will). She will probably watch bits and pieces of her first Clemson/South Carolina game this Saturday, though she surely won't remember it. Perhaps somewhere a young Brit is putting together a musical arrangement that will capture perfectly the theme of this rivalry over the course of her young lifetime. The odds of that are better than Carolina winning on Saturday.

Now today's MOAG, looks like the moral victories are starting early this year:

- I like the Gamecocks chances against clemson solely on the basis that SC is a better team.

- I have being saying the same thing since we joined the SEC, let's move the game to the beginning of the season and then we can shuffle our SEC schedule so that we aren't being punished at the end of the year. Let's start concentrating on winning the SEC and less about Clemson.

- The game belongs at the BEGINNING of the season. Anyone who thinks that this rivalry game should be at the end for tradition's sake is ignoring the game's history to begin with. No one says it has to be the opener, either - just near the beginning of the season. Let's get this thing going at the beginning of the season before USC has been through the SEC blender and the taters have finished their milquetoast ACC schedule. At least then we'd both be fresh instead of just the taters every year.

- There is no reason NOT to move it

- Better hope you get us this year taters because your next year is the real year one of the spurrier era.

- why do the taters fear moving the game up? I think we all know the answer.

- I have a new fight song for wimpson and the entire ACC for that matter. It's from Tiny Tim and the title fits your program like a glove "Tip Toe Through The Tulips". Now please go back to the bathroom because that's where your best thoughts come out. I'm waiting for the answer to the fairyland loss. Then I'll listen to you. GO GAMECOCKS!!! ROCK!

- You guys shadow box all season while we fight Ali for 11 rounds. Then you come in the ring for your match with us. That's what it's like. No excuse,just saying.

- Itwould give us a fair shot at the Tigers; as it is now, they play an ACCschedule that is arguably softer on the W/L's column, but moreso on theirinjuries. We enter the game afetr a grueling SEC schedule. If if is a test of the true in-state rivalry, then let's Tee it up on a level field on the first game.

*Special thanks to Ron Morris for making all of this possible today

Another Man Done Gone

2009-11-19T20:42:00.004-05:00

Greetings MOAG fans and Gamecock losers who read this blog because you can't help yourselves. Y'all probably remember my blog from October 15 of last year, when I wrote about the psychological grip - mind of a gamecock - all Gamecocks come under sooner or later. The subject that day was Steve Spurrier, and my blog proved that even coaches weren't immune to this horrible wonderful disease. Well, today another of the top cocks accepted his fate. He goes by the name of Ellis Johnson, and here's what he had to say about the Clemson game today:

"When Carolina was in the ACC, the game typically affected the championship or the conference standings." "Then, when they became an independent, the Clemson game was a red letter day. Now that Carolina is in the SEC, it's a great environment every week. We have a bunch of big-time games every year at Williams-Brice Stadium or on the road. So we have to bring this game into focus and tell these kids that it's a big game for our university and our people and it needs to be a big game for you."

Now that you've finished laughing at the first part of that statement, let me translate the rest for you: "Since we have a bye week I'd like to get my excuse out there early. That way, by the time the last second ticks off the clock in 9 days, the few remaining gamecock fans left in the stadium will have heard it so many times they believe it as fact." Sure thing, Ellis. That's why, minutes after losing to Florida last weekend, your players were in the locker room talking about their "second season." Because they don't understand the importance of this game. As pathetic as it is that you expect anyone (other than every gamecock fan in America) to buy that tripe, it isn't nearly as pathetic as your shameless attempt to devalue the rivalry because your team can't keep up. But I'm getting ahead of myself. You had more to say:

"It's just different here." "When you play Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida and all those guys and every time you go into a stadium there's 70,000 to 90,000 people, it's hard to make it a red letter day," Johnson said. "It's a game like we play every weekend. Our kids are in those tough environments every weekend in this conference."

Ellis, shut the #@&% up. I mean that in the nicest way possible. I'm not being rude or condescending; I'm trying to help you avoid making a spectacle of yourself in the future. If your guys don't get up for this game, it isn't because they've already played big games. It's because they know they are going to lose every time they step on the field with Clemson. You've been a part of this rivalry for a long time. It isn't any different now than it was 20, 40, or 60 years ago. To borrow a timeless line from Caddyshack 2's Jackie Mason - We win, you lose! That's how it's always been, and that's how it always will be. So one day, when the SEC finally decides it needs a new whipping boy and y'all go maverick again, you can look back on this day with deep shame, knowing you got served by The Blawg. I'm sure whatever failed gamecock coaching staff in place then will have a new set of ready-made excuses for why they've lost 10 of the last 12 to Clemson. If not, well, it is Green Week, so maybe they can recycle this one if it isn't in the garbage where it belongs.

Now for some MOAG, but before I get to it let me say a quick word. This is Clemson week MOAG, which I consider a treat for my readers. Sure they say stupid stuff about Clemson all year long, but this week they really kick it up a notch. Mere delusion becomes sheer hysteria, and everyone benefits. Enjoy:

- I believe this will be the best defense that the Tigers have faced all year. I believe that Clemson will win big Saturday against a hopeless Virgina team and then the Cock beat them the following week and then you will hear the excuses. USC wanted it more, they were thinking about Tampa etc, etc, etc.

- Funny how every experience I have with Clemson people is about as classless as "Lloyd and Harry" you showed me.Seriously, do they beat class out of kids in the upstate??? I just can't figure out how a whole group of people can lack so much.

- In this rival game, throw out the records and the best team does not always win. Anything can happen as history has proven!

- Clemson will have the better overall record the vast majority of the time due to their schedule. It boils down to we need to start playing our best game of the year like Clemson does. That would lead to different results.

- they would have won 5 games with our schedule, they probably would lose to either kentucky or ole miss maybe even both

- I say Vegas will still have us as a point or two favorite....

- I think by game time, Vegas will realize thet 5.5 is way too high... Line will be down to 2 or 3 tops.. Cocks win though 35-28

- We will be favored in this game by a few points by the time game time rolls around!! Whatever the line is to start with people around the country are going to put thier money on the SEC TEAM and we will have to give more points.

- Join "BEAT CLEMSON" cause on Facebook!!! I created the cause titled "BEAT CLEMSON" on Facebook. Hope it spreads like wildfire! The link is below.
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/401197/40330489

Yes, I included the link. That's all for tonight.

4 Out of 5 Ain't Bad, Plus a Bonus

2009-11-10T22:01:00.005-05:00

Before I get to blogging today, I need to pass on a couple of administrative notes:

1. I'm a family man now, and even though she doesn't possess the ability, I won't be publishing comments that I wouldn't want my daughter to read.

2. I won't publish comments left anonymously. Now onto the good stuff.

I will be the first to admit that I was not thrilled with the idea of Assistant Coach Swinney becoming Head Coach Swinney, and 5 games into the season, I felt like my reservations were justified. But Coach Swinney appears well on his way to shutting me, and a lot of others (Philip), up. Nine games into the season, four of the five major team goals are still alive. That's winning the Atlantic division, winning the ACC, winning a BCS bowl game, and winning the Heisman Trophy for CJ Spiller. I consider that last one a team goal, because, despite Spiller's individual talents, no player can win it without the support of his teammates on the field. That's pretty dang good for a 39 year old with very little coaching experience. Not only has Coach Swinney changed the mindset of the players, but he has changed the mindset of the fans as well. We believe that Coach Swinney can lead us back to our glory days. This morning (11-11-09), right here, I am proud to announce that, for the first time, I am 100% All In.

I'm not sitting here saying that Clemson will achieve all, or even most, of the afore-mentioned goals, but I am saying that the team and the fans finally believe that Clemson can achieve all those goals. Yes We Can! And, unlike our fowl friends down the road, it isn't gonna be next year. Speaking of those guys........Rejoice!! Clemson fans, we just got some more good news last night. Steve Spurrier announced that he planned to stay in Columbia for at least 3-4 more years. If you've been paying attention, that news should excite you.

Now MOAG.

On Switching Conferences:

- If we swapped schedules right now, Clemson would go 6-6, or 7-5, Carolina would go 7-5 or 8-4, and Carolina would beat Clemson 75% of the time. In other words, they would swap places. If Clemson fans, who follow a perennial 8-4 team in the ACC, dont think they would start losing to Carolina if they played Bama, Arkansas, Florida and Tennessee, and we played Wake, NC State and Virginia leading up to our game, then you are in total denial.

- The reality is, you would be limping into your rivalry game just as we do every year, because we are similar programs and you play cupcakes for 4 weeks prior and we play some of the best teams in the country. And you usually win.

- Clemson would fare no better in the SEC than USC, and there's a good chance they'd fare worse...

- usc wouldnt have any trouble with florida"no defense" state and most of the others with clemsons schedule we would go 10-2 or 9-3

- How many CU victories over SC SHOULD be attributed to a demoralizing defeat at the hands of UF the game prior?

The Florida Game:

- SC beats UF on Saturday...............watch and see. SOS knows how to beat these guys.

- I predicted this about two weeks ago...I'm sticking by my prediction.

- WE CAN BEAT THE GATORS! I am starting to get excited about the game. We can make history with this win and IT IS POSSIBLE. If everyone would get behind this team and get fired up it would motivate the players. We have talent! We are capable of playing good football. Who is in???? GOOO GAMECOCKS!!

- with the refs it's going to be nearly impossible.

- I have been predicting the Gamecocks will beat UF this week all season, I think they will overlook our boys and I also think the crowd will be a big difference. I do not see UF's offense being as strong as it was last year and I have a strong feeling the Gamecock D will be up to the challenge!

- Not many of you give our guys a chance this weekend, and some of you think the Clemson game is more important anyway...I may be one of only a very few that is very optimistic about this weekend.

On Spurrier's Future:

- Spurrier ain't going no where but to atlanta in the next year or 2.then he will keep going back a few times before he retires for good.

- Even if Clemsux were to win again, they dont want to seeDarth Visor on our sidelines for 2,3,4 or even 5 more years.

On SEC/ACC Power Poll:

- why the HELL are we behind so many acc teams clemson is probably their best team and we gunna kick their butt in two weeks

- BS we are supposed to believe that out of the 24 teams in the SEC and the ACC that we are only better than 11 programs,what a joke.

On the Bye Week Before Clemson (which they begged for 5 years ago):

- I think the bye wek hurts us right before the Clemson game. While Clemson is focusing on there next opponent, we are already preparing for the Taters. We may be to ready to play this game and emotion last for maybe 4or 5 plays and them reality sets in. That may not be the case but for some reason, Clemson always comes out, plays harder, hits harder and has a better game plan.

The Old, Old, Old Ball Coach

2009-11-09T12:36:00.003-05:00

I am a dog lover. I always have been. One of my least favorite movies of all time is Old Yeller; however, even at the tender age of 7 I understood why dude had to do what he did. The legendary dog had become a liability to his family, and he needed to die before he hurt someone. Well, it's time for the Gamecocks to channel Travis Coates. They need to take their beloved coach out to a field, tie him to a post, and blow his brains out.

In the last 4 games, South Carolina has scored a total of 49 points. They can't run the ball to save their lives (you know it's bad when professional writers are actually trying to suggest that Brian Maddox was a bright spot on Saturday against Arkansas). And it actually seems to be getting worse. The cure for a struggling offense desperately trying to avoid a 6-6 finish is probably not games against Florida and Clemson, both of which play great defense.

The problem for the Gamecocks here is two-fold. They don't want to be known as the school that ran off two coaching legends in succession, but they also can't continue doing what they've been doing under Spurrier and expect to get any better. It's a troubling dilemma (not for me) that is the result of grossly negligent foresight on their part. Rumor has it that A.D. Hyman hired Gary Patterson when he was at TCU, and if anyone is capable of fixing the Gamecocks, it's Patterson. But TCU could easily match, or better, any offer South Carolina made him, and does he really want to kill his career yet? I doubt it.

So it promises to be another long, long off-season, replete with a drastically overrated recruiting class, a fresh group of bad assistant coaches, and delusional fans finally having arrived in "next year."

Here's some classic MOAG:

- USC is a better team than Clemson regardless of how crappy we feel as a fanbase after the last couple of losses. Clemson has Spiller. That's it. Granted USC has no chance of stopping him so maybe they can step on that hurt toe. I'm sorry but Clemson is NOT better than, UT, Ark, UF, Ole Miss, Vandy, or UGA. Great, they beat a horrible Fla St. team and are going to the ACC Championship to represent the best of the worst. USC: 32, Clemson: 10

- why the HELL are we behind so many acc teams clemson is probably their best team and we gunna kick their butt in two weeks

- Spiller is weak. Spiller is a good player dont get me wrong, but he fakes injuries every game to avoid contact. He is running up and down the field... cutting on a dime yet he bounces outside on every play when a cut is not wide open he just runs out.

- we are 5-0 at home this season and have won 5 of our last SEC games at home. We have to defend those accomplishments at Williams Brice this weekend and our players will be named courage, valor, honor to support our wounded warriors. Get fired up and help support this team and their cause against the #1 team in the country!! We have lots to play for and a mountain to climb this Saturday afternoon.

- you can always count on Clemson to play their best game of the year against us. Maybe thats due to their coaches getting them prepared. I would like to at least see us get a few breaks in the contest, instead of the tigers getting all the luck.

- I still cannot believe that the taters were so foolish as to hire a real estate agent as a football coach!!! I know that taters are dumb, but even this was hard to believe!!!This right here tells you the difference in the prestige of the two programs in our state. One program in COLUMBIA is a top-flight, flagship school for the state with high standards that can only be met by HIRING THE VERY BEST.The other program in the cow pasture is a trailer park of a school without even enough prestige ot hire a real football coach! All they could do was to get a real estate guy or an insurance salesman or whatever he is. I'm not sure.There has never been a better tim to be a GAMECOCK!!! COACH SPURRIER has turned this program around AGAINST ALL ODDS in the TOUGHEST CONFERENCE IN AMERICA. In the meanwhile Dabo Dabo Do has been busy loosing to teams like Maryland in the weak A-SHE-SHE with a teamload of convicts and a stadium full of fans with no teeth who work at Waffle HOUSE. LOL!!!!We are living in a GOLDEN AGE of GAMECOCK football. Enjoy it while you can! I sure am!!!GO COCKS!!!

- Not one for moral victories and excuses; but Can anyone tell me WHEN...in the name of all that is good and decent...will we get a schedule reprieve? I mean 11 straight weeks is INCREDIBLY UNFAIR!!! If that was not enough, we are having to play our very best competition when we are nursing the injuries and fatigue of 8-9 straight weeks.

Blog Note

2009-11-04T09:46:00.002-05:00

I'm remembering now one of the big problems I had with the blog last year. All the anonymous comments create confusion amongst the readers. It's a disservice to everyone, so from now on I won't be publishing any anonymous comments. Thanks for your understanding. Iit's going to make for a livelier and more sensible conversation.

Welcome Back, MOAG Fans & Haters

2009-11-03T21:49:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's true. Mind of a Gamecock is back! For some of you, this news is a batman kick to the throat, while for others, it's second only to the joyous news we received last year on October 14. That was the day our long, national nightmare ended, and the dawn of a new era began in Clemson. I'm not going to re-hash those events, because we're all in a better place now, but I do feel that I owe to you, my loyal readers, an explanation of exactly what happened to Mind of a Gamecock. On the surface, it might have seemed like I disappeared at exactly the same time that Clemson was imploding on the football field, but I can assure you that Clemson's downward spiral last year had nothing to do with the MOAG hiatus. What had happened was, this site was becoming too big for me to handle. I was not expecting the kind of instant, overwhelming success Mind of a Gamecock received. I literally could not go anywhere without people asking (actually hounding) me about it. It got to be too much. The same thing happened to Dave Chappelle. When he bailed on his show I called him a quitter, but now I know how he felt. Some people also said some really mean things about me and my family, and it made me very upset.

But that's all in the past now. As I previously, Mind of a Gamecock is back! I realize in writing this that some of you are going to find the timing of my return as suspicious as the timing of my departure, but let me assuage you of those concerns. It is merely a coincidence. It has nothing to do with the fact that Clemson is looking good for their first trip to the ACC Championship Game. It has nothing to do with the fact that the Gamecocks are getting a head start on their yearly November swoon. It was simply a logistical decision. The timing is right for my family and me. Speaking of my family, we welcomed a little girl into the world last March. Speaking of little girls, did anyone catch Chris Culliver's performance on Saturday night against Tennessee? Yes.

So, folks, I welcome every last one of you back to Mind of a Gamecock. The premise of the blog remains the same (got some really good post-Tennessee MOAG coming over the next few days). I'm going to open the forum up to questions. I'm sure y'all have a lot of them. So fire away. Oh yeah, things got a little distasteful last time around in the comments section, so try to conduct yourselves with the maturity that everyone expects from southern college football fans.

MOAG Power 20

2008-10-19T09:13:00.000-04:00

1. Texas
2. Penn St.
3. Alabama
4. Florida
5. Oklahoma
6. USC
7. Oklahoma St.
8. Georgia
9. Texas Tech
10. Ohio St.
11. LSU
12. Utah
13. Georgia Tech
14. TCU
15. Boise St
16. South Florida
17. Tulsa
18. Pittsburgh
19. Boston College
20. Kansas

Jordin Lindsey Still a Paste Eater

2008-10-17T17:23:00.003-04:00

When asked about last year's fake field goal in Baton Rouge, the highly aggresive, stupid, alcoholic Lindsey had this to say:

" It made me feel like they thought they could toy with us and it pissed me
off."

I Have An Announcement

2008-10-16T15:33:00.004-04:00

Folks, this blog has become tedious. It is much harder, and more time consuming, than I had initially thought it would be. With that in mind, I have decided to approach it like I have most of the difficult things I've experienced in my life - I'm quitting. Maybe quitting isn't the right word. Perhaps I should say, I'm not going to blog anymore. But don't panic, I am still going to blog every now and then. Every Sunday I will put out my MOAG Power 20 and the 10 Things I Learned This Weekend pieces that everyone loves so much. I will also try to re-focus the effort back towards what made this blog great, the dumb things that South Carolina fans say. So I want to thank everyone who reads my blog. It's been a great ride, and I know y'all have learned a lot about the game. Thanks, and remember to check back every now and then for some funny stuff. I will leave you with one last prediction: Clemson 29, GT 28

A Reason To Cheer

2008-10-16T15:25:00.002-04:00

Folks, the day Clemson fans have waited for has finally come. Saturday should be fun?

Tigers & Gamecocks Stand Together

2008-10-15T21:13:00.003-04:00

Folks, it's been a tumultuous decade. We have seen a lot of empty promises go unfulfilled, a lot of rhetoric go unchecked, and a lot of potential go down the drain. Year after year we have hoped with bated breath that "this will finally be the year things turn around," and year after year we have been disappointed. We had the chance to do the right thing back in 2003, but we flinched. We allowed our leader to take us down a disastrous path that ruined many, many lives. But even after he screwed things up, we gave him another chance. And look where it's gotten us. However, a change is upon us. The day we have all waited for has arrived. So I implore you, Tigers & Gamecocks fans, be happy. There is an electricity and excitement in the air that we haven't felt in a long, long time. We have a reason to be hopeful. George W. Bush is on his way out, and Barack Obama is going to take this program to a whole new level.

Weekend Winners

2008-10-10T21:26:00.000-04:00

Illinois -12 Minnesota
Arkansas +18.5 Auburn
Penn St. -6 Wisco
SCAR/Kent. under 38.5
Georgia -12.5 Tenn
LSU +6 Florida
Tulsa -24.5 SMU
Ark. St./ULM over 54
Indiana +5 Iowa
Oklahoma -6.5 texas
Temple +7.5 CMU
Washington St. +30 Oregon St.
Texas Tech -20.5 Nebraska
Colorado +14 Kansas

Clemson vs. Wake Forest

2008-10-09T16:20:00.002-04:00

Folks, I can't remember a time when I was less sure of what to expect from a Clemson football game. On paper, Clemson should run away with this one like they did last year. But the games aren't played on paper, otherwise we would never have lost to South Carolina. Neither team is playing particularly well right now, and both desperately need a win to stay in control of their respective destinies. I really don't even feel like getting into potential match up issues, because there are so many it would take too long to break down. Plus Clemson coaches make it a point not to key on potential mismatches. They'd rather let their massive egos and shitty schemes makes the players look bad. Wake has the home field advantage and a vastly superior coaching staff. But Clemson has vastly superior talent. There are 5 key issues to focus on in tonight's game:

1. Clemson must run well for TWO full halves. Keeping Wake off the field, while at the same time not letting their opportunistic defense create turnovers, will give Clemson the best shot to win this game. Wake is weak against the run, but look for them to stack the box. Clemson's OL should be better than it has been since opening day with the return of Chris Hairston.

2. Get to Riley Skinner. Last year we showed what can happen when you get to Skinner early and often. We rattled him completely out of his game. Unfortunately, our pass rush this year has resembled a French retreat more than the German blitzkrieg we all long to see. If Skinner gets enough time to find an open man tonight, he will. Clemson must chase him around and knock him down.

3. The absence of Sam Swank. Rarely would it matter if a team's kicker was out of the lineup, but Swank is one of the best in America. Wake may end up having to leave some points on the field without their AA foot-man. And it could also have an impact on the field position battle.

4. If it rains real hard tonight, Clemson could have a decided advantage in this one.

5. Spence v. Grobe. The game against Wake Forest last year is the best game Clemson has played since the start of the 2007 season. It was an outstanding performance by everyone involved, most notably, Rob Spence. He had WF confused and off-balance from the opening kick. DO NOT expect to see that again tonight. Spence is scared of his shadow right now, as well he should be. I think his job, and not necessarily Bowden's, is on the line tonight.

The good news for Clemson is that Wake's offense, at least up to this point, is very one-dimensional. That won't give Coach Vic too much to think about, and he can focus on not finding someone, anyone, else to blame.

Clemson 37, Wake Forest 13

Don't Nobody Give a Damn Shit

2008-10-08T13:59:00.005-04:00

Folks, the pinnacle of football season has finally arrived. Fresh off a lucky victory over Ole Miss last weekend, all abandoned hope has been restored in Stinktown, USA. Chris Smelley has finally figured it out.....again. Spurrier is a genius.......again. We're gonna win the SEC East......again. Why not us.....again? Fuck all that. To those who love watching the gamecocks crash and burn, early to mid-October is always full of giggles. This year promises to be no different.

The Gamecocks have never won back to back SEC road games. That is a fact. So sure am I of this fact that I didn't even have to look it up. Hell, it might not even be a fact. But it is. You see what I'm getting at here? Look for that trend to continue this weekend as the gamecocks head up to Lexington for a match up that pits the former #1 defense in the country(joke) against the current #1 defense in the country(no joke). Okay I looked it up, and the gamecocks have won back to back road games on more than one occasion, but that still doesn't matter. My claim is just as true now as it was before, or at the very least it should be. That's how bad of a program South Carolina is. This year's collapse won't be as epic as last year's, but it will leave us giggle-happy gigglers happy.

It isn't so much the collective team bed-shitting that we enjoy, it's the mania that permeates the fan base as it is happening. Right now, their fans are on Cloud 9. Who wouldn't be with a 4-2 record and 1 vote in the Coaches Poll? But the wheels are loose, folks. Lose to Kentucky this weekend, and they will fall off the wagon faster than Blake Mitchell at Pavlov's.

Even Gamecock fans, with their stunted analytical skills and transitory memories, have lingering nightmares of a year ago. But don't think for a second that they don't expect a totally different result this year. If they didn't, they wouldn't be gamecock fans. Mind of a Gamecock, as we told you when we first started this blog, is debilitating and permanent. So strap in and get ready for another fun ride, filled with giggles and various other sorts of laughter. Souls without hope take comfort, because there is about to be a surplus of it in Columbia, just ripe for the taking.

Now, let's take some MOAG.

On Kentucky and Kentucky fans:

- Defensive game, with no mistakes on offense we should win going away in the 4th Qtr.Carolina 24 Kan-tucky 14

- Smelley has a career day and SC pulls away late in the 3rd to seal the deal.USC - 35KY - 17

- I really dont think this will be close at all. Our offense has found its rhythm just in time for the Wildcats.

- USC 34--UK 17

- Carolina 33, Kensucky 10

- Cocks pound the kitties 35-14

- GCs are definitely capable of scoring 33 pts and should win by at least two tds.

- I like our chances. We are better than last year, and there's NO WAY KY can make a decent argument to assert it has improved. I see a 34-13 type of score, Cocks winning, of course.

- UK's pass defense is not excellent and ours is. UK has been trying to pass a lot with Hartline and that plays right into our hands as our secondary is top notch. They haven't seemed that effective running the ball either. The strengths of both teams are the defenses, but if we catch the fire we had against Ole Miss, this one really could be a "catch up" game for UK and I don't think they are built for that.

- We now have several big play receivers and the line is progressing. Look for USC to lay the wood to Ky to the tune of 38 to 14.

*editor's note: after several of these prediction posts, a Kentucky fan chimed in to remind the gamecocks that Kentucky had a pretty good defense(39 points surrendered in 5 games this year), and that it would likely be a low scoring affair. He predicted a 14-10 victory for UK, which prompted this response:

- Yeah dream on brother...Hold us to 10 points???!!:lol

- There fans football IQ looks to be very low and I hope we beat them so bad

- they have absolutely no clue about football or how average their team really is. they are good, however, at thumping their chests about back to back music city bowls

- I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY FANS SO OVERCONFIDENT

*editor's note: I needed a towel to dry up all the irony that came dripping off of that one. For this next one, I needed about 50.

- Look, Kentucky may beat USC on Saturday, but I have never seen so much smack by a group of fans who have lost 8 straight times to someone. USC HAS OWNED KENTUCKY IN FOOTBALL FOR 8 YEARS NOW. Until you win you really should just STFU.

On LSU:

- Bunch of thug players... a disgrace to the SEC...

- the coaches , the players ,the fans , TRASH.

On South Carolina:

- Do we or do we not have the hardest hitting defense in the SEC? Huh? Love it how our defense pops 'em 'til they drop.

- It's great to watch the opposing backs and WRs get by the line of scrimmage and the next thing you know they are getting crushed or took out by the GC Hit squad. Priceless.

- It's like watching a storm gathering. Let me give you some stats: 1. One of the top defenses in the country 2. #1 in the SEC in third down conversions 3. A few damn good recruiting classes 4. Spurrier...he just keeps passing it down field...and we have gotten tired of watching it...we have wondered why. We wondered when we would see results. Well...Can you see it? Did you see it Saturday?It's coming. They are coming. The University of South Carolina Gamecocks!

- I'm with you, my friend.While watching us chuck the ball on Ole Miss Saturday, with our RS sophomore QB and the fine stable of young WRs that Coach has brought in, all of a sudden i inexplicably had a flashback to those offensive days of Lou.

- The Gamecock offense is on-track and it's definitely opened up.

- It sucks for Kentucky that they are the first game after Spurrier gets it rolling.Too bad for uk but its gotta be somebody.Dont get too downhearted on the cats after the blowout loss because its just the beginning of the Spurrier run.Nothing personal just BAD TIMING ............Cocks RULE!

- We have a great defense...better than Alabama's and better than yours[kentucky] arguably. Our starting QB is Chris Smelley! He was the SEC offensive player of the week with over 320 yds. passing and 3 TD's!!

- Is Chris Smelley the best quarterbak in the SEC? His completion rate of 63.1 percent leads all SEC quarterbacks who've attempted at least 100 passes this season.

- We finally have a Steve Spurrier offense lead by a Steve Spurrier quarterback! The rest of the SEC is on notice.

- Here's why we will beat the gators this year.Kudos (sp?)to Coach Ellis Johnson for the halftime adjustments he made in using a 3 man front against the rebels. The positive swing in time of possession in favor of our gamecocks was dramatic, indeed. The most important tool to be utilized against the gators, in my humble opinion, is keeping Tebow off the field, period. Call me crazy, but I actually think we can win out from here. Our season has just gotten decidedly more interesting. Anyway, I really do think we can beat those gators and win out the rest of the way.

- Absolutely,I think our time has arrived..............GO COCKS

- Even though we have lost some heart breakers over several seasons, the excitement to our program is building. The fans should begin to realize that we can now play with anybody and can beat anyone on our schedule.

- I think Smelley's stats will improve if we continue to wear white jerseys...seems like he saw the receivers a lot better...can we also wear white at home?

On the SEC:

- The fact of the matter is that any SEC team can beat any SEC team any given week this year. The talent levels between the schools are all close, and getting closer.

Upstate Sportman of the Month

2008-10-05T15:37:00.005-04:00

Folks, we all know that football is king around these parts. What we sometimes overlook, in our quest for the perfect season, are the unheralded local sports heroes, heroes that hail from lesser-known sporting arenas. With that in mind, I've decided to start awarding one local sports hero per month the recognition he or she deserves. My winners will come straight from the sports pages of the Greenville News. Without further ado, Mind of a Gamecock readers, I'd like to present you with the winner of the first Upstate Sportsman of the Month Award...........Mr. Reid Sherard.

Late last month Reid killed himself a 400 lb. gator at Lake Moultrie, a mighty feat, of which most of us can only dream. I would like to personally congratulate Mr. Sherard, and, God willing, one day meet him and shake his hand. Everyone give Reid a round of internet applause. Now let's just hope Reid isn't a South Carolina fan. Otherwise, it might be the last win he experiences over a Gator for a long, long time. Congrats, Reid, you earned this.

10 Things I Learned This Weekend

2008-10-05T11:52:00.004-04:00

1. There are things more embarrassing than losing to Maryland at home. Among those things, watching that same Maryland team go on the road the following week and lose 31-0 to a Virginia team that has no business playing college football, yet will probably somehow beat Clemson when our game-winning touchdown gets called back for 2 men on the line of scrimmage. My guess is that we will avoid finishing dead last in the Atlantic Division, but only by virtue of a tie-breaker over NC State. It's a good thing God forgives, because Bowden owes her big time.

2. There is honor in being wrong. Earlier this week, a stupid person, presumably a South Carolina fan, asked me if I still thought the gamecocks would go 3-9. I was given a chance to retract my prediction. I stuck to my guns; however, I did admit there was a chance they could pick up a 4th win after seeing how average the SEC was this year. I thought that possible 4th win might come against Arkansas. I was wrong. It came against Ole Miss. So my prediction won't come true. Hey, you can't always be right. Looks like 4-8 for the gamecocks this year.

3. Texas is better than I thought they were going to be this year. I had them pegged for 7-5 and a trip to the Alamo Bowl. It would have been unusual to see Texas finish the season with 5 losses, but not surprising. Even so, Texas has unequivocally fought their way back into Holiday Bowl contention, and I have to eat some crow on that one. Looks like it's up to Oklahoma, again, to be the first team to put Texas in their place.

4. The SEC is not a great conference this year. It is merely good on its best day. I want everyone to pay really close attention to the way SEC fan trumpets Vanderbilt going forward. Wait for, and bask in, the inane hypocrisy that will spew forth from his cake hole. When Wake Forest did it, it was a product of a bad ACC, but now that Vandy is doing it, it just shows to cromulent & amazing the SEC is.

5. The Heisman Trophy winner will come from the Big 12, and barring injury, it will be either Chase Daniel or Sam Bradford. I would give the nod to Daniel at this point, but that is no slight on Bradford. Both are superb quarterbacks. Their numbers are very comparable at this point, but my hunch is that Daniel's will stay on this level, while Bradford's might falter a little bit now that OU is getting into the meat of its schedule. I could be wrong, but Daniel is a senior and he's just done this more times than Bradford, who will probably win it next year. One thing is for certain though, the quarterback play in the Big 12 is beyond ridiculous. When Colt McCoy is the 6th best QB in the league, you're into something good.

6. Friday the 13th Part 8 might be the best of the entire series. It's tough to beat Part 5, but at the very least, 8 is the most underrated. Sure, it takes us away from the traditional Camp Crystal Lake setting, but sometimes change is good. Up until this installment, Jason was just a mindless, soulless, jerk. But on the streets of Manhattan, our antagonist becomes self-aware. We see an aggressiveness heretofore unknown. We see a man adapting quickly to his surroundings. We see exactly what can happen when you apply yourself. And we even see the slight makings of a sense of humor. John might tell you I'm crazy for thinking this, but I'm sticking to my guns on this one.

7. The national championship race is gearing up to be one of the most exciting in recent memory. Right now I think there 6 teams with a legitimate chance to make it to the title game. Those Tier 1 teams are: Oklahoma, Alabama, Penn St., Missouri, LSU, and USC. Of those 6 teams, I think Penn St and USC have the easiest path. OU and Mizzou will likely play for the Big 12 title, and the loser will be out. The loser of the Bama/LSU game is likely out as well. Penn St. has one tough game left against Ohio State, and USC is the only team capable of beating USC the rest of this season. The one team I feel most confident about is Oklahoma, despite the tougher schedule. Later on I will do a more in-depth breakdown of Tier 1, as well as Tier 2 and Tier 3.

8. The Big East, are you listening Stuart?, is the worst conference in America. For the second straight year, I bought into South Florida and Connecticut, and for the second straight year, I've been had. Don't get me wrong, I think they are decent teams with pretty good players, but they aren't ready for prime time. I still think the PAC-10 is wretched, but not more so than the Big East, or as I like to call them, the Big Least(MOAG original).

9. South Carolina will battle Tennessee for dead last in the SEC East this year, which, ironically, will prompt Coach Spurrier to stick around for at least one more year. His thinking will be, "Okay, it can't get any worse, let's give this thing one more shot." Of course, after all of his best defensive players leave at the end of this season, Spurrier will find out in that it can indeed get worse. 1-11 for South Carolina in 2009, mark it down.

10. Georgia Tech will finally break the ACC's humbling BCS Bowl losing streak.

MOAG Power 20

2008-10-05T10:40:00.002-04:00

Folks, a lot has changed since the last Power 20. In MOAGland, we only do a poll every 2 weeks. Trying to do one weekly is like pissin in the wind, bettin' on a losing friend, makin' the same mistakes, we swear we'll never make again.

1. Oklahoma
2. Alabama
3. Penn State
4. Missouri
5. LSU
6. USC
7. Texas Tech
8. Texas
9. BYU
10. Georgia
11. Florida
12. Utah
13. Ohio State
14. Kansas
15. Virginia Tech
16. Georgia Tech
17. Vanderbilt
18. Illinois
19. North Carolina
20. Oklahoma State

As you can see, as I've stated for quite some time against even the most strenuous SECer objections, the Big 12 is clearly the dominant conference on the college football landscape this year. The SEC comes in a distant second, but that is somewhat by default, since all the other conferences suck nuts.

State of the Blog

2008-10-03T15:40:00.003-04:00

Sorry once again folks, my internet has been crappin out on me all week. I've been in a remote location, abroad, since Tuesday, and they just don't get service here like we do stateside. I'll be back from my family's resort early Saturday morning, and blog content will resume better than ever. Thanks for your patience.

10 Things I Learned This Weekend

2008-09-28T20:54:00.002-04:00

Evenin, folks! Sorry for the delay. I just got back down from a lovely weekend in the mountains, which I surprisingly enjoyed. Even being away from the hustle and bustle of big city life, I was able to catch a full slate of games on Saturday, and some things became very apparent to me as I watched

1. Clemson has the worst coaching staff in America. There's just no way to sugar coat it. I'm not going to sit here and list every mistake they made yesterday, b/c those of you who care probably watched the game and saw what I saw. But suffice it to say, it is time for a change in Clemson. The definition of insanity is trying the same thing and expecting different results. Folks, the Clemson administration is completely fucking bonkers, which brings me to this. Allow me to introduce my brand new blog: http://firectb.blogspot.com/

2. We have apparently hit some sort of rawesome football timewarp, because the top teams in America are Oklahoma, Alabama, and Penn State. Yes, I know OU has been up there this whole decade, but it appears that Penn St. and Bama are ready to join them and launch us, via football, back to that glorious period, 1975-1985, when mohawks ruled the scene and cocaine was king. Don't be surprised if any or all of these 3 teams win the national title this year.

3. The quarterback situation in Columbia is so bad, that Tommy Beecher actually got a chance to play again. Thank goodness we can always count on our little retarded brother to be worse than we are.

4. The Big 12 continues to put distance between itself and all comers for the honor of best conference in America. Call me crazy, but it seems like the SEC is actually trying to look bad. Maybe they just finally got so sick of all the fluff. SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC!

5. Cullen Harper has played himself out of the Heisman Race.

6. The ACC might not be as bad as everyone keeps saying. VT and FSU both put convincing wins on decent Big 12 teams. I can't really explain Wake's debacle against Navy though. Maybe they were looking ahead to next week's matchup with ((((((((((((((mighty)))))))))))))) Clemson.

7. Clemson will only win 3 more games this year. South Carolina won't win 1 more.

8. The Big 10 is worse than I gave it credit for.

9. Mark Richt, you have always kept your mouth closed for a reason. Perhaps this weekend reminded you of why that was a good idea. On ESPN's College Gameday, Chris Fowler asked Richt if he was prepared to deal with an Alabama team that "punched Clemson in the mouth." Richt answered simply and smugly, "We are not Clemson." It's a good thing Saban took his foot off the gas, Mark, or you might have had to amend that statement to, "We are not as good as Clemson."

10. Alabama is just so god damn awesome.

Friday 5

2008-09-26T16:57:00.001-04:00

*South Florida -8.5 NC State
Duke -6.5 Virginia
Ole Miss +23 Florida
Houston +10.5 East Carolina
Minnesota +17.5 Ohio St.

We're Having a Baby

2008-09-26T16:52:00.003-04:00

Good news, folks. My wife is expecting. It is our first child, and we are very excited! She's about 10 weeks along now. I felt like y'all deserved to know, and I knew you'll would want to share this time in our lives with us.

What Happened After The Alabama Game

2008-09-25T23:01:00.002-04:00

Folks, as you know, I took what may have been perceived by some as an inexcusable hiatus after the loss to Alabama. I took a lot of heat for it at the time, much of which I felt was undeserved. I promised you an explanation, and I feel like you deserve one. Well, what had happened was, I was really, really, really, very upset by the outcome of the game, like super pissed, and I didn't feel like posting or dealing with any of you. So, there you have it. I'm sure some of you probably wish you could take back some of the stuff you said, but I'm a forgiving person. So thank you for continuing to support Mind of a Gamecock.

Mind of a Gamecock

2008-09-25T12:17:00.001-04:00

The following is a post from a diehard South Carolina fan that I thought you would enjoy:

Word of Warning........I was looking for 6 USC/Ga tickets on the board a
month ago and got an email from a guy named Joseph Shirey from North Augusta,
who said he had 2 tickets in lower level for $300. I paid through Paypal
promptly and he came back and said he found 4 more from a friend that were in
section 2 for $550. Again I paid promptly. I waited and waited and no tickets. 2
weeks before the game came and he told me he mailed them out. The week of the
game comes and no tickets. He tells me he will look into it. He said he did not
send them with any tracking info. He calls me back and said his neighbor took
them out of his mailbox and sold them at school for $25 ea. He did refund the
money. Hard story to believe but it gets better. He tells me he has gotten the 4
LSU and 4 Tenn tickets in Sect 2 if I wanted them. I paid over face for these as
well. I paid for them on 09/07/08. I spoke to him on a every other day basis and
he still had not mailed them out as of 09/22/08. He said he had not had time but
promised me he would. I would text him everyday asking for a tracking number and
got the same response, will have it tomorrow. Well finally he tells me he is
going to the Post Office on the 23rd and actually did send me a tracking number.
Well the tracking number never worked on USPS.com. A package did arrive today
though. I open it up and there sits a Blackberry Phone. I call him and he said
that was suppose to go to a guy in Texas who won it off Ebay. I asked for his
Ebay ID and got nothing but excuses. He would not give me his ID. So the jist of
the whole story is I sent this JOSEPH SHIREY a total of $1330 and still yet to
have seen any tickets. I also missed the Ga game because I could not find 6 more
in time. Keep this guys name in mind if you are ever looking for tickets. Do not
buy from Joseph Shirey from North Augusta.

Best of the Best

2008-09-22T21:06:00.003-04:00

Folks, I'm going to give you a break from my insight tonight (<--rhyme), and just inundate you with the best MOAG since the Wofford debacle.

On the coaching situation:

- HIRE PHIL PETTY.......Okay here it is our last two hires have old washed up coaches that we have had to pay alot of money to .These two guys knew very little about the Gamecocks before we hired them.So, lets go the other way and hire a former player who loves the Gamecocks would walk here from East Carolina.And would have postive emotions,and love the Gamecocks.so,WHAT HE HAS NEVER BEEN A HEAD COACH the latter has not worked at all.

On the UAB game:

- UAB's defense is VERY bad. Our offense is pretty decent. We should be able to cover that spread[-25] pretty easily.

On solutions for the offense:

- we should run the triple optin with garcia...seriously... why not!?! the option destroyed the patriots yesterday.

On how they stack up:

- i never thought i would see the day when Wake Forest has a better football team than we do. (editor's note: Apparently this guy has been asleep since 2003)

- There is zero chance that Wake is better than South Carolina. South Carolina is in the SEC. Wake is only an ACC team.

- You don't know that Wake Forest are better than us. I am pretty sure we haven't played them.

On A.J. Green:

- Hope he likes GA. He won't be welcomed back in this state again. Traitor seems to fit like a glove.

- If we had AJ Green he'd be on the bench for the next 2 years

- If you are not a gamecock then you are not worthy of the bottom of my shoe.Kid chose Georgia, good for him...... hope he friggen sucks for 4 years.

On bright spots:

- We are actually #1 in first downs and Smelley is the #3 QB in the SEC.

- We should be 4-0 right now. ( <---yep)

- It's almost sickening the way you guys groan around here. Our offense is first in the sec in first downs, it's third in the sec in passing, fifth in red zone scoring. MORE FIRST DOWNS than ANYONE in the sec.

- losing to Vandy two years in a row is unacceptable? So even if Vandy does great this year, it's still unacceptable? Stop living in the past, Vandy's an alright team this year.

- I tried to make the point last night that after watching numerous games yesterday, there is a lot of bad football out there...not just us!

On the rest of the season:

- some of you guys are acting like amateurs. I mean, this is Gamecock football, and anyone who has been a fan for a while, say a decade, would know it is way too early to throw in the towel.

- I agree. Its far from over around here. Spurrier can get this offense turned around. When he does, look out, we will have a great season.

- My prediciton for the season: Team turns it around and gets 7 regular season wins with a bowl win making 8... we go into next year experienced and we don't look back.

- There's not a game left on our schedule that we will not be in come the 4th quarter

- anybody else see our only other losses being LSU and FL?

- Our defense will give us a chance to win every game we play. Our offense who leads the SEC in first downs has to stop turning the ball over and score in key situations. Im sticking with my 10 win prediction. Remember ohio st in 02? They had a great defense won every game close even against sorry teams a win is a win and a really good defense can get you wins.

- If we win the T/O battle we beat: Ole Miss, Ky, Tn and Arky. We should also beat UAB this Sat which would be seven W's. I also like our chances (provided we win the T/O battle) against LSU at W-B and at clemtech.

10 Things I Learned This Weekend

2008-09-21T13:41:00.004-04:00

1. Clemson is better than Arkansas. And it's time for Willy Korn to get some serious minutes. I'm not calling for a complete benching of Harper, but he clearly isn't the same quarterback he was last year. He threw 2 terrible picks yesterday, and probably should have thrown 2 more. He can't throw downfield. He telegraphs his passes. He has ZERO pocket presence. He looks injured. He makes excuses and points to his statistics against terrible opponents when asked about his performance. Frankly, he looked downright bad against the worst team on our schedule(outside of South Carolina). I don't believe he is capable of leading this team to a division, or conference, title. I couldn't glean anything from this game in the positive sense. It was a 1-AA team. Clemson gets its first chance to prove something, anything, next Saturday against Maryland.

2. South Carolina's offense may be the worst in all of 1-A football. It is somewhat understandable to struggle against the Wofford option attack, but it is utterly unfathomable to only put up 16 real points(most coming from field goals), and to have to go for it on 4th down in your own territory to win the game. Look for Garcia real soon next week against UAB. Look for Spurrier to quit real soon at the end of the year. I stand by my prediction of 3-9 on the season.

3. Les Miles has a pair of 8 ton testicles. I keep waiting for one of his coaching moves to bite him in the hat, but it just never happens. In a way it's frustrating, b/c you know he shouldn't be getting away with all this stuff, but he just continues to prove me wrong. Hats off(just kidding, Les) to his enourmous nuts.

4. When Wake Forest vaulted into the top 25 and challenged for the ACC two years ago, it was because the ACC was incredibly weak. Now that Vanderbilt is doing the same thing 2 years later, it's because the SEC is sooooooooooooooo awesome. SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC!

5. SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC!

6. The Pac-10 is the worst BCS conference in America.

7. The Big 12 is the best.

8. That impending sense of doom that all ACC defensive coordinators are feeling? That's just Paul Johnson and his virtually unstoppable offense..............in its first year. It's time to be afraid. GT might not take the division this year, but IMO, it's only a matter of time before they do it thoroughly and often. If they can continue to get good defensive talent, the Jackets will emerge as a national power over the next decade.

9. Something is terribly wrong in Knoxville. The Vols returned an All-SEC caliber running back behind a superb offensive line, and they just can't move the ball. Worse yet, they seem hellbent on shooting themselves in the foot every chance they get. I'm not a Tennessee fan or a Florida hater, but that game yesterday pissed me off. When will enough of Fulmer be enough?

10. Florida St. is not back, and the Noles went out of their way last night to prove it. Their defense will be stout for the remainder of the year, as they get 5 starters back from suspension starting next weekend. But the same offensive problems that have plagued them for the past 4 years are still there. If you are puzzled by the lack of quarterback talent in Columbia, SC, look further south to Tallahassee for a real head scratcher. We're still a couple of years away from seeing anything resembling the old FSU. Now Miami, that's another story altogether.

MOAG Power 20

2008-09-21T00:19:00.003-04:00

1. Southern Cal (2-0)
2. Oklahoma (3-0)
4. Georgia (4-0)
4. Florida (3-0)
5. Missouri (4-0)
6. LSU (3-0)
7. Penn State (4-0)
8. Texas Tech (4-0)
9. Wisconsin (3-0)
10. Alabama (4-0)
11. South Florida (3-0)
12. Kansas (3-1)
13. Texas (3-0)
14. Wake Forest (3-0)
15. BYU (4-0)
16. Auburn (3-1)
17. Ohio State (3-1)
18. Utah (4-0)
19. Georgia Tech (3-1)
20. Vanderbilt (4-0)

On the cusp: Boise State, Clemson, Texas Christian

Live Blog of the Gamecock Loss

2008-09-20T19:35:00.038-04:00

1st Quarter

- Chris Smelley threw a pick on the first play of the game, and may have thrown another one. I'm not sure.

- South Carolina leading after 1Q, 3-0, and that's only because Wofford missed a field goal. This is pretty much exactly what I said would happen. Wofford is running all over them.

2nd Quarter

- Wofford just wasted no time in scoring a touchdown on a big play. 7-3 Terriers. 1-0 MOAG.

- South Carolina just scored a lucky touchdown to go up 10-7. Wofford will score again once they get the ball back.

- A thug gamecock player just punched a Wofford player, personal foul.

- Todd Ellis continues to refer to Wofford as Vanderbilt.....Now he's complaining that the refs aren't calling the game fair......

- Wofford just hit Smelley and forced a fumble. Terrier ball at midfield with about 4:00 to go in the half.

- Gamecocks found a way, somehow, to stop Wofford, and got the ball back with 2:00 to go in the half. 30 yard run called back for a block in the back. They can't get out of their own stupid way.

- Smelley sucks

- Smelley throws another pick to end the first half. Gamecocks 10-7. It's coming.

3rd Quarter

- Wofford takes it to start the 2nd half, promptly marches down the field. 1st down at the gamecock 15.....

- 25 yard field goal for the Terriers, 10-10. Should be 13-10 Wofford. Gamecocks seem to be really building off that great Georgia loss.......

- Todd Ellis calls 'em Vandy again........

- Gamecocks blowing a red zone possession.....AND HERE COME THE BOO BIRDS!!!!.......

- Succop hits a lucky 38 yard field goal, go up 13-10......

- Gamecocks somehow stop Wofford and force the punt.....Tommy Suggs laments on the fact that it's been "several years" since the gamecocks have blocked a punt......

- Smelley almost throws another interception because he sucks......

- Todd Ellis coins a legendary nickname for Eric Baker: E-Bake........

- Gamecocks 1st & Goal at the 2, Wofford stuffs them on 3 straight plays to end the 3rd quarter.....

4th Quarter

- Gamecocks kick a fieldgoal to start the quarter, lead 16-10. Tommy Suggs points out the fact that gamecocks have always played poorly against teams with small defensive lines.......

- Wofford fields the kick to being their game-winning drive......

- Terriers down to the gamecock 34 yard line.......

- Terriers down to the gamecock 16 yard line.......

- Terriers kick a field goal, down 16-13. Should be tied 16-16. Smelley sucks. About 8 minutes to play......

- Gamecocks going for it on 4th down inside their own territory....yeah, that's what I said......they get it......

- Terriers running out of time.....under 4 minutes now.....gamecocks driving.....Maddox runs into his own lineman on 2nd down......Spurrier slams down the play chart......

- Todd Ellis points out the fact that every gamecock possession has gone at least 6 plays, except for the 3 that resulted in turnovers......Now with 3 minutes to go he says it looks like the gamecocks will go to 2-2 on the year

- Touchdown for the gamecocks, looks like Ellis was right.....

- Ellis complains about the officiating again.....

- Tommy Suggs really impressed with the defensive adjustments that South Carolina made at halftime....against Wofford.....

- Well, it looks like the Gamecocks will win the game. This win, coupled with the Goergia loss, pretty much means the sky is the limit from here on out.

Now here's some thoughts from gamecock fans after tonight's big win:

- We'll be fine. Kentucky and Ark are both horrible this year. This is the same team that should have beat GA last week.

- for all your prognosticators who don't think we will beat UK or Ark and have no chance against anyone else on this schedule, I think by November this team will have proved the naysayers on this board wrong. I'm no sunshine pumper but I do believe this team will reach at least 7 wins.

Friday 5

2008-09-19T12:43:00.003-04:00

Okay, deadbeats, here are your 5 winners this week.

Penn State - 29 Temple
Vandy +7 Ole Miss
LSU -2.5 Auburn
Florida -7.5 Tennessee
GT - 8 Miss. St.

Gamecocks Against Wofford

2008-09-18T13:32:00.004-04:00

Folks, I don't know how else to say this, so I will just come out and say it. South Carolina is going to lose to Wofford this Saturday. This won't be like the Vanderbilt game though. It will be an upset. South Carolina fans will shake their fists in frustration. The world will laugh. Now before you brush this prediction off with impunity, allow me to explain how and why it will happen:

1. Wofford has the top rushing offense in all of college football. They run a highly disciplined, option attack that has netted them an avg. of 400 yards/game so far this year. Defending them is next to impossible, and South Carolina certainly doesn't have the horses to do it. Expect to see gamecock defenders over-pursuing all day, while the Terriers patiently wait for running lanes to open up as a result. The Terriers also return a big, veteran offensive line off of last year's squad that won the Southern Conference. In short, they know what they hell they are doing, and they know how to do it. This all brings me to my next point.

2. South Carolina sucks. They have one of the worst rush defenses in all of college football. This, coupled with the tendency of fast, athletic defenders to constantly find themselves out of position against teams that run the option, will make it a long day for the gamecocks and their faithful. Trying to figure out how to stop this kind of offense in one week is futile. Now throw in the fact that the gamecocks really have nothing to play for anyway, and you've got a recipe for a fun, funny disaster.

3. Mike Ayers is the best football coach in the state. No, that's not a misprint. He is #1. The game has passed Spurrier by. Bowden was never any good to begin with.

4. South Carolina doesn't want to play this game. Wofford does. These guys almost beat South Carolina a couple of years ago, and they are a better team this year than they were back in aught-6. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain, while the exact opposite can be said of the gamecocks.

5. South Carolina is coming off a devastating loss to Georgia. Spirits are down, despite what you may read in the newspaper or hear on the radio.

6. I said it will.

As an added bonus, I have a bonus question just for Gamecock fans. I've heard all year long that this is Spurrier's best team in his 4 years. Do you think this is actually the case? Has it occured to you that maybe this is not the case?

Now let's get back to what makes this site truly one of the greatest websites ever on the internet, mind of a gamecock.

On perception:

- 7-5 record against a top 20 schedule is a lot better than say a 10-2 record against another close conference to us.

On the Wofford game:

- at the end of the game we should have at least 400 yards rushing.

- I think people worried about the Wofford game should go ahead and turn in their fan card for this year.

- It wont even be close. We may have already lost 2 but the vandy game was lost by a fluke punt mishap and a blocked fg. Georgia needed a fumble at the 2 to beat us. This isnt last years team like many of you think. Cocks by 24 in this one and im being kind.

On the remainder of the season(post-UGA):

- I feel better about this team at 1-2 than when we were 6-1 last year.

- I truly believe that we will win 8 games this year.

- I will agree with you as far as feeling better about this 1-2 team vs. last year's 6-1 team. We were barely sneaking by last year. THis year I feel like we are much better suited to play the rest of our schedule.

- We are a good team and we proved it Saturday and we will continue to improve and get better.

- Smelley has found his confidence and I expect great play here on out.

- It starts next Saturday and won't stop until we finish 11-2!!! I love this team and feel we are ready to get this ugly start behind us and move forward. Can't wait until we are 5-2 and end LSU's season, dash Florida's national championship dreams and finally put the nail in Tommy's coffin. This season is just starting, don't give up!!! THIS WILL STILL BE A SPECIAL YEAR!!!!!!!

- I feel exactly the same way.Especially after this game.Its coming together in many ways.(run game excluded).Our D rocks!!!!GO COCKS

- Finishing 11-2 wouldn't surprise me in the least.

- After UGA, I fear no other team we face as long as we play like that.

- We have 9, count 'em, 9 games left. We are just getting started. We have 2 patsies then 2 very winnable conf road games (how many SEC road games did BS win?) then we get a very 1 dimensional LSU team coming to our place. I'm not ready to put limits on this team. Our D keeps working hard and playing well, we will be fine. 8-4 with a Peach Bowl date against UNC or VT...make that 9-4 and top 15 preseason next year. You heard it here first!

On the new "Gamecock Walk:"

- It's ashame out of 80,000+ people we can't get a good showing of at least 2000.

- The reason we had a poor showing at the walk is. most of our fans would rather stay at the tailgate area and drink a beer, rather than show support to the players and coaches. in my opinion the party life style is low class and redneck.

Vic Koenning, We Hardly Knew Ye

2008-09-16T19:40:00.002-04:00

Clemson defensive coordinator, Vic Koenning, has been fired. This move, one of the best Coach Tommy Bowden has made during his tenure at Clemson, comes on the heels of some of the crappiest defense Clemson has ever played.

Folks, this is the headline you should be reading some time around early December. If you follow the Clemson program at all, you may have read that Bowden stopped himself several times yesterday when he started to say something about the defense. When pressed about it today, Bowden said he "couldn't remember" what that was about. Allow me to read between the lines for you. Bowden knows that it's time to get rid of his vastly overrated defensive coordinator. Few teams in the conference, if not the country, possess as much defensive speed and talent as Clemson, but most, if not all, teams play better defense. But these are just facts. Let me get to the real reason Bowden should fire Koenning. He is a grade-A, world class, bag of dicks. Rarely does he open his mouth without making this fact even more painfully obvious than it was just seconds before. Within the last 3 weeks, Koenning has straight-faced accused 2 Alabama freshmen of being involved in recruiting violations. He even made it a point to say he was being serious. Then, today, he actually had the audacity to say he never thought he'd find himself wanting Tramaine Billie and Nick Watkins back. These are two former Clemson players, who busted their asses for 5 years for the Clemson football program. They played through personal tragedy and hardships most of us will never experience. If you polled 1000 Clemson fans tomorrow, I guarantee you 999 would trade Koenning away for Billie and Watkins. I am seriously pissed off right now. Vic Koenning isn't worth the $100 bills I wipe my ass with. I can't wait, CAN'T WAIT, until he is fired at the end of the year. It will be one of the most glorious firings in the history of the world. I will blog about it.

Sniffles For Mr. Stuart

2008-09-16T18:22:00.004-04:00

That's 5 T-Bowls in a row, Mr. Stuart. We're all looking forward to 6.

Clemson vs. NC State Preview

2008-09-12T16:25:00.000-04:00

Later on.....

South Carolina v. Georgia Game Breakdown

2008-09-12T14:14:00.000-04:00

Coming up later.....

Breaking News!

2008-09-11T19:04:00.004-04:00

Earlier today, a brawl broke out between Gamecock football players and unknown "non-athletes." Campus police, those previously intimidated by BOT member Eddie Floyd, are investigating as we speak. It is not known who started the brawl, who was involved, or over what it specifically occured. But, I think it's pretty safe to assume that at least one football player impregnated the sister of another football player and then tried to trade the baby on the black market. For crack. More to come..............................................................................................................................More news coming across my desk. This hasn't been confirmed, but the fight was definitely gang-related. I'm not talking about some No Homers Club either. I'm talkin about real street gangs. Bloods and Crips shit. This leads me to the obvious conclusion that most, if not all, south carolina football players are heavily involved in gang activity. Stay tuned........

What's That Smell, Columbia?

2008-09-09T21:11:00.003-04:00

Folks, I don't have to tell you that things are bad in Columbia. Even the "greatest fans in the world" are jumping ship after last week's loss to Vandybilt. And they're right to do so. If there was ever a team worthy of giving up on, it is the South Carolina Gamecocks. Sure, some of them will tell you "the season isn't over." "We're 1-1, motherfucker." "There's a lot of footbaw left to play." "We can beat Georgia on Saturday." These folks, bless their stupid hearts, are the ones who can't see the big picture. Last week's loss to Vandybilt wasn't just one loss. It was the official beginning of the end that I promised would come this year. But even I didn't realize it would come this soon(actually I did). In order to better understand the severity of the disaster unfolding in Columbia, let's examine the three key factors that have led to this shitbomb.

1. Steve Spurrier & Co. don't know how to evaluate talent: It's year 4 of Project Ruin Great Coach, Take 2, and the team is getting worse. Last year's loss to Vandy was an upset. This year's wasn't. Gamecock fans like to believe they are part of the "new Big 3" in the SEC East, but it is plainly evident that they are gravitating closer to the cellar than they are to the top. Vanderbilt has officially passed South Carolina. Think about that for a minute. The Gamecocks supposedly have all this talent, but every time Spurrier is asked why he won't play the younger guys, his answer is, "They're not ready." Folks, that is coachspeak for "They're not good." The HBC only has himself to blame for this; however, he isn't naive. He is pulling out all the stops on the recruiting trail this year. But it's too little, too late for the coach who used to be good. Good players don't want to play for teams that finish last in their division.

2. Steve Spurrier turned over play-calling duties: It really surprised me when Gamecock fans just casually accepted this revelation earlier this year. Few college coaches have ever demanded, and wanted, to have such total control over the offense. Now all of a sudden he's just giving it up? Up to this point, Jr. has proved to be as adept as a tired monkey when it comes to calling a game. This offense is unrecognizable. What happened to the Spurrier offense that could carve up a defense? What happened to the creative trick plays? What happened? I'll tell you what happened. Spurrier stopped caring. This offense is the most simple, predictable offense I have seen in a long time. And he isn't sand-bagging. It's just that bad.

3. Steve Spurrier is scared of Clemson: And who can blame him? Everyone knows that November 29th is the end of the line. Each passing day brings him a step closer to the shallow grave, reserved for coaching legends, under Williams-Brice Stadium. Don't think that fear isn't permeating through the rest of the team either. This was South Carolina's last chance to turn the corner, and it isn't going to happen. A loss to the Tigers will be the final death knell. But this won't just be any old loss to Clemson. This one will send the gamecock program into a tailspin similar to the one we created back in 1997, only this time the recovery(if you can even call it that) won't happen. This loss to Clemson will bury South Carolina at the bottom of the SEC for decades, maybe even centuries. And it will all be Steve Spurrier's fault. He knows this.

Folks, some of this may sound a bit hyperbolic. But that couldn't be further from the truth. I know what I'm talking about. Nobody knows the gamecock program like me. This is the season I've been waiting on my entire life. I can't believe it's actually, finally here. At the start of the season I predicted the Gamecocks to go 6-6 and finish 4th in the SEC East. I think now would be a good time to re-evaluate that lofty prediction. Game by game, here is how I see the season playing out for the Chickens:

Georgia - loss. It might be close, b/c for whatever reason, it always is. But south carolina simply doesn't have the players to beat Georgia this year.

Wofford - win. It'll be closer than expected, and reality will set in for the players

UAB - win. Again, it'll be closer than it should be. By now reality will have set in for even the most ardent fans

@ Ole Miss - loss. South Carolina hasn't beaten the Rebs since they joined the SEC, and they won't start this year. This one will get ugly.

@ Kentucky - loss. I picked this as a win earlier in the year, but the wheels will have come completely off at this point

LSU - loss. This will be a blowout. South Carolina might score negative points.

Tennessee - loss. I figure this one to be closer than it should be. Spurrier hates Tennessee and he'll pull out all the stops to make one final, last gasp effort, but it won't be enough. Better talent usually wins.

Arkansas - loss. This one should be a win, because Arkansas is comically bad. But they'll have given up by now. They won't even be wondering why they aren't playing well anymore. They just won't care.

@ Florida - loss. This will also be a blowout. Look for Florida to hang a minimum of 50 again.

@ Clemson - loss. This will also be a blowout, similar to the one that sent Holtz packing back in 2004.

That's right, folks. South Carolina will finish the season 3-9(maybe 4-8 with a little luck), and dead last in the SEC East, with zero conference wins. That's what happens when your head coach gets scared and gives up. If you have a different opinion, please share it with Mind of a Gamecock. Thanks for reading. Here's some predictions on the upcoming game:

- I am predicting a gamecock win 24-20

- I'll go w/ my heart.....USC 20 UGA 17

- 21-13 Cocks!

- I predict we block our first punt of the season, capture the momentum, play like the best defense in the SEC and redeem the Vanderbilt loss with a victory in a low scoring game..

- USC 34 UGA 17.

- USC 13 UGA 12

- Mr. Moreno is going to meet MR. BRINKLEY and not be very glad about it afterwards. USC 21 UGA 17

- We are going to win 21-13.

On the Smelley situation:

- Chris Smelley's Stats - Facts Don't Lie QB Rating - 146.628-44 63.6%325 yards, 7.4 yards per attempt4 TD, 2 Ints4 Sacks -23 yards. Good enough for 5th among SEC starters. Right behind Tebow (2 pts.) way ahead of John Parker @ Bama.

- He'll be fine if he settles down a little bit. It did not help that he had a few receivers drop some balls early.

- He'll only get better IMO.

On the Vandy loss:

- the Vandy loss could keep Carolina from claiming the SEC East

- Vandy might be better than we think..They killed a Miami (o) team that hung with Michigan at the Big House. And they were a 4th and 15 away from beating Georgia 2 Straight years.

- They suck. They lost a lot off of a mediocre team last year. I see them getting blown out by UGA and FLA.

MOAG's Weekly 5

2008-09-05T15:58:00.000-04:00

West Virginia -7.5 East Carolina
Florida -22.5 Miami
Georgia -24 Central Michigan
Georgia Tech +7 Boston College
Oregon St. +15 Penn State

Take it or leave it, folks.

Regarding The Alabama Game

2008-09-05T15:54:00.003-04:00

Folks, I know you were anxious to give me some guff on Monday. Again, I can't stress enough how sorry I am that mitigating circumstances prevented that from happening. For the record, I was an absolute fool last week when I predicted a victory over Alabama. Everything that has been said on this blog is right, and I am wrong. I deserve this. But starting this week, there won't be any more mistakes. I can't foresee an instance in which I will be wrong for the rest of the season. Thanks again for your patience. Stay tuned for MOAG's Weekly Hot Picks coming up. This is free money, folks. Every Friday I'll post the 5 surefire locks of the week.

Return of the Big Cat

2008-09-05T13:37:00.002-04:00

Loyal readers, I want to thank you for continuing to read Mind of a Gamecock in my respite. I know it seems strange me taking a leave of absence right after a devastating loss, only to return to action after a humiliating south carolina loss to Vanderbilt. Well, let me just say, the reason for my disappearing act this week was two-fold:

1) I can't give you this reason. It's of a personal nature and it's none of your business.
2) This reason will be made clear to you in the coming future. It may be 3 months. It may be 1 year. It may be exactly 4 weeks and 2 days. But the truth will be revealed when the time is right. It'll all come out.

Content will resume in full starting next week. I appreciate your patience.

For what it's worth, I predicted South Carolina to lose 24-10 last night.

Clemson vs. Alabama Preview

2008-08-29T13:48:00.002-04:00

Folks, I don't have a lot of time here, as I am literally about to walk out the door and head to Atlanta. So I'm going to make it short and sweet.

Clemson is as good as, or better, than Alabama at every position on the field other than offensive line. They have more experience and talent on each side of the ball. On paper, this game should be a blowout. If it wasn't for the name "Alabama" on the jersey and the coach on the opposite sideline, people would be picking Clemson to run away with this one. Alabama is softer than tits. Since it's the first game of the season, I won't get too carried away with my prediction:

Clemson 41, Alabama 3

When I get back I'll review the game and explain more about this matchup.

Everyone have a great Labor Day weekend. Stay safe, and thanks for reading.

Owner

Gamecock Pride

2008-08-29T13:17:00.003-04:00

Observe this picture of NC State quarterback, Russell Wilson, being carted off the field last night after his injury:

What you are seeing, is a South Carolina fan giving him, not one, but both, birds. It's an all too familiar sight at south carolina football games. There really isn't anything I can say that this picture doesn't adequately portray.

Game Review

2008-08-29T07:05:00.002-04:00

Well folks, I was pretty much spot on with my assessment of last night's game. South Carolina was able to stretch their lead a little more than I expected because of 3 things: 1) Russell Wilson's injury, 2) two gift turnovers from State inside their own 15 yard line that a better team wouldn't have made, and 3) and an appalling lack of depth on the NC State team. There are several things I took away from this game, and I will tell you them:

1) Tommy Beecher sucks even more than even I had predicted. For those gamecock fans holding out hope that he was this year's Cullen Harper, you can officially flush that idea down the toilet. I doubt we'll see much more of that guy this year, at least until Chris Smelley takes himself out again because the other team is too fast.

2) South Carolina is still terrible against the run. They gave up 100+ yards to Andre Brown, who hasn't carried the ball in over a year and was running behind a very depleted, shallow offensive line.

3) South Carolina's offense is a gridiron abortion. Through 3 quarters, against a highly undermanned m.a.s.h. unit, the gamecocks had amassed 161 offensive yards, given up 5 sacks, and turned it over 4 times, scoring only 13 points.

4) The 4th quarter offensive output from South Carolina doesn't mean jack squat. They rolled up a bunch of yards and 3 scores, but State's defense had basically given up at that point. It was obvious to anyone who was watching the game.

5. South Carolina will be lucky to go 6-6 this year. When they start playing fast teams with a lot of depth, they are going to get their head kicked in(starting with Georgia).

6. NC State is in for a long, long, long year. It appeared as if they finally had things rolling when Russell Wilson went down with a head injury(I think they were going to score), but now Tom O'Brien simply has to pick his poison. Imagine trying to sleep at night if you had to decide between Daniel Evans and Harrison Beck. If I were him, I'd pull that redshirt off of Mike Glennon and see what he can do. Clemson will probably beat the wolfpack by at least 3 times the amount that South Carolina did. At least.

7. South Carolina fans are even lamer than I imagined possible. Towards the end of the 4th quarter, there arose from the student section a cheer so lame, that I had to rewind my DVR just to make sure I had heard it right. But there it was, a bunch of South Carolina fans cheering in unison, "SEC! SEC! SEC!"

It feels good being almost completely right in my preview and assessment of this game. Hopefully the wolfpack can get it together. Hopefully the cocks already have an over-inflated sense of greatness. Don't be surprised when Vandy comes out next week and gives them old Jeffrey Dahmer Special. Stay tuned for my Clemson/Alabama preview.

south carolina VS. NC STATE PREVIEW

2008-08-28T11:59:00.002-04:00

Okay, folks, the big day has arrived. You know that old adage, "It's never as good as it seems, and it's never as bad as it seems?" Well I can't think of a more apropos way of describing tonight's match up between the Wolfpack and the gamecocks. As you've seen this week, most gamecock fans are expecting to pummel the Wolfpack tonight, to take them behind the proverbial woodshed. They believe their defense is the best in America. They also believe that NC State has the worst offense in America. Now I know that a lot of you are pretty stupid, especially the Virginia Tech fan, and can't remember as far back as last week, but what we've seen this week is almost an exact replica of the talk we heard from gamecock fans before their matchup with North Carolina last year. They were gonna pound a weak ACC team, and win by 40, and show the ACC how dominant the SEC really was. Of course, as any rational person expected, it was a really close game that the gamecocks were lucky to win. Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you that south carolina's defense isn't good(it isn't good). And I'm not going to sit here and tell you that NC State's offense is really good. But I am going to tell you that South Carolina fans will not be happy with the outcome of tonight's game, and I'm going to tell you why.

When NC State has the ball:

The Wolfpack are not an offensive juggernaut. They have question marks at virtually every position on the offensive side of the ball. Tom O'Brien has elected to go with redshirt freshman Russell Wilson in lieu of senior Daniel Evans(wolfpack fans rejoice). Wilson brings with his game a howitzer of an arm, and pretty decent mobility. This should create a tougher match up than expected for the gamecock front 7, considering they are one of the nation's worst against the run. Gamecock fans, I'm telling you, don't expect it to be much better this year. State also has a highly capable running back in Andre Brown, although it's been a while since he saw action. This brings me to what I feel could be their biggest advantage: the offensive line. Teams expecting to dominate an O'Brien coached offensive line always get the shock of a lifetime. These guys are big, fast, and disciplined. I fully expect them to give the gamecock DL everything they can handle and more. And they better, because I don't think the Wolfpack will be very successful through the air tonight. south carolina does have a decent secondary, although it is vastly overrated because of skewed statistics. Teams didn't need to throw against them last year because their front 7 was weaker than melted Swiss cheese. Nevertheless, NC State doesn't have a proven playmaker at the WR position, and nobody really knows how Wilson will fare in the passing aspect of the game. I expect the gamecocks to stack the box tonight, and make Wilson prove he can beat them through the air. There are always some surprises on opening day, but I don't think the Pack aerial attack is going to be one of them. Bottom line: This will be a stoppable force battling a movable object. Advantage - south carolina, but only slightly

When South Carolina has the ball:

South Carolina sucks on offense. Their quarterback is garbage. He almost transferred last year because he couldn't get any playing time behind Blake Mitchell and Chris Smelley. Take a moment and ponder that. He won this year's starting job by default, and it will show tonight. They aren't any better at running back. Mike Davis, at one time, showed some potential, but he is pretty much a non-factor these days, as he gives very little effort and has trouble holding on to the footbaw. Taylor Rank is the starter tonight. Are you freaking kidding me? You can't see it right now, but I'm laughing. The offensive line is also a huge pile of shit. As late as yesterday, Spurrier still didn't know what his starting 5 was going to be. This is the same old story every year out of Columbia. NC State's offense won't light it up tonight, but neither will South Carolina's. Degenerate sinners, take out a 2nd mortgage and take the under. NC State doesn't return very many players on the defensive side of the ball, but that may end up being a blessing in disguise, as the '07 version was.......not good. The DL lost virtually everyone, but playing against such a crap rushing offense as south carolina, I don't think it will show too much. The linebackers are going to be bad. There is no way to sugarcoat it. If South Carolina is really going to exploit the Pack defense, it will be with short to intermediate stuff over the middle of the field. The secondary is a question mark, but not as much as the LB corp. Since South Carolina has only 1 good wideout, look for State's safeties to come over top and try and take some pressure off the linebackers. Bottom line: NC State's defense is questionable, but no moreso than south carolina's offense. Advantage - push

When both teams suck and have to kick: South Carolina fans think ST coach, Ray Rychleski, is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Ask them, South Carolina will lead the nation in every special teams category imaginable. Joke. They suck. I fully expect NC State to make a game-changing play on special teams tonight.

Coaching matchup: Steve Spurrier is a (former)legend. Tom O'Brien isn't. But that doesn't mean that this contest is a fore drawn conclusion. O'Brien's teams play about as disciplined a game as any team in America. This is his second year, and the mistakes of last year are just that, a thing of the past. Spurrier is a has-been, hellbent on ruining his reputation as one of the game's best. His advantage tonight, if any, is minimal.

Final Prediction: As I mentioned earlier, South Carolina fans expecting a 30 point blowout are in for a rude awakening. The gamecocks are notorious for looking like farm animal afterbirth in season openers. They are a slightly better football team than NC State right now, just as they were a slightly better team than North Carolina last year. The home crowd will not be any advantage, since it's a Thursday night and the stadium won't be full. Besides, it's one of the quietest stadiums I've ever been in when things aren't going well. Expect a lot of sloppy play from both teams. South Carolina wins in a squeaker: 13-10.

I'ma Get Me Some Swa

2008-08-27T12:28:00.005-04:00

Well, folks, the cat is out of the bag. After a puzzling decision came down Monday to start 3rd string(white) tailback Taylor Rank, Steve Spurrier knew he would face a barrage of questions from media and fans alike. Why are we starting a white tailback? How can we win with a cracker tailback? I didn't even know we had a honkey tailback? And so forth. And true to form, the questions came, albeit not quite as bluntly. When asked yesterday if starter Mike Davis was sitting for disciplinary reasons, Spurrer said, ""No, no, I'm not unhappy with Mike's effort. He'll be fine." Spurrier also cited his lack of practice[due to injury] in fall camp as another reason for the move. To the lay person these explanations held water. But being the intrepid reporter I claim to be, I decided to dig a little further into the situation, and what I found should be of grave concern to all gamecock fans.

Mike Davis is not missing the start tomorrow night for any of the reasons(excuses) given by Coach Cock 'n Balls. He is missing the start, in essence, because he was thirsty. *So thirsty was Davis that he felt the need to break into a refrigerator in the team's training facility. And not only are we talking about theft here, theft from his own school, we are talking about serious appliance damage. Once the crime was discovered, the players were called to a meeting, and the guilty party was asked to step forward. Davis chose to remain silent, adding a 3rd blow to the crime spree that left, perhaps, one teammate drinkless. Only later, through the facility's video surveillance system, did the coaching staff learn the true identity of the criminal in their midst. It looks like some things just haven't changed in Columbia.

One thing that has changed, however, is Coach Spurrier's reputation as a straight shooter. When he was at Florida, SOS was as honest as they came, sometimes to a fault. But now, faced with embarassment after embarassment, it seems that the Ol Ball Coach is just resigned to taking the easy way out. And it isn't surprising to this blogger either. If you had to answer questions on a daily basis about the south carolina university football team, you'd probably find it easier just to lie too. Hell, what do you expect from a program that feels it has to put locks on refrigerators?

Now I know this isn't the most egregious of crimes to take place within the gamecock football program, but it just seems like you can't open up the newspaper these days without reading about some coot breaking the law. At least it's a far cry from the Holtz days, when players helped themselved to computers and video equipment. But a crime is a crime, and Davis has to take his punishment. Speaking of which, it'll be interesting to see how long he sits out. Spurrier is notorious for his non-punishments down in Columbia. My guess is, after a few lame series Thursday night, Spurrier will realize that the real crime is whitey toting the rock.

*link to article: http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/aug/27/davis_not_starting_disciplinary_reasons52100/

Now, let's enjoy some Wednesday MOAG.

On the Davis incident:

- And to think this made the paper.....Wouldn't have at any other school! I certainly hope we're getting this kind of publicity when we win games this year.

- This is like breaking a window to get into your own house when you've been locked out.

- I swear if I was Steve Spurrier I would find out who leaked this story and he/she would be out of a job. Every D1 college in the country provides sports drinks for the athletes before/during/after work outs. Who's the idiot who put a lock on the refrigerator? That's who needs to sit out and pay for the damages to the door.

- Too many people run their mouths up there. The man was obviously thirsty, let him and whomever else have a drink whenever they want one!

- The only purpose for this story is to make Mike Davis look like a bad apple, disrupt our team's preparation prior to kickoff, tarnish USC football team's already damaged image, make SOS look like he is dishonest with the public.

- the guy who locked it should be fired. imo.

On Clemson's schedule:

- Wake forest is a tougher team than bama or us? that's a big load

- make no mistake, we should be the toughest game on their schedule and quite possibly, there only loss.

- If they played USC's schedule they would be preseason 4th in the SEC just like us.

- If we had their JV schedule, we would win them all too.

- Im willing to bet when USC starts hammering the Taters 8 out of 10 games they will drop us.

On this year:

- we go 9-4 this year, I honestly don't think we look back.

On next year:

- I'm thinking Next Year is the year we take the East.

- 2009, especially 2010, will be more like a special year.

On a 2008 Team Slogan:

- "Make no mistake, it's not revenge they're after. It's the reckonin'." -Doc Holiday

- "Be Perfect, In assignments, ethusiasm, and effort."

- "We're comin, and HELL'S comin with us!"

- "The talk is over The walk has begun"

- "This is Next Year"

Some more NC State predictions:

- USC: 45, NCST: 10

- 41-0 and I'm trying to be conservative

- 45-10, if they make it to 10.

- This one's easy: 42 - 10

- 38-3 USC Spurrier is ready to put his stamp on this program. The defense is ready to kill and NCS just happens to be first up.

- 51-6 Carolina rolls overwhelmed pack

- 42 - nada COCKS!! WIN!!

- At least 50 for us , I have waited for a long time for us to hang 50 on somebody .

- Cocks win 42-10

What Up, Dickbags?

2008-08-25T22:57:00.002-04:00

Folks, game week is upon us. We've been waiting 8 long months for this. And now the state of South Carolina is front and center on the college football stage. The Gamecocks will kick off the season on Thursday, and the Tigers will get the ball rolling on Saturday. It's been many years since both teams, and their fans, began a season with such high expectations. Can the Tigers finally go 12-0? Can the gamecocks finally go 8-4? We won't know for certain after this weekend, but we'll have a pretty good idea how realistic those expecations are. Speaking of realistic expectations, it looks like the gamecocks will be starting a white running back against NC State. I'll let you draw your own conclusions. One thing is for certain though, the MOAG is expected to be at an all time high in 2008, and I will be right here serving it up. Seriously, he's white.

Now, before it's too late, I owe you an ACC Atlantic preview.

Predicted Order of Finish:

1. Clemson
2. Wake Forest
3. Boston College
4. Florida State
5. Maryland
6. NC State

1. Clemson - There is really nothing I can say that you haven't already seen or heard about this bunch. There is a lot of talent and experience coming back on both sides of the ball, especially at the skill positions. The biggest area of concern is along the offensive line, where the Tigers only return 2 starters from last year's Peach Bowl team. But the experience cupboard isn't bare, and what they lack in starts, they will more than make up with a toughness not seen in a Clemson O-Line for many, many years. Harper, Spiller, Davis, and Kelly will all have big years. One thing to watch for is a notably missing dynamic from recent Clemson teams: short yardage prowess. True freshman Jamie Harper can absolutely move a pile. On defense, the Tigers have the best defensive line in the league, and probably the deepest. The secondary is also loaded with talent and experience. I expect them to rank in the top 10 again in passing defense this year. Linebacker is the biggest question on this side of the ball. And much like the OL, there is talent, just not a lot of experience. One name to look for is true freshman Stanley Hunter. I think he will be the next great Tiger linebacker. Clemson's schedule is very favorable, although there is a moderately tough stretch from mid-October to mid-December, when the Tigers face Wake, BC, and FSU on the road. Nevertheless, this team will finally get over the hump and punch its ticket to the ACC Championship game.
Season Outlook: 11-1

2. Wake Forest - This team could pose a pretty serious threat to Clemson. They have the best coach in America in Jim Grobe. They also have potential stars at quarterback(Riley Skinner) and running back(Josh Adams). The WRs are unproven, but Grobe says it is his most talented bunch yet. Wake will always be salty on defense, and they return 9 starters, including All-America candidate, Alphonso Smith. I'm picking Clemson to win this division, but I would not be at all surprised if the Deacs put the kaibosh on that predictions. I'd be so pissed.
Season Outlook: 9-3

3. Boston College - Yes, BC lost just about every offensive threat to graduation. Yes, there is no more Matty Ice, with his stupid haircut. But this is BC we're talking about here. You know they are going to be good upfront on both sides of the ball. They just reload with future NFLers on the offensive line every year. The problem is, nobody really knows who they'll be blocking for. The qb position is still up for grabs, and they are paper thin at running back. On defense, I expect them to be one of the better units in the conference. They return most of their tuff front 7, and even better news is that Brian Toal is back. The bottom line is they won't be great, but anyone who overlooks the Eagles this year is in for a rude awakening.
Season Outlook: 8-4

4. Florida State - Despite what most pundits would have you believe, the Noles are simply not on the way back up. Their offensive line is downright putrid, as is their quarterback. Preston Parker could be a weapon but he doesn't play hard and is always in and out of trouble. They do have athletes on defense, but they aren't deep enough to hang with the better teams on their schedule. Even worse, there is the looming threat of an NCAA beatdown as a result of last year's cheating scandal. If that happens sooner rather than later, the Noles might be in for their worst season ever under Bobby Bowden. Things could fall apart quickly and somethin fierce.
Season Outlook: 7-5

5. Maryland - Ralph Friedgen is fat. Terp fans are scum.
Season Outlook: 7-5

6. NC State - This prediction was really by default more than anything, as I do think the Pack could be improved. They'll have to settle on a quarterback, but they do have a good stable of running backs. I won't pretend to know anything about their offensive line, but if there is one thing Tom O'Brien is good at, it's getting solid play out of his trench-men. I expect the Wolfpack to be a very fundamentally sound team, which would be a welcome change from the Chuck Dee'Amato days. Defense is young and unkown. They will probably give up a lot of points, but not to South Carolina.
Season Outlook: 5-7

Clemson will win the Atlantic division as well as the ACC, earning its first BCS Bowl bid in team history. Yay!

Now for some delicious MOAG

On Stephen Garcia:

- he's doing as good as korn is.

On starting white running back, Taylor Rank:

- when Rank gains 185 yards...how will you feel?

- It's win-win.

- Anyone remember John Riggens, Larry Csonka, Mike Alstott, Jerome Bettis? No blazing 40 times there either.

- he is the only Gamecock on the roster that has gained over 100 yards in every game he started!

*editor's note - He has started 1 game, against Florida Atlantic.

On season expectations:

- I won’t complain with anything above 8-4

- I'm thinking at least 8-4 with a minmum Peach Bowl birth and we could consider a 9-4 season a success.

- I think we should all be planning on 9 wins, and the season should be judged as a success or failure based on that number (although I'd be willing to accept 8).

- You can write it down,Gamecocks will beat fla.at fla.Iwill wait till the game before i give you my reasons because i do not want to disrupt their thought process now.

NC State predictions:

- Gamecocks 37, Wolfpack 10

- I'll be SHOCKED if we don't CRUSH NC State...

- I think we will CRUSH NC State and they will quickly see that what we prepare and face every year in the SEC makes some of these ACC games a joke.

- You guys need to get out of the past. Our offense scores 4 td's, our defense 1, and and 2 field goals. Final score: 41-6. NCSU won't play a defense like ours all year.

- If we don't win by at least 21 points then I say we are in for a long year.

- 45-6 Good Guys

- I think USC 45 Wolfpack 17

- 38-13, Carolina.

The Bag Man Speaketh

2008-08-21T15:41:00.002-04:00

“Clemson’s got that high-powered offense, and do you know how many touchdowns they scored against us? Just one. I rest my case. The bottom line is scoring points.”

27 words. 27 idiotic words that epitomize the culture and mindset of gamecock fans everywhere. So said south carolina's DL coach, and notorious bagman, Brad Lawing, in an interview with The State newspaper yesterday(http://www.thestate.com/gogamecocks/story/497166.html). Call me crazy, but where I come from, Greenville, the bottom line is wins and losses. Oh, I'm used to hearing from cock lovers about the meaningless moral victories the gamecocks have amassed over the past 100+ years. Heck, how many teams overcome 5 sacks, three int's, poor routes, bad blocking, poor field position three fumbles and only lose by 11 to a team that took UGA to the last second, right? But it appears the cold, dead hand of MOAG is starting to creep up the coaching staff's shoulders now too.

A few weeks ago I blawwged about how Spurrier had fallen under its spell. Now we're starting to see that trickle down effect I predicted for the rest of the coaching staff. At no point in the interview did Lawing, well-known for his cheating ways, mention the 214 yards rushing his line surrendered in that game. I guess he was proud of that number considering his boys had given up more than double that total to Arkansas a couple of weeks prior. But more importantly, at no point in the interview did Lawing, known more for his cheating than his coaching ability, mention the outcome of that game. Obviously, I don't have to tell you, my loyal readers, what the outcome was. After all, it was a Clemson/south carolina game.

Now, readers, this one, short-sighted observation probably wouldn't mean a hillabeans taken on its own. But it can't be marginalized the way gamecock fans want it to be. It is part of a larger, more troubling, pattern of sissybaby failure with no end in sight. You can't pick up a newspaper in South Carolina these days without seeing one of their loser coaches complaining about Clemson this, or Clemson that. They're pointing out our arrest record to recruits! They're planting moles inside our police department to target our athletes!! They're beating us on purpose!!!

It's just getting sad(or funny), and it is starting to bear striking resemblance to the beginning of the end of the Holtz era. Don't be surprised if the on-field performance begins to follow suit as well. But I'm getting ahead of myself. For now, the focus is on Brad Lawing, a man known more for his blatant cheating than his ability to coach football players.

So, Brad, I think you need to realize that you're asking the wrong question. It doesn't matter how many touchdowns Clemson's offense scored against y'all. Granted, it was just one, but Clemson......just won. I rest my case.

On team improvement:

- This team is making incremental improvements virtually across the board. I doubt there are many teams in the SEC (or the nation) that you can say that about.

On Clemson:

- Everyone connected with Clemson football is a compulsive liar.

On the '07 Gamecocks:

- The Defense was designed to stop the Pass not the Run. The teams that ran the ball well CRUSHED US. The passing teams did not do as well against our D.

- our D was structured to protect the DBs

On the '08 Gamecocks:

- I dont know how anyone cant see this team is a 9+ winning team.

- If the offense just treads water we will win 8 or more.

- QB situation is best its been since Phil Petty.

- In my opinion it doesn't matter who's playing QB, if they play smart/mistake free football we will win 8 or 9.

- This is a much better and deeper team than last years.

- we'd win 6 w/ lanning[the punter] playing qb.

- this will be far and away the best defense we've seen in Spurrier's tenure.

- I say 9-10 wins is easily doable and 11 if with some breaks + a bowl game.

- 9-3 is reasonable.

On the future:

- next year will kick off a great streak of success.

- WE WILL NEVER HAVE QB PROBLEMS AGAIN UNDER SPURRIER!!

On NC State:

- 8 days from now after we throttle NC State all the talk will be about how horrible NC State is and that Newberry could beat them by 2-3 scores. Remember my post because this will happen.

On their OL coach:

- IF Georgia finishes this season any better than 8-4, and we are no better than the same, we need to start looking for a new O-Line coach.

On team spirit:

- Can we please get together on this and get some TV air time (Sportscenter)for one of our better defenders? When Captain makes a big play as he does at least once or twice a game. Lets have everyone turn North and put a leg up on the bench above, raise your arm and keep your chin up like the Captian Morgan commercial. Lets even give an a good old pirate "Arrrrgh" or "Aye Captain" cheer. Let's show some inituitve and spirit and run with this!

New Poll

2008-08-20T18:39:00.003-04:00

Thanks to everyone who voted in last week's poll. We settled that issue once and for all, the cops aren't any different in Clemson than they are in Columbia.

This weeks poll deals with a fan favorite topic. We'll explore how South Carolina would fare with Clemson's schedule.

Weekly Q&A

2008-08-20T18:34:00.003-04:00

Submit all your questions and I will answer them in Friday's MOAG Mailbag. Don't feel like you need to just limit yourself to football though. They can be about recruiting, tailgating, television, life, etc.

Kickoff is just 8 short days away....

On everything:

- in spurriers time here, you guys[Clemson] are 2-3 vs. sec competition

- last season could have easily been 8-4 or even 9-3 instead of the 6-6 it ended up being

- SC has maybe the best TE's in the nation in Saunders and Cook.

- the only ones to criticize the HBC are the ones that fear him.

- People on this board are so intent on hating SC for no real reasons. The fans on here from SC want our team to win just as bad as everyone else, and we get chastised for it. We ARE NOT ALLOWED to be optimistic.

- Coach Spurrier's three seasons, his record in the SEC East is identical to Richt's record in the SEC East over same time period. Which is surprising when you consider that Richt is what? Going into his 9th or 10th season at UGA?

- I wouldnt say UGA and USC are on even ground, but the gap is quickly closing.

- We used to go 6-6 every year almost...now we go 6-6 in the best division of the best conference in the country!

- i don't see how jawga can really say anything about Carolina.

- I talk about the SEC if I talk about anything. I don’t even talk about Clemson. I don’t give them that much credit. I try to only talk about the SEC.

- if you take Duke out and replace S.C. with them we are picked to play Clemson in the championship. Simple as that!

- Spurrier is lying. He's downplaying us so bad its not even funny. He secretly knows his team will win 10 games this year. Who agrees?

- if we played Clemson at the beginning of the season I truly believe we would win 4 out 5 easy. They barely pull it out, for Gods sake. It's like fighting with one arm behind the back. Times are changing and Clemson fans know it, well the half smart ones do, you can tell by the nervous out cries. We'll see ya soon.

- I've come to expect nothing more from ignorant Taters and their inferiority complex when it comes to USC.

- You[Clemson] are our little brother, and we[South Carolina] know it must be tough to live in our shadow, but try not to be so bitter and defensive about it.

Major Blog Announcement

2008-08-19T16:29:00.003-04:00

I have gotten this suggestion from a lot of people over the last 2 weeks, and what my readers wants, my readers gets.

Starting immediately, I will delete all comments with an "anonymous" handle. I'm not saying you have to put your real name out there, but you need to pick a handle and stick with it. My colleagues and I feel this will cut down on some confusion, and it will allow the readers to interact more efficiently and intelligently with each other.

Previewing the SEC East

2008-08-19T11:52:00.005-04:00

Folks, we're getting down to the nitty gritty. Kickoff is in 9 days, and everyone's favorite team to mock will be playing on national television against ACC foe, NC State. It's a game that South Carolina should probably win. But even more importantly, it's a game that South Carolina has to win. Because once conference play starts up, the road usually just gets too hard. The SEC East is one of the most interesting divisions in college football. In no other division is there such a clearly defined hierarchy of teams. There's the Big 3, and then there's the other 3. Moving up in the chain is about as difficult as going from dirt farmer to Prime Minister in India(get some, Dennis Miller). It just doesn't happen. Sure, every now and then Kentucky or South Carolina make a little noise, but isn't that really just the result of Tennessee or Georgia having a down year? The answer is yes, and no rational person can disagree. Expect this year to be no different.

Predicted Order of Finish:
1. Florida
2. Georgia
3. Tennessee
4. South Carolina
5. Kentucky
6. Vanderbilt

1. Florida - It's pretty rare that I don't have at least one thing bad to say about a football team, but in the Gators' case, I am just drawing a blank. Their defense was pretty suspect at times last year, but it was loaded with young talent. Now that talent has a full season under its belt, and I expect them to be much improved. And that's all they really need to be, because Florida's offense this year is going to put on a show for the ages. Don't be surprised, if when it's all said and done, people remember the '08 Florida offense as one of the all-time greats. Tim Tebow, despite what opposing fans say, is worthy of every bit of praise he recieves. His numbers last year were staggering, and now he's got more weapons to work with. Running backs Chris Rainey and Emmanuel Moody provide some much needed relief to the Gator rushing attack, and will certainly take the burden off of Tebow's shoulders. Percy Harvin, while technically considered a wideout, is a do-everything superstar. This year's Cocktail Party will decide not only the division winner, but likely one of the 2 schools that face off in the BCS Title game.
Season Outlook: 11-1

2. Georgia - I would like to pick the Bulldogs to win this division, but I can't get past the schedule. An early season road trip to Arizona State, plus a 4 game stretch later in the year that includes Tennessee at home, LSU on the road, and Florida in Jacksonville, might just be too much for Richt's bunch to overcome. The loss of tackle Trinton Sturdivant didn't help things either. He was the anchor of a strong, young line last year. Hopefully they can find someone to fill the void, but even without Sturdivant in there, I expect Knowshon Moreno to put up another big year. After all, he is the best running back in the league. Matt Stafford, while still not quite a complete quarterback, has all the ability in the world. I expect a big year out of him now that Georgia has shored up some problems at wideout. The defense is just fast, athletic, and nasty. Watching them last year, I did notice a tendency to ease up at times, but when they are going full throttle it's very tough to move the ball. Georgia has the talent to win it all this year, and I'm pulling for them to get through that schedule. Again, it will probably all come down to that game on November 1st.
Season Outlook: 10-2

3. Tennessee - This UT team is an interesting one. People seem to have completely written them off, even though they actually won the division last year, and were a couple of plays away from winning the entire league. Arian Foster is a special running back, and they have good receivers. The question on everyone's mind is how will Jonathon Crompton do under center. Based on conversations I've had with people inside the program, I don't Vols fans need to worry much. Nobody knows until the love bullets start flying, but don't be surprised if Crompton has a great year. Other than Eric Berry, I don't know a single player on their defense. I do know they have a white guy starting somewhere on the defense though. That might not be a good sign. All in all, I expect Tennessee to turn in a pretty solid season, and just like last year, it would totally shock me if they were playing in Atlanta again this December.
Season Outlook: 8-4

4. South Carolina - 3-5 in the SEC, lose to Clemson, finish 4th in the division, maybe go to a 3rd tier bowl. What else needs to be said?
Season Outlook: 6-6

5. Kentucky - The Wildcats lost a bunch of their best players, and they don't really seem to have good ones to replace them with. I don't think Kentucky will be very good this year at all, but I do like their coach, so maybe he can make a little magic happen. And they do return 8 of 11 starters on defense. Problem is, that defense wasn't very good. Kentucky was able to stay in shoot-outs last year. This year, not so much. Right now, I expect them to remain status quo and finish 5th in the division.
Season Outlook: 4-8

6. Vanderbilt - Vandy only returns 9 starters from a team that went 5-7. Now, I like Vandy, and I absolutely loved watching them pulverize South Carolina last year in Columbia when the gamecocks were 6-1 and #6 in the nation, but I don't have high hopes for the Commodores this year. Frankly, I think things could get a little ugly. Gone is all-SEC wideout Earl Bennet, who was easily their best playmaker. Although, they do return a very solid secondary to a defense that is usually pretty salty. The good news is, they have a nationally televised home game against those same gamecocks early in the year. If they can somehow pull off another upset, it would make what is sure to be a long season seem a bit shorter.
Season Outlook: 2-10

So, there it is folks. Tell me what you agree with and what you disagree with. One more note I would like to add, is that South Carolina just lost out to Duke on yet another recruit today. I think that makes 3 now this year. Ouch.

Now MOAG.

On Clemson:

- My God, what could USC do with that powder-puff schedule?

- special teams cost us the game last year. plain and simple. we got Coach Ray now, so that shouldn't be a problem anymore.

- a win this year by the Cocks will make it 2 out of last 3..then they will go away permanently

- the ('06) game we won in taterville shouldn't have been close.

- Keep on believing that, Tater. Maybe someday you'll see the painful truth

* editor's note - the above post was a response to this statement by a Clemson fan, "Year in, year out we just have a better team."

- I would say the past three years, their offensive coaching vs our defensive coaching has been better when it counted. We could have easily won all three games.

- I would give them an advantage at RB and QB, just based on past performance. Everywhere else I would say we have talent equal to or better than theirs.

- If the taters have all these "world class sprinters" why aren't they in Bejing, winning us Gold Medals?

- The fans at CU see no difference in their football program than Ala, Fla, So Cal, LSU, OSU, or anybody else. They are all dillusional.

On the '06 Florida game(for some reason):

- Should've won that damn game. Florida didn't win it, we lost it.

- There was a big call that went against us as I recall, but I can't remember what it was.Typical protection of a highly-ranked conference team by SEC officials. They weren't going to let Florida lose that game at that point in the season, too much on the line.

- The SEC refs couldn't dare give us another crack at a game-winning FG, so something had to be called to bring that play back.

- We certainly deserved to win that game. --------->We should be 2-1 against Florida, Ga & Tn.<----------

On Georgia:

- Georgia at best is 3rd in the SEC behind LSU, FL, and possibly Auburn.

On the conspiracy against South Carolina:

- Just a thought, but is there a connection between the State[newspaper] and some of these arrests? Lets just say I am on a cops salary and a reporter asks me for some juicy material in exchange for a little cash. It would definately motivate me to go out and follow certain individuals, expecially if I was a campus cop.

- suddenly 2 Tater commits go to 4 stars. Keep trumping those ratings up, Rivals. It's good for business.

- chris ard goes out of his way to make sure clemson commits' ratings are as a high as possible. there is no conspiracy theory. the new guy rating the southeast is also a joke. probably hasn't seen half of these kids play. that allows ard to give his "opinion" and help inflate ratings.

On what might've been:

- Could you imagine if SOS had a QB like Tanneyhill, Ellis, or Petty !!!

On the ACC:

- How many SEC teams would win that conference?... hell 4 teams in our division would be considered the team to beat.

Guess Who's Not Coming To Breakfast

2008-08-18T08:18:00.002-04:00

About 3 weeks ago, as the dog days of July were giving way to August, you could hear a familiar noise emanating from Columbia. It was, of course, the sound of whining. They wanted their beloved quarterback savior back on campus. Stephen Garcia still had a few weeks left on his suspension, but coming back early could give him an edge in the position battle that lay ahead. The University had a decision to make, and like clockwork, they screwed it up........again. Instead of enforcing the full punishment, that they meted out themselves, they allowed the golden child back in school a full two weeks early. Gamecock fans cheered. Ron Morris wrote a column explaining why it was a bad decision. Gamecock fans jeered. Fast forward back to the present, and Stephen Garcia is being, well, he's being Stephen Garcia. If you were to go back and read Morris' article again today, you would swear it was written by Nostradamus himself(here's a link to the article: http://www.thestate.com/gogamecocks/ronmorris/story/478914.html)

Of course, it really doesn't take any special clair'voyance to point out the obvious like Morris did. It takes just a basic amount of common sense and an ability to recall from memory things that happened less than a year ago. Unfortunately, come football season, you won't find either of these traits in the common gamecock fan. Since returning to the team, on his FOURTH chance, Garcia has found his name in the headlines often, but it isn't for his play on the field. First he appeared in Coach Spurrier's office last Sunday morning with a sprained ankle. He told his coach that he had hurt it in the previous day's scrimmage. Of course, Spurrier couldn't recall him getting hurt at all, and he could recall that Garcia looked fine as he was leaving practice. When pressed by reporters on what play it could have happened, Spurrier told reporters, "You'll have to ask him that. I've asked and I can't get a straight answer out of him. Maybe you can get one." Spurrier added, "He said he twisted it in practice. That's his story and he's sticking to it." It isn't surprising that the ol' ball coach sounds like he doesn't believe Garcia. After all, this is the same guy that lied right to his face about keying a visiting professor's car last year. It is a bit more susprising that, given his blatant distrust of the embattled quarterback, Spurrier continues to go to bat for this guy. Simply put, Garcia is making a fool of Coach Spurrier. One has to wonder how truly bad the qb situation is down there for Spurrier to keep him on the team. I just can't envision him letting this kind of thing go on when he was at Florida. But it gets better.

Yesterday a reporter asked Spurrier if there was any truth to the rumor that Garcia had missed a team breakfast on Friday morning. Here was the coach's response:

“Oh, he’s missed a bunch of them. He misses everything. He’s struggling to do things right. But that’s just him. He can’t hardly call the play right. He gets confused. I don’t know what it is,” Spurrier said. “He just has a tough time. But he’s ... a redshirt freshman, never played. He’s got some ability, though, so we’re going to keep coaching him. “Hopefully, he’ll grow up and mature. But ... he’ll do some dumb things out here. There’s no, ‘Well, wait a minute, they’ve got a bunch of guys out there, let’s just check to a run over here.’ He’ll just throw it out there. But he’ll learn.”

If you read that quote too quickly you might have missed it, but Spurrier sent out a very important message with that statement. That message is: If you're a complete jackass but you can really play football well, there is a place for you on our team.

He may has well have said that verbatim. Now, I don't know what is going on behind the scenes. Maybe Spurrier is taking a different tone with Garcia behind closed doors, but I can't see any good coming from the way he's handling it with the press. And I can't see any good coming from having Garcia remain on the team. Actually, I take that back. I can see plenty of good coming from having Garcia remain on the team. Georgia fans, Tennessee fans, Florida fans, et al., can probably see a lot of good coming from it too. In fact, just about anyone who enjoys watching the gamecocks suffer from one self-inflicted wound to another will hope Spurrier decides to keep Garcia around. If I didn't know any better, I would say that I doubt Garcia will ever play a meaningful snap at South Carolina. But I do know better, and so do you(not you, gamecock fans). And it's not like Garcia is out robbing stores at gunpoint. None of his individual acts of stupidity were overtly malicious or dangerous. It's just the fact that he doesn't get it. Nor does he care to get it. He is the epitome of a prima donna. He makes more headlines than any other player on the team, and he hasn't accounted for a single yard of offense. But what's truly sadder than all of this, is that there are gamecock fans out there still defending this guy. Maybe some will leave a comment on this blog telling me how stupid I am, just like they did to Ron Morris after he wrote his column a couple of weeks ago. Or maybe they are busy trying to decide who to blame for this latest rash of "mishaps." Don't look too hard, gamecock fans, and be careful what you wish for.

Now, I'm going to try and make up for last week's blog malfunction by giving you some hot, stinky MOAG. Remeber when I told you it would get better and better the closer we got to the season?

On possible nicknames for this year's team:

- I was trying to come up with a Garnet catch word with some impact last night since I think this team has a good chance to match the 1984 teams success . Charm is a synonymn for magic but it doesnt quite have the same impact does it. How about Garnet Liberation (not bad), Garnett Redemption (not bad), Garnet Revenge, Garnett Power (maybe), Garnet Fire (had that one before) or Garnet Conversion? Anybody want to take a shot?

- Garnet Assault (but wouldn't be popular with the PC crowd)
Garnet Bloc
Garnet Slash
Garnet Apocalypse
Garnet Fist

How about Orange Crushers!!!

- how bout "The Garnet Gauntlet"?
"The Garnet Guard"
"The Garnet Wall"
"The Garnet Repressors"

- What about "A GARNET STORM" raining on the SEC and eventually the nation. You could have the team storming the field and the fans storming the stadium. As the date nears our competitors schedule they can feel "A Garnet Storm" brewing.

Responding to a writer who picked them to go 7-5:

- 9-3 worse case.

- He is going out on a limb I see..... Sees us losing to UGA, LSU, UT, UF, AND CU...My 7 year old could have come up with that prediction

On upcoming opponents:

- I also think that you could put Clem in the W column, i wouldn't put my money on Tammy for anything, so i would also take us and the points.

- I think we have 8 maybe 9 wins going into the CU game. I also think we beat them up there maybe handliy. CU are a very fragile team. When the drop a couple to upset during the year, the wolves will be howling for Tammy's head. Anything less than undefeated coming into our game is a poor coaching effort.

- Like I have asked many times why do people think we will lose to Ole Miss I dont understand?

*editor's note - amazingly, a gamecock fan pointed out to the author of the above post that it's b/c South Carolina hasn't defeated Ole Miss since they joined the league. but then this happened

- And Ole Miss has never beaten SOS. Go Cocks!

- If we can't handle Ole Miss then we are going nowhere. We sure have a lot of doubting Thomas' on this board. 9-3. Book it Danno.

- I wonder how vandy really believes they can beat us?

- UGA, Clemson and Tenn - 50/50 chance but we should win these.

- I say we will beat ga.by 10 or more points,lsu by 2,tenn by 14 no quaterback and clemson by 3 to finish reg.season 10-2

- we beat NC ST, Wofford, UAB, UK, VandyOle, Miss, Arky, Clemson. And Upset LSU, and UT

On this year's offense:

- [It will be better]By leaps and bounds in my opinion. So many weapons compared to last year, and the offensive line actually looks good, for a change.If Beecher can keep his head on straight, the year's offense will look more like some of Spurrier's teams at Florida.

- At every position group we are improved.

- we seem to have numerous pieces on the offensive line this year. It looks like we may be 2 and even 3 deep at most of these positions and that is very exciting to me. We don't have many superstars, but if things come together as I hope they will, we could be a team with no big weaknesses. In addition, we should have enough depth to withstand a reasonable amount of injuries.

On what lies ahead:

- I really think we're getting close - sometime this year or next, Spurrier will have us there again - where we utterly destroy the teams we should beat, leaving no questions or lost opportunity or doubt on the field, and I can't wait to see it happen.

*editor's note - I don't know what he meant by "again" either.

- this season has a different feel to it and it's more than just plain optimism.Looking at this team you can't help but notice the talent and depth is a lot different from the past.SOS does has a quiet confidence about him and it is starting to show,he finally believes he has the parts in place to make a run at the SEC East.

- you ought to believe it when SOS says Beacher can be an excellent SEC QB. We have 7 QB's and TB is the best of them. Smelley is a good #2. QB will not be aproblem for us. Let the games begin.

- Absolutely no reason we can't get it done. And I mean this season....We have the coaching, depth & fan support..... No legit reasons we can't do it now....

- We have the best talent we have had since Spurrier has been here. We are two deep at essentially every position. We have the oppportunity to be good, very good. The coaches know this.

- We will begin to have CU's number beginning in 2008......

- I say 9 games but could be magical year, if we can come out of the gates like last year and not have meltdown, If we could start of strong and finish like we did the 2005 season when we beat Florida, Tenn, Arky we could see something that never has happened at USC. Go to the SEC title game.I still say if we some how some way go to the SEC title game and some how pull out a win we would be playing for the National Championship. The winner of the SEC title more times than not this decade has went on to play the NC and had won it.

- with bowl game, i say 10 wins at least.

- If you are a true gamecock fan, how could you be such a pessimist to think we will win 6 or fewer?

On NC State's fans:

- Never have I been around more crude, unintelligent rednecks (this includes Pickens county) than that God-awful cesspool of a place.

- Nasty.....nasty fans probably worse than Clemsonites. It is just that we have to deal with Clemmons on a daily basis.

- In my opinion, NCSU and LSU have the worse fans in the country period.

On lack of respect shown by the national media:

- Respect has to be garnered from the playing field, but the national media gives USC no chance to beat UGA. Other than Phil Steele, no one thinks USC is a tough game for the Dawgs. Everyone skips ahead to the Arizona State game and leaves Carolina out of the discussion. I, for one, am glad UGA will be #1 when they come to the Brice because this is a 50-50 game. I wonder if SOS and crew are aware of how they're slighted in the media? Georgia and Clemson will lose 3 plus games and Carolina would beat CU every year if they played in September!

Gamecock fans break down their season, game by game:

- NC State- 34-17 Carolina finally comes out an executes a good gameplan in a season openerat.
Vanderbilt-W 31-10 Vandy really lost a lot of quality talent
Georgia-W 21-20 Our D is good enough to keep Stafford rattled all game. Moreno will put up his numbers but I think UGA will be one dimensional.
Wofford-W 38-7 Ellis Johnson prepares for an offense that could possibly do well against us....Gamecocks don't have too much trouble and slowly build a big lead.
UAB-W 24-7 Gamecocks come out slow and the offense struggles to run the ball as well without MD
at. Ole Miss-W 28-20 Carolina comes from behind and avoids and upset.
at. Kentucky-W 45-24 We continue out dominance in football over UK
LSU- L 21-34 LSU jumps out to a big lead with a solid all around performance on both sides of the ball. We make a run in the second half but its not enough.
Tennessee-30-17 We finally play mistake free football for the most part and beat Tennessee as well as we should have beaten them the past two years.
Arkansas- 21-6 Arkansas struggles all season especially on offense and we continue to win.
at. Florida- 31-44 Florida's offense is too talented. We keep up in the shootout until the 4th when the gators pull away.
at. Clemson- 35-17 I would just love to see this..

season record-10-2

- nc state- W 38-10-offense and defense too much for wolfpack to handle
vanderbilt- W 31-13-defence looks strong offense relys mostly on running game but makes long passing plays to mckinley
georgia- W 14-13 first real test of how good we will be this year wofford- W 42-7 backups get good amount of PT/defense gets 3 sacks
UAB- W 24-10 culliver runs one back/brinkley and norwood too much for UABs offense to handle
ole miss- W 17-7 beecher is efficient and jason barnes grabs a fade into the end zone to put the game away in the 4th quarter
kentucky- W 27-9 loss of QB and RB to the NFL proves too much of a blow to UKs offense
lsu- L 14-17 heartbreaker but we remain in the top 10
tennessee- W 28-17 they run pretty good on us but it is not enough b/c their passing game sputters
arkansas- W 21-13 they get less than 75 yards rushing and we rattle their QB into making costly mistakes
florida- W 28-24 our 4-2-5 is tebows kriptonyte/ brinkley says hello to harvin behind the line of scrimmage on numerous occasions/ we get the W and u can hear a pindrop in the swamp
clemson - W 27-24 is used to having a party with opposing defenses until now/norWOOD lays the wood on spiller and he becomes a non factor/culliver and captain each get a pick and one goes to the house this swings the game in our favor and death valley becomes "deaf valley"

play auburn in sec championship game

- NC State- 34-9, defense is stout, offense is steady...solid winat.
Vanderbilt- 45-3...payback time yo
Georgia- Ryan Succop hits the first big FG of his career as time expires to win 24-23
Wofford- Wofford won't get into FG range until the 4th quarter. Gamecocks win 59-7
at. Ole Miss- Ole Miss will be a lot better this year...but they're not good enough...27-17at. Kentucky- UK lost too much...and they'll lose this one too...38-13
LSU- 27-31...a great effort...but come up just short
Tennessee- po'd from the LSU loss, UT catches the brunt...Gamecocks win 35-10
Arkansas- This game will be really tough...oh what's that you say, DMAC and F. Jones are gone? nevermind, we win it 31-6
at. Florida- What's that Queen song now? SEC-East Champs 19-17at.
Clemson- Ryan Succop hits another last second FG...to make the score 66-17.

season record- 11-1 SEC-East Champs...go 'Cocks!!!

On what it will take to be a champion:

- I've seen two Olympic Gold winners give their reasons for winning. When 7 Gold winner Phelps was asked about it, he responded that he always believed he could win it all and tie Spitz record. Another winner said her mom raised her to believe she could.We must believe we can win, believe we will win and toss all that negative garbage out of our minds when it comes to mind. Refusing to accept thoughts about curse BS and such is the first step and accepting thoughts that we can do it is the other.When we toss out the negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts, we will win. It's the MIND and what we believe!...

editor's note - someone pointed out to the above poster that it would take more than happy thoughts. here is how he responded

- Until people like yourself who dwell on the negative and call it reality are outnumbered we won't win big. ----------->What the hell has history got to do with the present? NOTHING!<---------- This team is a bunch of guys and coaches who play football and play it well. Surrounded by idiots who continually drum up garbage about a curse, history etc is bad for the team. Reality is what we make of it. It doesn't matter what you think, being positive and refusing to accept the nonsense that we can't win is good for the team. Negativity is something that can be overcome but it takes the acceptance of knowing it can be done. Winning will help. Consistent winning will help tremendously. Believing the past determines the future is idiotic and about as realistic as Santa!

On not being ranked in the pre-season top 25:

- We're in a perfect spot,lurking in the shadows ready to step up and have that special season.

- Pitt being ranked is a joke and speaks to how weak the Big East is. They have zero playmakers on offense.

Apology To My Readers

2008-08-14T18:49:00.002-04:00

Loyal readers, I do apologize for the lack of content on the site for the past 2 days. For you see, I have taken ill and my strength has been sapped. But good news abounds. I feel much better, and I promise a return to the blog's regular schedule starting tonight. Again, I offer my most sincere apologies, especially to the one anonymous poster who can't go 3 hours without expressing his distaste for the state of South Carolina. I know this has been tougher on you than anyone else.

Speaking of apologies, did anyone catch Kevin McCrary's canned mea culpa to Cris Ard today on his radio show? It was about what I expected from a genuine Louser coward like K-Mac. I assume there are plenty of gamecock fans out there who wish to apologize to the Clemson community as well. Well, good news. I offer you my blog, gamecock fans, to leave your humble sorrys. So get to it.

Stay tuned for my breakdown of the SEC East, and the real scoop on Stephen Garcia's ankle injury.......

Bonus Blog

2008-08-12T17:17:00.002-04:00

Thanks to all who took the time to vote in last week's poll. It appears that the majority of readers feel Clemson will win a minimum of 11 games. I agree.

This week's poll will be up shortly.

SEC West Preview

2008-08-11T22:35:00.002-04:00

Once again it's preview time, folks. Tonight I will feature the SEC West, a division that South Carolina has had even less success against than its own. Yes, it was necessary to say that. This division is one of the most intriguing in all of college football this year. How will LSU fare after losing so much offensive talent, including heir apparent Ryan Perrilouix(there's still time to win those 4 Heismans)? Will Auburn adapt to their new spread option offense? Will Sly Croom finally get Miss. St. back to respectibility? Will all of Alabama's players get arrested this year? Will Bobby Petrino still be Arkansas' coach in October? Why the f#*k did Ole Miss ever fire David Cutcliffe? The answers, in my estimation, are: well, yes, yes, yes, no, and good ol' fashioned SEC1013. I don't expect any of these teams to win a national title, or even a conference title for that matter. But I do think all 6 will make a run at a bowl bid. It is the deeper of the 2 divisions in the SEC, while the East is more loaded at the top.

Predicted Order of Finish:
1. LSU
2. Auburn
3. Mississippi State
4. Alabama
5. Ole Miss
6. Arkansas

LSU: You've all heard the phrase "defense wins championships." Well, that's a load of crap. But LSU is loaded for bear on that side of the ball this year. Les Miles has recruited extremely well during his short tenure in BR, and he has the horses to stop opponents from scoring a bunch. The real question is whether or not he has the ones needed to score a bunch. Forget the Perrilouix situation, LSU is better off without him. But nobody knows what to expect at quarterback now, so that could go any number of ways. With the other offensive weapons they have, it shouldn't take much more than a game manager under center, someone who keeps the mistakes to a minimum. I don't think LSU wins the division outright by any means, but with so many unknowns going into the year for everyone, it's hard to pick against them. Season Outlook: 10-2

Auburn: The other Tigers have just as much of an opportunity to play in the SECCG as those of the bengal persuasion. My concern with Auburn is that the spread offense may not take immediately. They did very well against Clemson in the Peach Bowl, all things considered. If they can carry that momentum over into this season, don't be surprised at all if Auburn wins the West. My main hope for them is that their OL stops intentionally hurting defensive tackles on opposing teams. As far as defense is concerned, they are much like VT, in that they are constantly loaded with fast, athletic, bone-crushers. It will be interesting to see how they handle losing Will Muschamp to Texas(Texas sucks). That guy was a human fireball, and he had to have been fun to play for. I think that's it on Auburn. Season Outlook: 9-3

Mississippi State: How great is it to see Coach Croom building a solid program out in Starkville? The answer, is very great. It's a good thing MSU stuck by him through the first couple of years. Lord knows most of their fans wanted to run him out on a rail, most likely because he was black. But, we're talking about Mississippi here, so what can you expect? Am I right or what? People in Mississippi are so damn stupid. I heard that most of the people from there have never even ridden in a car. I do know one girl from Mississippi though, and she seems pretty smart.....smart enough to leave. OH! Seriously though, I would never go to Mississippi. Season Outlook: 7-5

Alabama: Unlike most of the national media, I am not buying the Bama is back hype. In fact, I suspect they won't be any better than they were last season, and they might be worse. Clemson is going to wear their crimson asses out to start the season. Their quarterback sucks. Their running back wouldn't see the field for us. Their WRs all graduated. Julio Jones is a stud, but it won't show in his first game at the college level. They do have an awesome OL, anchored by 2 potential first round draft picks. On defense they are pretty thin along the DL. They've had 12 linebackers arrested since the end of last season. The secondary is good, but again, thin. This team lost to UL-Monroe last year.......at home. Coach Saban compared it to the bombing at Pearl Harbor. And that, well that's just funny. Bama is still 2 years away from making a serious run at the division title. Season Outlook: 6-6

Ole Miss: Cutcliffe was a good coach. Orgeron was a good recruiter. Now let's see if Houston Nutt can put it all together. I like Ole Miss to surprise some teams this year. I don't know if they'll win a whole bunch of games, but I think they will make opposing teams earn it on the field. I know they have a franchise tackle in Michael Oher, but that's about it. If they stay healthy and get a few balls to bounce their way, I could see this team finishing as high as third in the West, and I'm basing that on absolutely nothing. Season Outlook: 6-6

Arkansas: Can you imagine trying to keep a straight face if Bobby Petrino came into your house and tried to recruit your kid? What can he possibly say to convince kids to come play for him. I'm not joking when I say this. Don't be surprised if Petrino is coaching elsewhere, on his own accord, before January. In fact, expect it. They Hogs have lost a bunch of offensive firepower the last couple of years. Even so, they could probably rush for 700 yards against the gamecocks this year if they wanted to. Remember that? On defense, they have some big players, I think. And maybe a couple of guys that are fast. Season Outlook: 5-7

Now, the MOAGy goodness that keeps you coming back.

On team discipline:

- Bottom line - McDaniel simply would not be on our team...
It's as plain and simple as that.

editor's note: the gamecocks just spent 3 years trying to get a player admitted into school who was was accused of a similar crime(except his included kidnapping). The player was also kicked off his prep team for stealing money from teammates. He is expected to play for the gamecocks this year.

On next year:

- after this season more mainstream folks will be predicting 12-1 for 2009.

On recruiting:

- Our coaches don't care how many stars a player has, they are recruiting players that will contribute in the system.

- every kid that has committed has been to our camp or worked out for our coaches. I'd say you have to trust their ability to assess talent.

- You really don't seem to understand how things work. These 'Stars' are given right now based on sophmore and junior seasons. In the meantime these kids have camped right before our cxoaches eyes, giving them firsthand judgement of their their quality.

- the whole star system is flawed to say the least. Not all kids get evaluated, and some kids get evaluated favorably due to connections, schools, coaches, handlers etc. Besides all that, I trust our coaches to evaluate talent more than some 25 year old "kid" with a clipboard working for rivals.com.

- If stars mean talent, what happened to many of our so called high star recruits over the years? Right now, I cannot recall any high star recruits currently playing in the NFL from our past teams. I am sure there may be a couple, but I cannot recall them at this time. Sorry, but I will take our players over your 4 and 5 star recruits anyday.

On Jim Rome's blistering commentary of South Carolina today. If you missed it, he basically said what everyone already thinks about them, that they should sit down and shut up until they do something worthwhile on athletics:

- He talked about Southern Cal being the real USC and us being South Carolina University...SCU. Told South Carolina fans to get over it. Also said that until we win 11 national championships and 7 heisman trophies no one will refer to us at all. Never liked Jim Rome!

- He can kiss our A**!!!! Spur'em

- Now I remember why I hate this guy so much! F'N Moron! South Carolina University. Please A$$hole

- Someone tell Jim Rome that Jim Everett says that South Carolina is THE USC and dares Romey to say otherwise.Effin' punk.

- Rome has trashed our state before (due to the NAACP and NCAA boycotts) - which are insulting, demenaing, disrespectful and ignorant !!!so screw him !!! One man running his mouth who thinks educated people care what the heck he thinks.Time to start buying and showing off ALL our SC stuff every chance we get on National TV !!Too bad rome did not burn when rome did !

- jim rome is a west coast fagget. everett proved that when he whipped his ass

- I just listened to that piece of s*** go on a 90 second tirade about how we don't deserve to be referred to as usc. he went on to say that the rest of the country recognizes the abbreviation as that of southern california and not "southern" carolina. he also went on to go over the obligatory championship difference but failed to mention that last time we squared off we whooped that ass. i think that maybe if the rest of the country thought of him as a legitimate journalist his time slot would be better that 4 in the afternoon where espn thought that they couldn't stand to put one more nba inside edition and had to fill the half an hour with thirty minutes of his garbage. no wonder jim evert whopped his ass all those years ago

- Jim Rome has issues......dating back to the day when Jim Everett pounded his sorry a#%! into a table on his show!! The guy is a total loser who I swear has a Manny Ramirez dildo in his nightstand. He goes on about Man "O" Ram more than Stuart Scott does about Michael Jordan. He is a waste.

- Should make t-shirts for the August 28th game....."West coast Romer" with "The real USC" right underneath, and wear the SC hat. Unless you can think of something better. Maybe a little childish, but I think it would be funny.

On 2008 Season Predictions:

- 9-3, with losses to UGA, LSU, and Florida. I must emphasize that this offense seriously worries me. I think the talent and athleticism on our defense will allow it to take care of business. But with an unproven line, running back, wide receivers (with the exception of Mckinley), and quarterback we really have our work cut out for us. If that crew can get it going the sky is the limit for us but I am just not convinced. I want to know what you guys think of this.

- 10-2 We finish 2nd in SEC, UGA 1st. UGA lost to LSU in regular season, but beats AU in the SECCG. UF finishes 3rd with losses to LSU, UGA, and UT. UT finishes 4th with losses to us, UGA, AU, and Vandy. UK finishes 5th with losses to UGA, us, UF, UT, and M. State. Vandy last, going 5-7 and upsetting UT. We get an at-large bid to the Sugar Bowl, where we beat OU 27-21. Beecher has a passing TD to McKinley, and Davis gets 2 rushing TDs. Succop hits FGs of 39 and 46 yards.We end the season ranked #4.

- I don't see 7-8 wins...has to be more...9, 10 or 11 wins. This is about Steve Spurrier...this is his year!

- I have a hard time seeing less than 9 wins.

- We will begin to have CU's number beginning in 2008.

- I vote "10 or more".Why as a Gamecock, would you say anything less? There is not a team on our schedule we can't beat.

- I have been feeling for several weeks that this season has a 1984/2000 feel to it since we are coming off of a disappointing end to the previous season and the media is justifiably not showing us much respect, but barring injuries, I think a lot of us believe we are better than the experts think.

- There isn't a better coaching staff than what we have, and yes were are flying under the radar.

Here are the results of an online poll conducted amongst USCe fans, on how many wins they will have this season:

422 Votes
6 or fewer 1.90%
7 5.45%
8 30.09%
9 43.36%
10 or more19.19%

Sunday Matinee

2008-08-10T11:13:00.003-04:00

Nothing really hilarious happened to the gamecocks this weekend, other than losing a court battle to Southern California(which led to some hilarious MOAG). So I figured I would just inundate y'all with some of the week's best.

On Georgia:

- Look at UGA's schedule last year and then come back and tell me "you fear them"! The best team they beat was a 5 loss Florida team. Tennesseee took them to the woodshed, as bad as the score was, it wasnt even that close, couldve been 68-7. They had a phantom penalty call that put them in position to kick a last second fg to win vs Vandy. USC beat them between the hedges and it shouldnt have been as close as it was. UGA got the best draw of any bowl game, Hawaiii lol please!UGA will not finish in the top 20 this year.

- Can you imagine UGA coming to our house ranked #1? Spurrier must be foaming at the mouth. He owns Georgia.

On the future of gamecock football:

- Ladies and gentlemen this is an exciting time for our program. Things are moving in the right direction. How can you not be pumped up about the future? It's a great time to be a Gamecock!!!

- Yup, it's a New Gamecock Generation! This Century we are 54-42 total and 30-34 in the SEC. Improvement over the 90's.

- A program is being built guys, with primarily high school recruits and quality ones at that. It's all coming together right as we are modernizing our facilities to attract an even higher quality of recruit. It's the perfect storm. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

On Clemson:

- I am from the upstate and am aware of what has gone on at that school for years. They run the best spin machine in the country. Everyone from the custodians, professors, board of trustees, students, campus police, news tv, news papers, and last but not least the coaches have but one mission and that is to protect clemson football and its players. It's gone on since the 50's and untill the NCAA gets back in there it will continue to happen. Just to warn you people will laugh at your accusations and say you are over reacting but the funny thing about it is that's how they have been able to get away with such things over the years. People don't want to believe what lengths those people will go to just to win a few football games ,but it DOES happen.

- However, I'm amazed at our fans, and administrations, unwillingness to notice, admit and do something about the other teams who have gained an advantage over us because of their cheating ways.

- ever heard of The Fridge(Wm Perry) He would come off the field at the end of a game holding his hands out four the cash to be handed to him!

- I did some research on CU and I'm not sure they have one legitimate win in their history. I posted it here and it received 2500 views and was called I'm fed up with Clemson. I posted it on FGF and it got 111 responses and 9000 views. Most of the responses were from CU fans because I touched a nerve. They told me to get a life even though some of them had over 10000 posts on our forum. I e-mailed the NCAA @scooper@ncaa.org and I e-mailed other media outlets. I'm tired of CU and if any USC fan has legitimate proof please take action.

On Stephen Garcia:

- No, they're not choir boys.But, there is no way in heck, these "higher profile" players are bigger criminals, or breaking the law with more consistency, than the other players or normal students around USC.

This next one deserved a category of its own:

- Clemson and Clemson fans know the easiest way to offset USC's chance of success, is to go after our best play makers. They have resolved to HIT us where it will hurt us the most. Every single time we gain momentum, gain a player, or land a recruit they start trying to find a way to throw the orange wrench into our progress and kill it.And, obviously, it hasn't been that difficult for them. Especially, when they're dealing with the naive and passive sorts that USC officials, coaches, and fans have been.Clemson got them some "insiders" hired into the right positions. Then they resolved to tear down their arch rival from within.This "warfare" is nothing short of what the mafia has done to manipulate their victims throughout history.

Now check out some of the responses to the previous post:

- I couldn't agree more. I own a business and frankly it would take quite an interview for me to hire a CU alum etc. My blood runs Garnet and orange has very little place in my life. GO COCKS!

- The momentum is swinging and the egg heads are being swept out. Mark my words the Clemson fellow cop is not the only one whom will eventually be looking for somewhere else to work. The Dean of admissions is also a Clemsonite, either him or one of his higher ups within the dept. If I were him I would take notice of what is going on and would not pull some foolishness.....but as we have seen recently that is not the case....guess what look for him to be re-assigned at the very least. Things are getting fixed. The3se situations...this cancer that has plagued the university for decades is being addressed. Spurrier is a maswter player and he is smarter than all those eggheads combined.

- It's almost like a "soft jihad"? Destroy from within. By their own hands.

- Right on, I will bet you will not find Carolina people in the Clemson system like we find Clemson people in the USC system. They are well versed at control. They systematically protect their athletes using whatever means necessary including the town of Clemson police and of course the campus police.

- Whether you like the underlying moral implications or not, from a football standpoint, CU, Georgia, FSU, etc. has our number. Look at the win loss records. Look at the arrest records.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

2008-08-07T21:20:00.001-04:00

Pull the Plug Nurse, He's Got Orange In His Blood

2008-08-06T21:44:00.002-04:00

Folks, the condition I've presented to you on this blog is called mind of a gamecock. It is unavoidable and incurable. It targets children and adults, men and women, babies and the elderly. And once you get it, your fate is worse than death. Central to the disability is an overwhelming sense of paranoia. I've given you several examples of that paranoia on these pages, but I think it is important that you know.........it's getting worse.

Everywhere you turn these days, someone within the USC administration and/or fanbase is spouting off to the media because someone is out to get them. Be it a Clemson website operator, a Clemson coach, the Columbia P.D., or God herself, people are out to hurt the gamecocks. At least, that's what their brass would have you believe. The latest bloviation came today, from longtime university BOT member Eddie Floyd(link to article http://southcarolina.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=834387):

"Our campus police have targeted our athletes," said Floyd in a telephone interview. He went on to imply, in none too subtle fashion, that the police targeting gamecock athletes are none other than Clemson fans. "We have a guy investigating our athletes who has Tiger paws in his office."

Dr. Floyd is described as one of the most respected members of USC's board of trustees. I'm sure he is. I'm also sure he is a highly intelligent, skilled surgeon from Florence. I'm sure he's made more money than I'll ever see. I'm sure he's lived an exemplary life. My intent here isn't to question Dr. Floyd's reputation. All I'm doing is showing you the proof. Mind of a gamecock, as I stated earlier, is unavoidable and incurable. We're talking about a man with the credentials of which most of us can only dream. But bring up gamecock football, and you have more potential for crazy than a bum with a prescription pad.

Later in the day, his comments having been rebuffed by some of his closest colleagues, Dr. Floyd offered a gentler accusation(link to article http://www.thestate.com/gogamecocks/football/story/482269.html):

"I feel they have overstepped in some areas," Floyd said Wednesday from his home in Florence. "After talking to some of the people, this is how I feel. And I always say what I feel, good or bad."

"My feeling is that (targeting athletes) has happened. I'm sure the administration may have a different opinion," Floyd said. "But certainly that's what I think."

Regarding the police officer with a tiger paw in his office, Floyd had this to say, "One of the investigators that had a tiger paw in his office, my understanding is he said it was a joke. I don't know." "I haven't looked at it. I haven't seen it. But that's what I heard."

So, what does this all mean? Essentially, it means Dr. Floyd disparaged the professionalism and integrity of the USC campus police department, with nothing more than a gut feeling and a poor sense of humor as evidence. This was done, of course, while conveniently overlooking the fact that the athletes being "targeted," were arrested for COMMITTING CRIMES. This is real f#@kin life, dog! It's time for the program to look inward for someone to blame rather than outward. And if you are going to lob such damning accusations, you might want to make sure you've got more than "Uh, I heard something, somewhere, I think" to back it up. Because right now, the only people being targeted are members of the USC campus police department. It'd be a real shame for Dr. Floyd if ever he needed their help.

So, gamecock nation, my appeal to you is simple. The next time your star quarterback gets arrested for keying a car, don't blame the person who gave him the key. Next time you have a meathead pair of twins brutally assault a small, solitary victim for no discernable reason at all, don't blame Budweiser for distributing the beer bottle they hit him with. Next time you have a player arrested for buying weed, don't blame Mexico for exporting the drug. Take some pride in yourselves. Stop it with all the self-pity, paranoia, and delusion. Thank you, and goodnight.

Seriously though, don't stop it with all the self pity, paranoia, and delusion. It's kind of important to me.

Let's here it from those who support Dr. Floyd:

- Dr. Floyd has valid points. Barny Fife and his brothers are alive and well and some of them are wearing tiger paws. They have messed with a lot of good people not just athletes. A self important bunch. USC could do without a police dept.

- All I want to know is, who on earth at the University of South Carolina decided to hire a Clemson graduate or fan for the Campus police? You've got to be kidding me. It seems like a no brainer to me. I'm not saying they aren't capable, but I mean come on, you could definitely find someone NOT affiliated with our rival.

- there is now way i would hire a clemson person for the campus police that should be addressed and if the allegations are correct about them going after athletes they should be fired. Heck i think they should be fired anyway.

- Bout time we started standing up to this BS!!! This is the type of stuff that has went on for years!!! The new powers are not gonna take it and I love it!

- Either way if there are witnesses that will attest to these campus police high-fiving after arresting one of our football players and they have tater paws all over their office or locker or what have you, they're toast and we have every reason to torch them. I'm not saying the above is facts but that seems to be the jest of what Dr. Floyd is adressing in the article.

- Whether he turns out to be right or wrong, I'm glad the discussion was made public by someone in a prominent position at USC.Why not put the USC-PD under the same scrutiny our players are placed under?

- I only have 2 comments:1) Steve Spurrier is the best thing to ever happen to our football program.2) The culture is changing before our eyes, my friends.

- Where there is smoke there is fire. Clemson is starting to get a little sloppy when it comes to cover ups.

- It's hard not to believe that our players are not singled out by the PD. My gosh, it is just hard to believe that the players we recruit are any different from players on other teams from the area. My goshs, CU, USC , UGA all recruit the same basic areas. You mean, that USC gets all of the bad apples from a particular region. No, that would be impossible, imo. PS: If there was someone who had a tiger paw rug in his office that worked for USC then he would be gone if it were up to me. Or else he would be required to remove the rug at the very least. I work for a Fortune 100 company. And I can assure you if I had a rug, picture, emblem, etc. of one of our competitors I would be gone in a heart beat.

- If It is indeed true that there are Clemson supporters in the USC police dept. that needs to be handled and now. There are plenty of qualifed USC grads or supporters to fill those jobs There is no place for them on our campus period. I should think that they would not want to be here unless they had bad intensions. As most of us know Taters will do anything to get negative things out on the Gamecocks. And we all know they will do anything to win .Whether it be paying athelets and almost anyting to win . Like the national championship that the bought.

- I appreciate the stance of Dr. Floyd has taken as it is the first time that I have ever seen a senior member of the university recognize and make comment on the subject of Clemson. You see, he recognizes something most of you do not. Clemson and its supporters hate, and I mean hate, USC much more than we dislike them. It is 24x7x365 how much they put into hating us. It is built into their system and passed down to family members for generations. Clemson is akin to a cult and for some reason, it gets in a persons blood and becomes infectuous. While I understand that the role of law enforcement is dangerous, I can also understand that if we have Clemson loyalties in our system, then the system could be compromised. Kudos to Dr. Floyd for he at least understands what is going on. Too bad the other trustees can not understand this.

- I posted a while back that those people were behind most of our problems and have been for forty years, they are the same as terrorist.

Get this, I swear this was really said:

- IMHO......Mungo should have either kept his mouth shut or Stood by Dr. Floyd. He doesn't have to agree with Dr. Floyd, but if he doesn't then he should have just said "I respect Dr. Floyd, but I do not have an opinion on what was said." It shows his character for what he is for him to come out and back stab a fellow board member. Not to mention, doing it so quickly. Maybe he is jealous that his name is not on the stadium anywhere or for just some other reason.

- Just one more example of USC fans eating their own.

- Mungo was probably a nerd that got beat up all the time when he was a kid and hates the world. Probably didn't get laid until he was married or paid for it. And no I don't have video evidence, it's my opinion based on historical analysis of such punks.

* editor's note: for anyone unaware of this fact, the Mungo mentioned above is another respected USC BOT member, who roundly refuted Dr. Floyd's comments later this afternoon.

On reasons why they hate Clemson:

- 1. Their irrational, delusional fans. It's impossible to hold a normal, intelligent sports conversation with these people. 2. The "cult" of Clemson. It extends from the fans to the coaches to the university administration. Truth and accountability are non-required electives at Clemson. 3. Orange and purple.

- the way they back stabbed us in the early 70's

- 1. They break the law and the rules and the refs, police, & NCAA let them get away with it. 2. They hide, cover up, and deny #1 and when they occasionally get caught they defend it. 3. The media is on board the tater train. 4. They are the luckiest team in college football. 5. They are obnoxious, obstinate, arrogant, and blind to reality. 6. They think they are ultimate perfection.

- Tater fans have overtaken UNC fans as the most arrogant and elitist around. At least UNC fans have some national titles and academic ranking to hang their hat on. Tater fans have taken a football championship 25+ years ago, some silly magazine ranking, about 30-40 SAT points, and a few head-to-head wins....and they have turned it into the stuff of LEGENDS in this state. Incredibly arrogant...and for very little reason.

- I hate clempson because police officers love them.

- They throw any form of morality out the window whenever it suits them.

- Their fans are the dumbest, most obnoxiously delusional pieces of trash to ever walk the earth.

Bonus Blog

2008-08-05T23:06:00.002-04:00

Thanks for voting in last week's poll, folks. The majority believes the Gamecocks will win 7 games. That isn't surprising. I disagree with the majority. Stay tuned to find out how many games they'll actually win next year.

Please take the time to vote in my new poll, on total Clemson wins this year.

Tonight's Episode: The ACC Coastal

2008-08-05T21:48:00.002-04:00

Folks, last week I promised a breakdown of the ACC Coastal division. That took a back seat to the deluge of stupidity coming out of Steve Spurrier's cryhole. But a promise is a promise, and without further ado, I give you Mind of a Gamecock's breakdown and predictions for the ACC Coastal division.

Predicted Order of Finish:
1. Virginia Tech
2. Georgia Tech
3. North Carolina
4. Miami
5. Virginia
6. Duke

Picking VT to win this division, despite the massive losses at various skill positions, is a no-brainer. They have one thing that coaches drool over, a talented, experienced offensive line. As I mentioned, they did lose a bevy of wide receivers, and Brandon Ore was kicked off the team for being a jerk, but their quarterback tandem of Tyrod Taylor and Sean Glennon is a bit underrated. Glennon isn't great, but he is solid. And Tyrod Taylor is simply a star in the making. I wouldn't be surprised if he is firmly entrenched as the starter by the middle of the season. They lose a bit more on defense, especially along the line. But honestly, does it really matter. Frank Beamer has made a habit of re-loading every year on defense with fast, tough, athletic players. Macho Harris and Kam Chancellor anchor yet another excellent defensive backfield. And then there's special teams. It gets overlooked every year, but expect VT's special teams to win them a game or two this season. Season Outlook: 10-2

Holding down my #2 spot is Georgia Tech. They only return 8 starters from last year's team(but some of those starters weren't very good). This is a risky pick, but I am banking on the Yellow Jackets to run Paul Johnson's offense the way it is intended to be run. GT is a wildcard, b/c if they don't pick up the system, it could be a very long year. It takes a lot of discipline and effort to pull off the triple option. His players at Navy had what it takes. Whether the higher profile athletes at GT have it remains to be seen. Georgia Tech returns one of the top defensive lines in the ACC, led by Michael Johnson and his 6 foot neck. Behind that line is a bunch of young, inexperienced, but aqeduately talented linebackers and DBs. Of course, the defense will be running an entirely new defensive system as well. Gone are the days of blitz happy Tenuta-ball. In short, it is a total overhaul for the Ramblin Wreck. Maybe it's a stretch putting them at #2, but I'm willing to stick my neck out there on this one, despite the nerdiest fight song in the history of college football. Season Outlook: 8-4

Butch Davis' Tarheels come in at number 3. Talk about potential. The Heels are plenty talented, but largely young and inexperienced. They also return 18 starters. It's been a long time since anyone at UNC knew what it felt like to win football games, but Davis is making short work of that culture. The offense returns a league most 10 starters. Most of the talent is at WR and RB, where Hakeem Nicks and Greg Little should put up big numbers. Quarterback is an unknown. Frankly, I don't know much about TJ Yates, so I'm just going to assume he sucks until he proves otherwise. The defensive line isn't great, but it does boast one of the nation's budding superstars in Marvin Austin. I really don't care much for the Heels, so I'm not going to write anything else. Season Outlook: 7-5

Miami has experienced, perhaps, more of a roller coaster ride in the last 2 decades than any team in America. They have gone from great to terrible, to greatest team ever, back to pretty terrible again. For now, it appears things are on the upswing again. Randy Shannon has shown he can recruit with the big boys, now he has to show he can coach with 'em. The Canes return 11 starters from a team that really blew. Losing 48-0 at home to Virginia ought to be grounds for NCAA probation. But I'm not ready to write the Canes off just yet. I don't know what to expect from the offense. Nobody has won the quarterback job yet, but don't be surprised if RS freshman, Robert Marve, earns the job. Miami has lots of talent on the defensive side of the ball. Lots. It's just young and unproven. In short, Miami is still probably 2 years away from contending for the division crown. Season Outlook: 6-6

Virginia. Who gives a flying f@#k?

It would be prudent to keep an eye on Duke this year. I don't expect them to be bowl eligible or anything like that, but I do expect them to pick up a few wins in the ACC for the first time in a long time. David Cutcliffe is a really good coach. Why Ole Miss let him go, I will never know. He is burning it up on the recruiting trail right now. But let's temper the expectations for a few years. Duke is still Duke. I don't think they will beat anyone in the top half of the league, but like I said, don't be surprised if they pull off a few upsets. For you degenerates out there, I think the Blue Devils will be a very smart pick to cover a bunch this year. They may have the best quarterback that you've never heard of in Thaddeus Lewis. I'll be pulling for the Devils to win a few league games, mainly so Clemson won't have to be referred to as the last ACC team Duke beat. If they get a few bounces, they might actually be looking down on UVA at the end of the year. Season Outlook: 4-8

So there you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. Don't hold back. Hopefully I'll get to the SEC West tomorrow(SEC honks, don't be surprised when I don't pick all 6 teams to go 12-0).

Now MOAG.

On Georgia(this is long, but oh so worth it):

- OK, everyone is worrying about number one ranked UGA early in the season. Don't. Why you ask, well a little research is very encouraging. Let's look at USC and UGA in the past two years, and 3 years (Spurrs 1st season) versus identical competition, i.e., the SEC EAST.
Last 3 years:
UGA 8 wins-7 losses
USC 8 wins-7 lossesTie
Last 2 years:
UGA 4 wins-6 losses
USC 4 wins-6 lossesTie

Now let's look at the difference in SEC west Opponents:
Last 3 years: UGA West opponents: 53-55
Last 2 years: UGA West opponents: 37-38
Last 3 years: USC West opponents: 75-39
Last 2 years: USC West opponents: 52-37

See the difference here Gamecocks? EZ stuff. Not to mention that in the past two seasons, UGA has experienced an 0-6 streak versus the SEC East, which would have been 0-7 had not Vandy gift wrapped last years win for them. What I am saying is that Spurrier is going into hids 4th year, Richt his 8th, and yet we are equal to them in wins and losses versus identical (SEC EAST) competion over that time frame, plus we have played SEC West teams with over almost a 70% WP over that time frame while they have played SEC West teams with a below 50% winning percentage. Folks, do not fear georgia, I know you don't, but my god, they are so overrated it is not funny, in the middle of last year they were riding a 6 game losing streak versus the SEC East, and had not Vandy given them the gift, they would have been on a 7 game losing skid versus the East. They have made a lot of hay from their Fla. and Auburn victories, but all said, they have not done better than us the past three/two years versus identical competition even though their staff has been in place for 8 years. Remember, we beat them at Georgia last year, we will beat them at home. GO COCKS!!!!!

- we will not loose at home this year. to georgia or anyone! maybe 1 that is it.not unless the injury bug gets us.stay healthy we can win the east!

- Georgia, as all opponents, is to be respected, not feared
but we're a lot more dangerous to them than they are to us.

- They may be #1 in the nation, but they are still Georgia. They don't deserve any praise from us.

- Don't forget the Goats have also failed to score an offensive TD in 3 of the last 7 games against us and young Mattie Stafford has a 44% completion rate, no TDs and 4 INTs in two games against us. I predict a Quincy Carter moment for Mattie this September...He hasn't played a secondary as good as ours since, well, the last time he played us and we all know how that turned out.

- UGA has never been feared. The Cocks give them hell most years even in the games we've lost. I can remember several games with them over the years that they were flat out lucky to get a win over usually outmanned USC teams.

- Fear?Raise your mugs Gamecocks! This is the day we get to take down the top ranked team in the country in our house on national TV.This will be the day they will look back and say Spurrier finally got the Gamecocks over the hump.

- uga is the one team of the big 3 that we have consistently had a shot at. I think we are 7-11 in the last 18 with quite a few close games going both ways.

*editor's note: there is nothing really stupid or crazy about the last one, i just found it funny.

On ESPN:

- It seems like whenever ESPN talks about the SEC they always leave the gamecocks out of the equation. I know we havent really done anything lately to be talked about but it seems like they have something against USC. For instance today on sportscenter they were talking about UGA's key games this year and they left USC out. Also they talked about LSU's key games and they put App State on their and left USC out. What do we have to do to get some respect from these guys?!!

- ESPN has been against us long before this Corso v Spurrier thing.

- I always love it when the so-called experts consider USC to be a "sure win" for Georgia and UT every year when recent history suggests that to be far from the truth.

*editor's note: In the last 5 years, South Carolina has beaten Georgia and Tennessee exactly 1 time apiece

- If USC was 13-0 the previous year the fish wrap[The State] and ESPN would find something wrong!

- ESPN is stacked to the rim with Big 10 homers. They hate like heck to give any more credit to the SEC than they have to, because admitting the SEC is the #1 conference in America takes glory away from their precious Michigans/Ohio Sts/Penn Sts.So... admitting SC (which finished 6-6 last year) is a "big" game for the Dawgs (which it is EVERY year) would be admitting that even a 6-6 Gamecock team is extrememly dangerous (which it is) to the top SEC guys.It shows the true strength and depth of the SEC. They don't like doing that. They'd much rather point to another favorite conference (Pac-10) ASU.

On Ole Miss, a team South Carolina hasn't beaten since joining the SEC:

- Who really believes Ole Miss will beat USC?

- We WILL NOT lose to Ole Miss.You can quote me on that.

- I suppose ANYTHING is possible. But I don't think we will loose to Ole Miss

- Sure we might lose to them... heck there will be many upsets in CFB... ones we would not even think of right now. But there is no way I am thinking at this point in time that we will lose to Ole Miss!

On the band:

- Has anyone heard anything about the band?
Has the band got some new songs to get the fans fired up and going the entire game? HOPE SO.GO COCKS.

- I'm also interested in knowing the number of band members - musicians; not flag wavers. Also, the increase (hopefully) in brass instrument players (tubas, trombones, horns, etc.) - give me a LOUD band anyday of the week.Also, is the new (under construction) Band Practice Facility going up on South Sumter Street having any impact on band recruiting?

- I want to know how many low brass we have and preferably how many tuba's we have? You get that solid sound from the low brass. I hope we've made it 20 in the tuba section.

- hopefully the flag crew wont be terrible and embarrasing this year

- I agree, placement is critical. Absent moving the student section to back where it used to be, I think the band should be moved to the bottom of section 23 (from around the concourse into the seating area all the way back to however much room they need). This would do several things:
1. It would place the band in a more centrally located area, similar to where the LSU band is in their stadium (only lower).
2. They would get the benefit of the East Upper stands helping to hold more sound in.
3. They'd be VERY close to the opposing team, and that amount of noise certainly wouldn't help them (there may be some SEC regulation on the band's placement in relation to the visiting band, I don't know though).
4. The East Upper likely wouldn't be affected much, if at all, since the band doesn't face the East Upper as it is now. The only difference is the east upper stands may get a better echo as sounds bounces off the west stands.
5. Finally, no one would be displaced because those are student section tickets anyways.

*editor's note: I'm serious, folks. Someone actually thought that through.

RIP, Skip Caray

2008-08-04T19:41:00.004-04:00

Folks, some things are bigger than football. Last night, Skip Caray passed away, and today, hundreds of thousands of baseball fans feel like they have lost a friend. He will be missed.

Sunday Q&A

2008-08-03T09:18:00.002-04:00

Folks, it's time for our weekly question and answer session. Leave all your college football-related questions here, and I'll answer them in Wdenesday's blog. That's how I'm going to do it from now on. Questions on Sunday, answers on Wednesday.

On Friday, I gave you my Power 20 poll. Today, I thought I would borrow an increasingly popular idea, at least in the southeast, and rank the ACC and SEC teams together.

1. Georgia
2. Florida
3. LSU
4. Auburn
5. Clemson
6. Tennessee
7. Wake Forest
8. Virginia Tech
9. Boston College
10. Alabama
11. Georgia Tech
12. Florida State
13. North Carolina
14. South Carolina
15. Ole Miss
16. Miss St.
17. Miami
18. Maryland
19. Arkansas
20. Virginia
21. NC State
22. Kentucky
23. Vanderbilt
24. Duke

Now MOAG.

In case you've been living under a rock for the past year and a half, South Carolina quarterback, Stephen Garcia, really likes getting arrested. He likes it so much, he's done it 3 times since setting foot on campus back in the spring of aught 7. After his 3rd such incident(for beer drinking), the University decided enough was enough. Garcia was suspended from the University until August 15, pending re-instatement from the administration. Most of us suspected he would be back sooner than that, especially after witnessing that abortion of a spring game, where gamecock quarterbacks combined to throw 8 interceptions. Fast forward to present day, and it is little surprise to anyone that Garcia has re-joined the team, a full 2 weeks ahead of his initial return date. His return also coincides with the start of fall camp. I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions on this matter(in fact, I encourage you to tell me what you think about the Garcia situation). Most gamecock fans seem pretty happy about it. But they aren't too happy with Ron Morris, local super-genius and sports writer for The State newspaper. His recently published editorial re: the quarterback's early return has left a sour taste in the mouths of people living in denial throughout the state of South Carolina. Here's a link to his article: http://www.thestate.com/gogamecocks/story/478914.html And here's a sampling of the rabble that followed.

On getting pissed and taking action:

- I didn't get past the first few sentences. Morris is an ass. Garcia has earned his way back onto campus. He has paid the price and has been given a second chance.

*editor's note: For those keeping count, this is Garcia's 4th chance.

- My guess is that Moron is probably a raging alcoholic.

- When was the last time that bag of dog poop has won award writing for
the state fish wrap? He is a sack of DOG POOP!!!

- According to this idiot, Carolina just cannot do anything right. We have screwed up at every possible place and time and will continue to screw up at every place and time in the future.

- What do you except from an idiot that doesn't even have a Journalism degree (he has an English degree)? Plus he graduated from a school that doesn't even have a football team (UNC Charlotte).

*editor's note: Ron Morris writes editorials.

- he is talking out of his azz...it should be obvious to all that the original Aug 15th date was some kind of mistake

- It's time to fight back guy's. I don't usually read it....never buy it.After reading the Garcia article...I am sick of it.It's a Columbia newspaper that bashes USC any chance it get's!We have to find a way to punch them in the mouth.

- i wish every gamecock fan and every gamecock advertiser would just stop buying the paper and advertising in the paper.if evevy gamecock would not purchase a papaer it would hurt.

- We need a list ...of company's that support them

- Look in the paper, call the advertisers and tell them you will no longer consider buying their products as long as they advertise in the paper. Like all things, including the almighty free press, money talks and Ron Morris walks.

- Here is what you do. Someone on this board list one MAJOR advertiser in The State Newspaper today along with phone number. Monday lets all call that business and let them know how we feel about the anti USC articles. If they continue to send their advertising dollars to The State Newspaper we will not do business with them.

On Clemson having closed practices:

- "Thousands of fans" at 1st USC practice per WIS(news). Clemson? Zero.
Tommy, there are medications for paranoia. You are actually afraid people will see the plays you and Spence call?

- Clemson and UGA were the 2 schools that were sending spies to all of USC's practices, I know for a fact although SOS never mentioned the names of the schools. Now TB has all practices closed b/c we pulled the same trick last year lol I love SOS.

- They do it so they can break the rules. WHy else would a team hold a closed practive? Par for the course in tatertown.

On the media's high expectations for Clemson:

- It must feel good knowing your team is gonna .........win the National Championship while at the same time your QB will win the Heisman. Taterville has to be on fire right now. They should give them the trophies now and not waste the time of any other schools. With James "crackle" Davis and CJ "pop" Spiller how can they lose??? The icing on the cake has to be Cullen "the beak" Harper and his strong arm throwing all over the talented ACC opponents. God....I am going to throw up.

Observations after one, I repeat ONE, practice........without pads:

- really think he have the best team since i have been following as closely as i do now am only 26 so wasnt around in the 80s

- It has finally come to pass. We have paid our dues. Enjoy the Golden Age of USC football.

- I was very pleasantly surprised at a lot of the improvements I saw in many areas of our team

- First let me say that I started my education at FSU in 96-97 and then transferred to USC. With that said we look like the 96 FSU team that only lost 1 game (to Spurrier).

- Saw J. King finally. Once this guy gets going he is going to be unstoppable. I remember him from a few years ago, and he mad Carlos Dunlop look like a 3rd stringer

Spot The Damn Ball!

2008-08-01T15:30:00.003-04:00

Ah, folks, college football is officially here. This evening, the Tigers and Gamecocks will take to their respective fields for their first official practice(s) of the season. Clemson is playing for a conference title and BCS berth. South Carolina is playing because they have to. Regardless of the obvious, disparate outlooks for each team, the fans for each program are happy the wait is over. Clemson fans are happy because they are anxious to see if Tommy Bowden can bring their beloved program out of its nearly 20 year slumber. South Carolina fans are happy because they don't know any better. Clemson fans believe they can beat every team on their schedule. South Carolina fans believe than can beat every team on Clemson's schedule. Yeah it's that time of year again, folks. As per usual, you can expect the volume and ferocity of the MOAG to increase with each passing day from here on out. Once the season starts, it will likely be so out of control that most people, save me, can't hope to tame it. But I can, and I will, for you, my loyal readers.

In honor of the start of fall practice, I am releasing my official Preseason Power 20 Poll. I'd like to briefly explain my ranking process. This is a power poll. It isn't a projection of where I think teams will finish the season. I don't consider conference affiliation or schedule. I don't rank 25 teams. I don't let my own personal biases get in the way. Without further ado, here is Mind of a Gamecock's first pre-season Power 20:

1. Southern California
2. Georgia
3. Oklahoma
4. Ohio St.
5. Missouri
6. Florida
7. LSU
8. West Virginia
9. Wisconsin
10. Auburn
11. Clemson
12. Texas Tech
13. Kansas
14. Tennessee
15. Arizona St.
16. Brigham Young
17. Wake Forest
18. Virginia Tech
19. Illinois
20. Utah

Please feel free to leave any questions or comments you have re: my poll. I will do one more pre-season poll at the conclusion of fall practice.

Clown Shoes University

2008-07-31T16:44:00.003-04:00

Folks, the gamecocks continue to circle the drain. In a recent blog, I commented on Steve Spurrier's famous "free shoes university" jab at Florida State. It was funny at the time, but it's about time the HBC coined a nickname for his own program down in Columbia, SC. If I may, I have a suggestion: Clown Shoes University. That is precisely into what Spurrier is turning South Carolina. For the 3rd consecutive day, Spurrier's comments to the media have left him looking less like the rightfully arrogant, badass coach he once was, and more like Cookie on Bozo's day off. In today's The State paper, SOS gave a retraction(of sorts) to yesterday's accusations made against Tigerillustrated.com's Cris Ard. The following is an excerpt from that article:

“There was a bunch of newspaper articles sent to several recruits out of Clemson. The word we got, it came from that guy. That’s just the word we got. We thought that’s who it was,” Spurrier said when reached by phone.
“We certainly didn’t think any Clemson coaches would send that stuff. There was just a packet of articles came out of Clemson. That’s what we were led to believe. That’s why I mentioned it, and hopefully I won’t have to mention it again.”

I gotta ask, Steve, who are you sending out to investigate these claims? Based on the way this thing has blown up in your face, it wouldn't surprise me to find out it was Stephen Garcia. Whoever it is, get someone else on the case. It sickens me to keep opening up the paper to yet another legacy-tarnishing pity party. What has happened to you?! Get it together, man. You're the Ol' Ball Coach. You used to strike fear into everyone. Now you're about as intimidating as Greg Norman on Sunday. I hate having to write about this, because we all know you deserve better. You should have taken the Alabama job, and gone out a winner. But, borrowing a really smart quote that really smart, clever people like to use, it is what it is.

You made a mistake when you accused Mr. Ard of mailing useful information to your recruits. But at least you were man enough to scapegoat "the word we got." That's a step in the right direction. A better step might be telling your players to stop getting arrested on a regular basis, but they're South Carolina football players. It's what they do. You'd rather trumpet the fact that "a lot of them" got their charges dropped, than try and take preventative measures to keep them out of trouble. You'd rather complain about The State covering all their misdeeds, than punish the players committing the crimes. It's a sad state of affairs. Even so, it isn't all bad news, at least for us Clemson fans. We've watched this type of stuff go on since Lou took the helm, and frankly, we've enjoyed the dynamic it's created in the rivalry. So lace up your size 28s, Steve, it's gonna be a long year.

Before I sign off for the day, I'll leave y'all with one more SOS quote from today's article:

“We have so many guys, I think the last four have been arrested and all charges dropped,” Spurrier said. “I just wish if you’re going to arrest somebody, make sure the guy’s guilty.”

Sweet Irony.

Now for some of today's best MOAG....

On the whole Spurrier/packet/Ard saga:

- The master is at work - and I am enjoying it.

- SOS is just being SOS and is only beginning to get into their heads, much like he occupies 90% of all uga's skulls

- Clemsons fan and coaches have a LONG history of this kind of stuff

- This is actually quite funny. Watching these Taters unravel like this. I look forward to seeing the further meltdown. Sometimes supporting a losing position till it blows up in your face is not so wise.

*editor's note: I swear to god someone actually said that

- The "truth" is the ongoing negative recruiting by tatersuck coaches and fans, been going on for thirty years now. It's the only way those people can sell themselves, they have to trashed other schools to recruits to make themselves look better, that's the truth!!!!

- The more I read about this stuff the angrier I get. I hope Spurrier and the cocks run Bowden and that overrated tater team of his out of the state come Nov. I cannot wait.

- Are they so worried about our team that they have to resort to these tactics?

On the rivalry with Clemson:

- In the Spurrier Era Clemsux in the rivalry has scored 62 points USC 61....If you start from the year Clemsux started playing football to present the taters average .6 more wins per year than USC. OH The Superiority....See you fellas in November where we are 4-4 our last 8 visits.

- clempsuks Alltime Rec ver SEC .......27-146

*editor's note: Clemson alltime record v. south carolina is 64-36-4. Clemson's record v. the rest of the SEC is 44-116-5

- They are really going to be upset when we make it two in a row in Dead Valley this season with the worst beating we have given them in a really long time. Even more upset in a few years when we have run off 3 or 4 in a row overall.

- SOS don't back down. While at Fl he called FSU "Free Shoes University" when some players got a free illegal shopping trip to foot Locker. Any questions??

- I honestly don't think he(Spurrier) will lose many more games to clemson.

- More than half my family members are taters. I grew up next to taterville...hell no! poor it on 'em coach! let 'em have it. We've been passive for WAY too long. I let 'em have it even when we lose.

- We are .500 or 4-4 at Death Valley vs. you guys since we joined the SEC. I wouldn't be talking so much $hit if someone came in my house and beat my ass on such a regular basis like that. Certain SEC teams can claim to call us thier bitch but it's not you guys.

*editor's note: Clemson is 7-1 at south carolina since they joined the SEC, and Clemson has won 9 of the last 11. I'm just throwin it out there, since they beat our ass in Clemson on such a regular basis.

- may I ask, gives you the idea that we can't take the next 3 or 4, or something like that? Don't bring up past history, this is a new time. Ya'll are 2-1 against us in the last 3, all of which could have gone either way. As much as ya'll say how you could be 3-0 the last 3 yrs, we say the same thing, we easily could be 3-0 against ya'll.Go ahead and believe you have a lot more talent. The last few years suggest otherwise. !!!!!!!--->As much as ya'll might be better this year, so are we.<---!!!!!!!It was nice, a couple of years ago, after spending the entire day at that rat hole of a town, to come away with the win. Looking forward to the same this year, and please, don't act shocked when it happens.

*editor's note: South Carolina hasn't won 2 in a row in this series since 1969-70. And I added the exclamation points and arrows in this quote. I just didn't want anyone to miss that orgy of prose.

- What I hear are the sounds of a kitty, getting a little nervous that the HBC is turning the table in this rivalry.

- You call us your bitch? Your bitch is going to claim a winning record over you in your house this year since conference expansion.
Your bitch is 5-11 overall vs. you since the conferences expanded in 92 and that includes two years when our program had the longest losing streak in the country.
If there's any team that we play this year that should call us their bitch it should be Ole Miss. They are the only team on our schedule that we are winless against since joining the SEC.

*editor's note: Even I am at a loss for words on this one, folks. I'm just......I don't know. But he wasn't finished digging.

- 5-11 is bad but it's not "owning" a team. That pretty much means we beat you one out of every three years plus we can actually claim a winning record at DV this year since joining the conference. Sorry but that's not "ownage". Florida is 15-1 vs. USC since 92, that's ownage. Tennessee is 14-2 vs. USC, that's ownage. Auburn and Ole Miss are both 6-0 vs. USC since 92', that's ownage. We are actually a little competitive against you guys. You guys have the upperhand but you don't own us.

On team speed:

- Anyone else worried about Defensive speed? I feel that we are either going to be incredibly fast or too slow.

Widespread Panic

2008-07-30T12:16:00.005-04:00

Folks, it's panic time. Another haymaker has been fired from Columbia, SC. They are becoming more frequent these days, but it isn't surprising to this blogger. This time, the center of the controversy is recruiting. We all know recruiting is a cut throat side of college football, a side most of us never get the opportunity to see first-hand. But we all got a front row seat for Columbia radio host, Kevin McCrary's melt down yesterday. McCrary decided to accuse the owner of a popular Clemson recruiting website of sending packets of information, containing the laundry list of recent criminal behavior that has occured within the S. Carolina football team, to an unknown number of recruits, for whom Clemson and South Carolina may be battling. The fact that these truth packets were sent is not in question. What is in question, is what information does Mr. McCrary have that led him to his accusatory rant. Sadly, it all comes back, again, to Coach Steve Spurrier.

Yesterday Coach Spurrier held a press conference, during which he announced he knew exactly who had sent out the truth packets. While he did not name any names, a clear inference can be drawn from the fact that a short time later, this particular website host was being slammed and defamed as the guilty party, all without the slightest disclosure of evidence. I'm not particularly concerned with Kevin McCrary's role in this saga. I am concerned with what led to such an irresponsible, and unprofessional, cry session on the air. As in most of these cases, it all comes back to the mind of a gamecock.

Anyone who follows recruiting knows that South Carolina is being handed its proverbial hat this year on the recruiting trail. They are barely beating out the likes of Buffalo and Akron for their players. They are getting beaten by the likes of Duke. And they are getting absolutely crushed by their in-state rival, as well as several other key SEC rivals. It's panic time. And why shouldn't it be? Coach Spurrier came here to save South Carolina football. To raise the bar to the likes of Georgia, Florida, LSU, and Tennessee. As most of us predicted, that hasn't happened. This fact, combined with a decades long inferiority complex, has led to genuine paranoia. They can't keep up with the big boys, so it has to be someone else's fault. It doesn't matter who. Just pick someone and blame him. A sense of impending doom will do that to a person, or group of people. This particular group of people is the South Carolina fanbase, and it's spreading like wildfire. Spurrier won't be around much longer, and they know if they don't win now, they likely won't have another chance for a long, long time. It doesn't help that Clemson's program, when compared to their own, is on the rise in every way imaginable. Media, local and national, is covering the Tigers in a way we haven't enjoyed for almost 2 decades. Recruiting is at an all time high. Our facilities are better. Our team is better. Our coaching staff is better. We've beaten them 9 of the last 11. It's panic time indeed, and the cocks are pulling out all the stops.

We don't know yet what will become of this latest fracas. We might not ever know. We likely won't ever know the identity of the person, or persons, responsible for sending out the truth packets to recruits. Honestly, it really doesn't matter. What we do know, is that those with the mind of a gamecock, from the lowliest Lexington resident to the HBC himself, are grasping at straws, desperately seeking someone to blame for their own ineptitude. One of their trusted own has even told them that the accused is not guilty of the charges. But it won't matter. They'll continue to repeat it until it just becomes accepted as fact. To all Clemson fans, I say just sit back and enjoy the finger pointing. Don't get riled up over these frivolous accusations. Let them waste their time and energy on it. Come November, we'll beat them again. They'll finish their season in the skids again. Come February, we'll sign a better recruiting class again. Come next July, we will be the target of more baseless, desperate mud-slinging again. The sun will rise and set. Gamecock players will get arrested in 5 Points. Coach Spurrier will complain to anyone who will listen, and continue the painful transformation into a caricature of himself. Life will go on. But most importantly, MOAG will go on.....and on.......and on. In my book, that is no reason to panic.

Now, to celebrate this latest dumpster fire, let's check out some of their thoughts on the issue:

- Frankly, over the years, I don't like anybody from Clemson as I believe they are all liars and cheats. Since the 70's, they have been either paying players, paying parents, using their county agricultural agents or doing things like this. They are the masters of deception and guile. I am sorry that they are in this state.

- its one of the clemson coaches

- i think it's ingenious, tiggers triple-douche, er deuce...get the investigators chasing packages around the southeast and they might not notice all the new cars...or stacks of $20's...or booster recruiting...

- who would you believe? A guy that writes for a website (Clemson website, whether its Tigernet, Tiger Illustrated, or the Scout site) or: A former Heisman trophy winner, Hall of Fame Football Coach; who's won a National Title? Hmmm, I think the latter has a "little" bit more credibility than some "journalist" of a fan's website.

- It is a fact they are being sent. Perhaps you Cheatas see what is coming and you are trying to stem the tide. History is clear you cannot get anything worth mentioning done without breaking the rules. When the going gets tough the cheatas start cheating. SOS is about to own you Cheatas.

- clempsCUm continues to prove/show that they are the Sewage of the Universe
when it comes to recruiting. Instigatated the "DEATH PENALTY' in 81' 7 they are just diein' to join SMU!!!!

Bonus Blog

2008-07-29T16:51:00.003-04:00

I want to thank everyone for voting in my poll. By a pretty overwhelming margin, most people feel this site is not stupid at all. 1 was most stupid, 10 was least stupid. I hope everyone realized that when they were voting.

I will have a new poll up shortly.

The Head MOAG

2008-07-29T10:39:00.002-04:00

Folks, I was going to blog about my thoughts on the ACC Coastal division today, but a certain gamecock fan has given me some better material to discuss today. Don't worry, I'll get to today's original topic some other time. Today I thought we could discuss a quote from the Ol' Ball Coach himself. Coach Spurrier is known for taking some pretty solid shots at his opponents. He coined the phrase, "You can't spell Citrus without UT." He called Florida State "free shoes university." When asked once if his Florida team would beat Georgia that year, he mockingly asked, "Is Ray Goff still the head coach there?" The man has never been short on words, and for the most part, he has backed it up. But 3 full years on Columbia, SC has begun to take its toll on Coach Spurrier. He hasn't enjoyed a winning record against any team South Carolina considers a rival. He's still taking his shots at other teams, but instead of landing with the force of a 1987 Mike Tyson uppercut, they feel like a guilt-ridden spanking from your grandmother. His latest attempt came yesterday. His target: Clemson.

“I wish one of the sportswriters, when they start picking everybody's record this year, would write how they'd do if Clemson played South Carolina's schedule and South Carolina played Clemson's schedule,” Spurrier says.

“They don't do that,” says Spurrier. “Clemson doesn't play Virginia Tech this season. Alabama. Alabama could be difficult. They don't play Georgia and Tennessee and Florida and LSU and those people we play.”

“But anyway, that's the way it is,” Spurrier says. “There's no big deal about it.”

No big deal about it, he says. Of course, that begs the obvious question, If there is no big deal about it, why mention it at all? His comments weren't goaded out of him by a reporter looking to stir up some guff. He simply made them, unprovoked, for no discernable reason at all. Well, folks, that's why I'm here. I'm going to tell you exactly why he made them. Earlier I said 3 years in Columbia has taken its toll on Coach Spurrier, and never has it been more evident than right now. Coach Spurrier has become one of them. MOAG is a powerful force, with its epicenter being Columbia, SC. The closer you get to the armpit of the state, the more it envelops you. Despite being a Hall of Fame coach, a proven winner, Spurrier is now officially a gamecock. He's making excuses before the season even starts. When he took the job at South Carolina, he made it a point to try and lessen the importance of the rivalry with Clemson. We all knew he full of it then, and the proof is in the pudding now.

Yes, Clemson does play an easier schedule than South Carolina. No rational person would dispute that fact. Then again, no confident person would spend a second worrying about another team's schedule. Yet everyday on gamecock message boards, all you see is people whining about Clemson's schedule, and bemoaning their own grueling slate of games. "If we didn't get so beat up each year we'd beat Clemson way more than they beat us." Blah, blah, blah. The last 2 national champions have come from the SEC. Those teams have played schedules at least as difficult as the gamecocks. The cold hard truth is, the schedules don't have nearly as much of an impact on the series record as gamecocks fans want to believe. It's the players that matter. Clemson simply has better players. They always have, and they always will.

Coach Spurrier can complain to the media all he wants about unfair schedules and, ironically, unfair media coverage. This wasn't the first time he's done it, and it certainly won't be the last. I'm sure he'll have plenty more to say after his South Carolina program falls to 1-3 against Clemson this November. When that happens, gamecocks fans, remember this quote from Spurrier. You have no call to be frustrated with him, for he is truly one of you now. Coach Spurrier has the Mind of a Gamecock.

Weekend Questions Answered

2008-07-28T15:53:00.004-04:00

Thanks for allowing me a weekend off, loyal readers. Blogging is hard work, but it's a passion of mine. I'm dedicated to making this the best blog about stupid South Carolina fans in the world. Thanks for submitting your questions. Here are the answers

1. Hello. Can you please give me a rundown on the Wofford Terriers season and your predictions for the rest of the SoCon? Thank you. - john cocktosten
I think the Terriers are probably the 3rd best team in the state, behind Clemson and Furman. Unfortunately, when dealing with the SoCon, it's pretty much App St or bust.

2. Hey man-Whats yer favorite no doubt song?
How about the Human League?
Who is better: Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose or Hamilton Joe Franklin?
In 1984, in a street fight, who would win between Ralph Macchio and William Zabka?
Also, do you think that Macchio and Zabka were friends in real life?
1980 Bulldogs or 81 Tigers?
Sparky Woods or Brad Scott?
In the movie Highlander, what do you envision as the "Prize?"
I have heard that the 80's band "Europe" once got some kid so pumped that he ran through a glass door. Is there any validity to this story-or is it just another urban legend?Thanks and Goodnight. - cock. cock. cock. cock!

No Doubt - Hollaback Girl
Human League - Don't You Want Me Baby
On your next question, I need clarification. Did you mean Hamilton, Joe, Frank, and Reynolds?
Bill Zabka, and they are real life friends. Best friends.
1980 Bulldogs
I've never seen Highlander.
The story about the boy is true. He's me.

3. Why are you such a piece of $h@t? - cockadoodlejew
I'm not. You probably just feel that way b/c you're a gamecock fan and you have trouble dealing with reality.

4. Why the hell are there so many Clemson fans living in Virginia, and why are they all a pack of retards who no nothing about football? - anonymous
I'm not sure of the answer to your first question. But most Clemson fans I KNOW, KNOW plenty about football. In fact, they KNOW so much, if they KNEW anymore, they'd KNOW more than it was even possible to KNOW, ya KNOW.

5. If the moon was made of cheese would you eat it?
What about pork ribs?
What is your opinion on the broke back comments Bowden made on Kyle Parker in his baseball uniform?
Why is Tommy gay?
Why does he choose to pick his nose during gametime when the camera is on his ugly mug?
Why does he say some of the dumbest things imaginable? - anonymous

No on your first moon question. Yes to your second moon question.
Coach Bowden's comments about Kyle Parker were a little bit strange, although I'm sure they were completely innocuous. My guess is that someone asked him a question he didn't really feel like answering, so he said something that drew attention away from the fact that he wasn't answering the question. It's a fairly common practice in the coaching world. I don't think Coach Bowden is gay. Everyone picks their nose, he just happens to have a camera on him every Saturday for a few hours. If any one of us were in the same situation, we'd probably get caught digging. Coach Bowden does say some things that really make me scratch my head, but gamecock fans, as evidenced by the blog, have set the dumb bar pretty low. Taking that into account, I've never heard Coach Bowden say anything dumb.

6. What is your opinion on the economy struggle of Thailand and how can they fix the damn surplus mangament of the big corporations over there?
Why does McDonald's suck so bad?
Did the Taco Bell dog succumb to AIDS? - anonymous

Like all the world's problems, Thailand's economic swoon is George W. Bush's fault. Their dependency on the strength of the American dollar has been tenuous, at best, for quite a while now. The talking heads keep telling us that we aren't in a recession, but tell that to Thai Joe Sixpack. Unless they can find a relatively quick, cost effective solution to weather our storm, they may see their worst downturn since 2002. It isn't all bad news though. As you know, Thalaind is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia. Ironically, those who claimed ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's populist policies were fiscally irresponsible are now reaping what they sowed. In the interest of brevity, I won't go into detail on which specific policies might be the most beneficial to the Thai economy. If you're interested in learning more, I would suggest reading a brilliant article in last month's The Economist.

McDonald's has gone the way of Hardee's in the last few years. It's only good for breakfast now. My theory is that we're older and we realize the food is just processed crap. Except for the McRib. I'll always return for the McRib.

I don't know what became of the Taco Bell dog. I did have a taco a few weeks ago that tasted funny and made me very sick. I'll let you bring that thought to a logical conclusion.

7. Wow. Judging by all questions shot at you, I'll have to say that your blog is doing quite well and is very successful. And by all that I mean it's a complete joke and nobody is taking this thing seriously.Good efforts, but one thing you fail to realize is after a few blog entries people lose interest. Now all you have is a bunch of random people typing random crap and asking you funny questions that have NOTHING to do with anything. Sorry, it's a joke now and hardly anyone pays attention to it. Thanks for playing.Maybe a Gamecock fan can make Mind of a Clemson fan.Safe to say there'd be a lot more quotes because Clemson fans say a hell of a lot more stupid shit than USC fans, believe it or not. I would know, I love with too damn many of them. You act as though you're shocked at the number of dumb quotes on FGF. You haven't heard anything yet. - anonymous

This isn't really a question, but I wanted to address it anyway. Judging by the number of hits my blog has gotten since Friday, I'd say your assertion is indeed MOAGish. I think that you'll find this blog is about to take off and become wildly successful. I'm sorry to hear that you love with so many Clemson fans, whatever that means. I never acted as if I was shocked at the number of dumb quotes by Carolina fans. I acted as if the wealth of dumb quotes was too good to not share with the world. Once the season starts up, the football analysis will pick up, and it'll make you really mad how right I am about everything. Please continue reading, for your own good.

8. I was just wondering what it would actually take in order for the cocks to get their heads out of each other's asses. Do they not know that they are the laughing stock of college football? Spurrier will not be able to win there. Once he leaves, their program will be undone (not that it's in the best shape now). I hope your dog gets better. - anonymous

To answer your first question, anonymous, it would take an act of God the likes of which this world has never seen, at least since Creation. They do not know they are the laughing stock of college football. They likely never will.

Thanks for the well wishes for my dog. She is doing much better. She had stepped on a piece of sharp metal, and it had gotten lodged in the padding of her front, right paw.

Folks, that's it on this week's Q&A. Thanks for all of the questions. I had to delete a few of them. I'm sorry for that. I try not to delete anything, but a few of them just weren't meant for public viewing. To make up for it, here are some really dumb things said by gamecock fans, coming up in just a few minutes.

On Clemson:

- Clemson does not matter. Why do Carolina fans just not get that?!

- Beating a A-SHE-SHE team gets us no credit at all!!!! Who cares about those rednecks??? The entire nation takes note when we defeat one of our fellow SEC teams. A win over an SEC brother will give us more respect than a win over a bad cow team.Leave the A-SHE-SHE teams for people like KKKLIMPSON and DOOK to beat!!!GO COCKS!GO SEC!

On if UGA tried celebrating on their field like they did against Florida last year:

- can't celebrate if you don't score

- They hate us. They hate us in a big, big way (they even fear this game).

- I EXPECT us to beat uga too. Anything less is a big, big disappointment to me. A loss for us at the WB this year would be inexplicable and that's going to be a moot point soon enough because we all know the COCKS! are a much, much better team this year than the same team that won in Assens last year. COCKS! by 10 in the WB.

On Urban Meyer's lofty opinion of Tim Tebow:

- Meyer will be eating those words when Hawaii whips them just like June Jones
said

On The State newspaper being "against them:"

- it is pathetic that a large news organization works against its cutomers the way the columbia print media does.

On staying classy:

- Proof that God hates Clemson.

- He's a whiner and a showboater on the diamond, but wouldn't wish that on even a CowTech person.

*these posts are in response to Clemson's baseball coach Jack Legget's house tragically burning down this weekend

On how badly they'll need to beat NC State to be satisfied:

- We need to win by 24 and score a minimum of 35.

- Beatsem by at least 24.Anything less will mean we're gonna suck.

- 1. Win by 17+ (35-14, 31-14, 28-10, 28-7, etc.)2. No turnovers3. Davis goes over 100 yards4. Defense gives up 14 points or less5. No blocked kicks6. Good return yards7. Hold NCSU to minimal return yards8. Defense creates/recovers at least 2 turnovers.

- 24-10 or better. Any score closer than that would be a disappointment IMO. NCSU is supposed to be a rebuilding ACC team this year, we should dominate them.

- 35-10 USC

- I expect a 35 to 7 or 35 to 6 performance from the Cocks. A lesser performance on either side of the ball will be dissapointing for me.

- A route...'bout time we start punishing the teams we can.

- a comfortable win that is never in doubt. 27-3 first half and final score of 41-10

- I want to see an SEC caliber team play to their potential over a very weak ACC team. We must dominate. The game should never be in question and by late 3rd quarter we're playing our 2 and 3-deep backups.If we win by one point over one of the worst teams in the ACC, I'll be very disappointed. How disappointed? Remember our "victory" over UNC last year? That kind of disappointed.41-10

A classic:

- This is the year we turn the corner, on paper it all adds up.

Some division predictions for '08:

- 1. UF 2. SC 3. UGA 4. UT 5. Vandy 6. UK

- SEC East will be decided by the Gamecock-Gator game

- 1. USC/UF winner (Best defence wins) 2. UF 3. UGA (Schedule is too hard, like USC last year) 4. UcheaT ( No Cutcliffe, No QB, NO Shot!) 5. UK (Back to normal) 6. VU (Ditto)

- 1. Florida 2. USC 3. UGA 4. TN 5. KY 6. VAN

- 1. Florida 2. South Carolina 3. Georgia 4. Tennessee 5. Kentucky 6. Vanderbilt

- 1. South Carolina (Only if QB comes through.)2. Florida (Lot of talent on offense, but secondary is suspect)3. Georgia (Schedule is too tough)4. Tennessee (New QB and new Coordinator)5. Vanderbilt (It's Vandy)6 Kentucky (Loss too much)

That's all for today folks. Tune in tomorrow when I break down the ACC Coastal Division....

Big Week

2008-07-26T12:27:00.002-04:00

Folks, I think it was a big first week for Mind of a Gamecock. I appreciate everyone reading and leaving their comments. The blog will be on hiatus this weekend for a little retooling. What I want you, my loyal readers, to do, is leave any questions you have about the upcoming season. I will answer each and every one of them in Monday's blog. Participate.

Thanks again for reading.

Thank You, Loyal Blog Readers

2008-07-24T18:34:00.002-04:00

I want to take a moment to thank all of you, my loyal readers, for making this blog the single most succesful blog ever created. Please continue to read and leave comments. Please also spread the word to all your friends and enemies. Take a moment out of your day and wish my poor dog well, too, if you will. She has injured her foot, and we're all hoping for a speedy recovery.

Folks, the South Carolina gamecocks are not only one of the worst football programs to ever play the game, the entire athletic department is widely regarded as a travesty. A perversion. A mockery. A sham. This fact is bared out each and every year, season after season, game after game. Yet despite failure stacked upon failure, hope always springs eternal in the mind of a gamecock. There is always next year. This year was just a fluke. We were robbed. We choked. But we should have been better. And we will be. Next year. As everyone's best friend, Lee Corso, would say, not so fast my friend. After 100+ years of submediocrity, shouldn't "next year" have arrived by now? The answer is yes. But it hasn't. And I've got sad, hard news for you MOAGs. It isn't. Your hall of fame coach can't change that fact. Your previous hall of fame coach couldn't either. Go ahead and hire another hall of fame coach. He, nor anyone who follows him, can change this one simple fact: South Carolina sucks. In honor of this fact, here is some of the week's best gamecock dumb.

On things that matter:

- ATTENTION EVERYONE: PLEASE WEAR GARNET TO THE GAME! LETS HAVE THE WHOLE STADIUM IN GARNET FOR NC STATE.GO COCKS!

- Cheerleaders - Someone please tell me they'll stop wearing
those hideous oversized hair bows! They aren't 6 years old anymore!

- The Band Needs to Play "I Love Beech(er) Music" After Each TD Pass

On Tim Tebow & Matt Stafford:

- all this man love for tebow makes me sick. ron loves tim, little kids love tim, sports commentatots love tim, women love tim, impoverished natives drinking unclean water love tim, the state of florida loves timi hope when we play florida that b52 knocks his head off, enough of this odd man love with tim tebow, he is not our friend or ally, he dismantled us once, lets dismantle him, quit day dreaming about his pecs or rugged good lookssometimes i think the entire nation is going gay can we just lay off the luv for this opponent?

- I think Matthew Stafford will go from top draft pick, to the guy who threw away their season this year.

On their own offense:

- I don't think an average of 31 points this year is unrealistic.

- I believe if SOS is got alot of confidence in Tommy Beecher than the fans should get behind Tommy Beecher to.

On Mark Richt:

- Richt not suspending Anderson & Sturdivant - don`t you love a hypocrite?
Richt portrays this saintly image then allows his players to disgrace college football in Jacksonville last year, will handle these 2 guys "in house." You can`t have it both ways. Fine - just don`t pretend to be something you`re not. He and Bowden must be related.

On the ACC Championship Game:

- ...pathetic a she she should hire clempsin to fill up the joint....they are experts in Bi-lo give-a-ways & two for ones with an x-tra large bag of frito po-tater-chips!!!

On believing anything:

- i heard on the radio that phil fulmer was served with a subpoena when he arrived in birmingham for SEC media days today. remember the bama probation case where fulmer was wanted by the authorities in alabama for questioning. fulmer had avoided going to the state of alabama until today(7-24-08).

About the Author, Continued

2008-07-23T15:53:00.006-04:00

I really got some great questions today. Let's get right to it.

1. Who do you think would win in a no holds barred cage match between Steve Taneyhill and Kimbo Slice? Anyone who can beat Clemson in Death Valley would have no trouble whipping Kimbo's ass.

2. Do you know more about football than soonerpanic? Nobody does.

3. Can you start a photo gallery? This question isn't about me, so I will not answer it. But I think I probably can, and I'll look into it.

4. Why do you suck so bad?Also, have you always been a turkey or is this a recent development?Thank you. A two-parter, and a good one at that. Suck is, of course, subjective. In your case, I think you probably feel that way about me, b/c you are a South Carolina fan, and the fact that I am a Clemson fan gives you an inferiority complex. That is natural and understandable. As for the second part of your question, the answer is I have always been a big turkey.

5. When am I going to get out of jail? Bu$hleaguer. What are you in for?

6. Three Questions:
1. What are your predictions for clemson and usc season? Clemson will go 11-1 and win the ACC Championship. South Carolina will go 6-6, and get a bowl bid b/c they added 2 more extra bowls this year.
2. How much time to you spend on your computer everyday? I would say, on average, I spend 8-10 hours a day on my computer.
3. Which is Dorkier, Star Wars or Lord of the Rings? I've never seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies, so I will definitely say Lord of the Rings.
4. On a scale of 1-10 how gay are you? 6 being the gayest. 3

7. Name your 5 favorite college teams and 5 least favorite college teams. Tell a funny joke.

5 Favorite: Clemson, Georgia, Auburn, Oklahoma, NC State
5 Least Favorite: South Carolina, Notre Dame, Texas, UNC, Virginia

Funny Joke: The South Carolina Gamecocks

8. Is it true that you outed yourself as hot soup when you started this blog, as the original "authors" name was hot soup instead of #7? No

9. Hey clemson blogfag why are you so freaking gay and obviusly take it up the pecker at least 11 times a day. and yes that "11" is on purpose, becuase that is how many games SOS is going to lead us to victory this season!!!! Great question, anonymous. I

10. Who is the best QB to ever play at Tater U and why?Rodney WilliamsCharlie WhithurstWoodrow DantzlerHomer Jordan? Charlie Whitehurst - He is the only one to beat the Gamecocks 4 years in a row.

11. If Clemson fails, who's the next coach? Dan Marino

Where has Spurrier stumbled? How would you fix it? He has stumbled the same way Lou did: trying to create a quick fix by taking anyone with talent, regardless of character. There is no way to fix it. Ever.

Danny Ford's favorite drink, be specific. I know the answer. Miller Lite

12. Would you rather see Clemson win a national title or spend an entire year at the playboy mansion with all playmates at your disposal?If you actually choose nat'l title will that affect your gayness scale rating? It depends on who we beat in the championship game.

For those of you who don't know, the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia is the single greatest reference book ever written. Every team is profiled in detail by a chosen sportswriter. Not surprisingly, the writer chosen to profile the Gamecocks, Geoffrey Norman, is a complete idiot. To give you an idea the depth to which South Carolina fans will stoop, here is a quote from his profile in the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia: "Unlike many other states, in South Carolina, the aggie school receives favorable political treatment and, thus, has a decided advantage in football." I don't know if I've ever seen such excusatory paranoia in my life, but if I have I can't remember it. Think about what this guy just said. He is claiming that the flagship state school is at a political disadvantage. Now for some real fun, just watch and see how many gamecock fans defend his statement. While we're waiting for that, let's visit some quality MOAG.

On the team's constant legal issues:

- what happen to the good old days when the cops just confiscated or dumped the beer out and sent you home? thats what happened to me a few times in high school. Lawyers ended that tradition. Suppose they let a kid go and if he gets in an accident, some scumbag lawyer will sue everyone they can possibly get a dollar from.

On losing a recruit to Clemson, and later finding a picture of him holding 20 Gs:

- I have sent an email and picture of Mr Paige holding the money to the NCAA representative as well. I think the more this is brought up to the NCAA, they will have no other choice than to look into this.We know that Clemson is dirty, this is a chance to possibly show not only the NCAA but the nation that Clemson is still up to their old tricks and this sort of behavior will not be tolerated. Maybe the media will follow up on this as well. I guess I have some more emails to send out..I mean one of the media outlets has to put something in their wraps about it...here goes.

- I tried to tell you folks that Klampscum was up to their old tricks again but none of you would listen. My statement was that they didn't sign a class like the one they just got even when they were previously caught cheating. Make some noise and keep it up or this will not be investigated. Remember that BillyBobElroyDufus and the Klanscum "compliance" officer worked for the NCAA before landing at Clumpscum. Those two were able to get a player eligible that did not have the grades. Also,Tammy's brother admitted that he knew who the bag man was at Auburn and guess who one of the assistant coaches was? None other than Tammy himself. If Terry knew, lill brother also knew and ignored it. I believe it is called "plausable deniability"! I have been hearing this crap here in Florida for months!

- Just to kinda clue YOU in , Page won't be the ONLY name you hear when this is over !!!!!!!!

On a true freshman, virtually unknown quarterback recruit:

- what do you think about Aramis Hillary out of Strom Thurmond High School in Johnston, SC getting into the action over the summer in hopes of becoming the starting quarterback? He is very athletic, fast, and good with the ball in his hands. Spurrier really praises him. I went to high school with him and he and his family really love football. He even gets good grades and stays out of trouble. He was rated the #14 top dual threat quarterback in the nation in 2008 by Rivals.com. Is this the quarterback that is needed to run Spurrier's Cock-N-Fire/Fun-N-Gun (with a running quarterback) Offense? I think with him controlling the offense, the Gamecocks can be unstoppable!

On when Spurrier will win his first SEC Championship:

- SOS gets his this year

- I think we are close in football. Perhaps this year or next.

- I say that we shock the NCAA and that both SOS and DH win the SEC next year, right after Tanner wins the SEC and NC this year. Look at UGA's run in the SEC BB Tourney this year - we will be better coached, have better talent, and lose less talent to graduation, so it is definitely possible.
The amazing thing is that it is actually quite possible! Let's all be positive and supportive - Go Cocks!

On the '08 Georgia game:

- My thoughts are the same as every year , we'll beat ya into a COMA !!

- uga will go down 24-13. You may be loaded, but you fire too many blanks usually when you come to cola town no matter how much talent you have.

*editor's note: Georgia has lost twice in Columbia since S. Carolina joined the SEC. They have won 6 times

- We win because our D will be better than theirs. Hell, their defense couldn't stop our anemic offense last year.

- I'm expecting something to the tune of a 20-17 win.

- When the Dawgs come to Columbia, it is an electrically charged atmosphere because they have come to play THE GAMECOCKS.

- UGA fans should respect the fact that SS has enjoyed great success against their Dawgs.

- People like to talk about us underachieving. But IMO UGA has underachieved more than anyone in the league.

On not being ranked in one pre-season top 25 poll:

- some suprises (to me anyway) all over this top 25. UT even in top 25 let alone #15 with Anige gone? Ohio St# 2? Illinios at 14 and Clemmons, master of the choke at #9 and look at all of the SEC teams there, UF, UGA, LSU, AUBURN??,UT, and we all knew Saban the Saint would get in. not any love thrown our way either. I don't get it.

- We would beat #1(West Virginia), #7(Missouri), #9(Clemson), and everyone ranked #10 or below.

On their '08 defense:

- We all know that defense wins championships and I am excited about ours. If our QBs put up stats like 12 for 18 and 173 yards. We put up 130-175 yards rushing and score 17-24 points (some defensive TDs as a bonus)on all our tougher teams, I think we will be all right. I cant wait for the 'Pack.

About The Author

2008-07-23T11:14:00.002-04:00

Folks, I'm very pleased with the response to new blog this week. I'm sure by now there are a lot of questions you want to ask me, so I thought today I might open up the forum for a little Q&A. No question is off limits. I will answer them to the best of my ability. If you'll leave your questions in the comments section of this entry, I will answer them in a new blog later this evening. The evening blog will feature a lot of sweet, sweet MOAG too.

The Navy Game

2008-07-22T16:59:00.003-04:00

Blog Fans, this year is the 24th anniversary of the Navy game. For those of you too young to remember that, let me bring you up to speed. In 1984, your South Carolina Gamecocks did the unthinkable. They started the season 9-0. 9 and 0! It was the best season in your oft-mocked program's history. After running out to such an incredible record, all they had to do was beat a 3-5-1 Navy squad to claim the program's first ever #1 national ranking. #1 Ranked Nebraska had already lost to Oklahoma. The Gamecocks were #2, facing Navy, and poised to grab the top spot and a likely trip to the National Championship game. That long wait was finally over, right? Wrong. Not only did the Cocks lose to a poor Navy team with a national title on the line, they got, as I like to say, taken behind the woodshed. 38-21 was the final score. It was the program's first opportunity ever to play for a national title, which it so dearly coveted on the heels of Clemson's untainted 1981 title, and they blew it......to Navy. So let's look at some stupid stuff Gamecock fans say.

On the upcoming season:

- I keep seeing all of these predictions for this season. Now I do agree that 8-9 wins is probable this year and a few bounces our way and a "big maybe" of 10 wins. I will go with the big maybe in my prediction. But what I don't understand is why all of the low point totals for our offense in all of these games. Is no one considering the fact of how great our defense will be which will give us great field position. The defense will create turnovers and score points as well. And what about special teams. Does no one on here think our special teams will be the most improved in the country?? Here are my score totals for the season.
NC State: WIN 34 - 13
Vanderbilt: WIN 31 - 20
Georgia: WIN 31 - 30
Wofford: WIN 41 - 7
UAB: WIN 48 - 10
Mississippi: WIN 27 - 10
Kentucky: WIN 34 - 17
LSU: WIN 24 - 21
Tennessee: LOSS 23 - 17
Arkansas: WIN 30 - 20
Florida: LOSS 41 - 31
Clemson: WIN 34 - 31

- I see us losing to Georgia and Florida going into the Clemson game 9-2. I see Clemson losing at least one to Alabama or Florida State, maybe both, being either 9-2 or 10-1 going into the last game. If we stay healthy, I like our chances for something special...I could also see us losing to LSU and Tennessee, too, if we have any critical injuries...

- 9 wins total including uga, clemson & bowl. I would call this a great season even if we do not make it to Atlanta. However our goal should ALWAYS be the SEC championship game.

- 14-0! I start out every year with this expectation. I dont know about ya'll but I never played in any game on any level where I didnt think we could win.

On Clemson's chances at an ACC title this year:

- NO way Clemson wins an ACC championship! No Fing way!

- I think they will lose 3 acc games and 2 SEC games. My sympathy to the choir.

- I think they lose to Bama, @Wake, @BC, @FSU and USC.

- Cullen Harper hasn't done anything impressive against a I-A team with a winning record. I say 3 losses is a best case scenario for them.

- Strength of schedule does factor into the equation. The other nine teams in the top ten would have to have two loses and Clemmons have to be undefeated for them to go to the national championship game!

On Tennessee(MUST READ!!):

- I really think we're going to be better than Tennessee in every phase of the game this time around. We outplayed them the last two years but managed to steal defeat from the jaws of victory.

- There's no excuse to lose this game this year.

- I think we take them behind the woodshed:)

- This is a game we should be winning every year. I hate UT!!! Football,basketball whatever. It was just another game we let get by us last year. They seem to do that to us every year. We are in it, but cant put the dagger where it needs to go(right through their orange hearts.)

- Gut feeling....this is the year we begin an annual domination of the other orange. Gamecocks by two touchdowns!!!!!!!

- I think we win by a decent margin. We should have dominated last year. We were the better team, we just made one too many mistakes. Hopefully the oline will play well, if they can, we win by at least two touchdowns.

- I think we win by at least Two td's and a fg.

- I say this game may be similar to missippi state last year with probably a similar score.

- My take is this; last season, only in my opion, Carolina only lost to Florida and Arkansas, the other games were given away. LSU was due to a serious injury to Mr. Brinkley. I am a die hard fan and pertaining to this UT game; Game Cocks with a win. I can't give you a score, but I'm sure it will be convincing enough for people to say we're on the move. As far as some of you say they will not have many impact players, again, I say Carolina gave that game away. So it doesn't matter who is on the field for ut, CAROLINA WILL WIN!!! This team has compotent players who WILL produce victories this year. I see a very impressive Wins number. Go Game Cocks!!!

Countdown To Kickoff

2008-07-20T23:01:00.002-04:00

Folks, football season is almost here. Freshmen are reporting to campus, teams are hitting the field, and gamecock fans are saying hilarious stuff. The closer we get to kickoff, the more delusional they become. A South Carolina football game is the sports equivelant of a .38 Special concert. Sure there may be a couple solid hits here and there, but it's mostly a parade of sloppy play and black denim. So what is it that gives them such lofty, unreasonable expectations? Maybe one day we'll understand this psyche better, but for now we might as well have some fun with it.

On Georgia:

- If you look at Spurrier's record at USC in his first three seasons:Spurrier's Gamecocks have a better record in the SEC East than Richt's Dawgs have.

- I can't believe so many of you people are buying the hype they're selling in Assens. They couldn't win their own DIVISION of the conference in large part...because WE BEAT THEM. The main changes will be that we won't have Blake or Cory. Maybe, just maybe...we won't drop a lick in either of those losses. Otherwise, it's the same offense for us that won last year and I have a very strong suspicion that our defense will be much improved. If you guys really think we'll lose then that's your choice.

On this blog:

- you are a complete idiot and have no social life. clemtech does do that to you since you picked a school with absolutely nothing to do. i didnt read it i just looked at how much you typed and now have increased my thoughts of idiocracy clemson people have. and just the fact that you spent time looking for those is plain sad. get a life man

- You really need to tell your mom to let you out of the basement once in a while. So that you can go play in traffic and do us all a favor.

- Ur a moron. Maybe we should start a separte one devoted to stupid clemson fans who think it is acceptable for a football player to beat his gf. I know your just goin to delete this comment because, after all it has some sort of intelegence in it but atleast i tried.

- It apparent that you arent bright enough to actually use a blog to write about material subjects that come from your mind so you have to find another source. Here is an idea, since u go to clemson you could start a blog describing the mateing patern of cows and sheep depending on their die. That is what you study at clemson right?

- Seems to me that YOU are the delusional one. And pathetic too for making this garbage blog. What a complete waste of time. Have fun with this utter, complete piece of garbage you call a blog. What a complete joke.

On the Columbia P.D.:

- I know for a fact that these cops[arresting our players] are Clemson fans. They will stop at nothing to try and ruin our program.

- How pathetic is it that they have nothing better to do than wait outside the bars in 5 Points to arrest our players for drinking and fighting?

On Their own Predictions:

- I think most Gamecock fans are usually a little too conservative in their predictions.

Weekend Wrap-up

2008-07-20T09:09:00.002-04:00

Today I'm going to try and ease everyone into this thing. S. Carolina fans say a lot of awesome stuff about their football team every day. Much of it is captured on the internet. My goal is to find it, judge it, and then present it to you, hopefully in a humorous manner. This is a rivalry, folks. If I wasn't doing my part to engender more bad will, I'd be letting myself, my school, and my wife down. So if you like to laugh, or have friends who like to laugh, tell them about this place. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to post them. I will answer every one I can to the best of my ability. So without further ado, I present you today's best.

On the upcoming season:

- As always the UGA Game will be key. I think we will beat them. The only game that will be really tough will be UF.

- We're probably looking at 9-3 in the regular season. It's well in the realm of possibility to go 6-2 in the SEC if all our cards go right.

- my expectations are winning the east. I don't expect anything less.

- If we play decent ball should go 9-3.

- i do feel we will be as good as any team in the east...

- This year our D is the cream of the SEC

- This is the year the big three in the SEC East becomes UF, UGA and USC.

- yes its a known fact that if we get good line play on both sides of the ball we can win the SEC.

- Things will change for next year when we finish 10-2 this year.

- My crystal ball shows us in the Sugar in a rematch with Mizzu.

editor's note: an anonymous fan, after reading the above 10-2 prediction, said, "There is absolutely no logical reason for Carolina fans to think they will go 10-2. 8-4 is a stretch and that would be a great season for them. There are 3 games on your schedule that are certain Ws, and that is Wofford, UAB, and Kentucky. After that there are 4 toss ups and 5 losses." This was the response.

- Your argument that South Carolina wont be good is contary possibilities that are wrongly presented as though they were exclusive. You cant measure a programs heart and determination for the up coming year. saying it wont happen, it cant happen, If Boise stated can run the tables and kick Ok arse in a BCS bowl then I think South Carolina has a reason to believe they can glorious year. Theres a reason why no matter what critics say the game still must be played!!!!

On Tennessee:

- UT is gradually turning into the FSU of the SEC.

On last year's loss to Vandy(I swear to god this is real):

- How many teams overcome 5 sacks, three int's, poor routes, bad blocking, poor field position three fumbles and only lose by 11 to a team that took UGA to the last second?

On a list of toughest places to play that didn't include Williams-Brice stadium:

- The folks that did this obviously never went to a game at Carolina before.. I have been to nearly all the SEC and most ACC stadiums and nothing compares to WB on a saturday night in the fall.

On Spurrier's future as head coach:

- I say Spurrier is here at least 10 more years. Look at Joe Pa and Pappa Pastor Bowden, shoot, SOS is a young dude!

- I agree and I think people read WAYYYYY too much into stuff the media promotes about this.

On the rivalry w/ Clemson:

- if we're going to compare overall records it should be from about 1970 forward. I think this is about the time college football became really huge and it was also the beginning of my life so it's all I remember.

- we would probably go 12 - 0 if we played their sorry schedule.

- Bowdung was so intimidated by Lou it was comical. And with Bowdungs long history of low self esteem, his only difference is to say thinks that makes himself look better.

- CowTech should have a good record by the time we play them. My highschool would probably go 50/50 vs that schedule. This year don't we we have our open date earlier and get the orange crush broken up a bit? If that happens and we are healthy, we'll beat them up in them thar hills. Except for the blowout game, under Holtz and Spurrier, the game has been decided by the physical condition/health of the 2 teams.

*editor's note: the following post is a response, from a gamecock fan, to a clemson fan who said Clemson was better than S. Carolina almost every year

- Thats a convenient comeback, but do you really believe it? Duke beat Clemson a few(4) years back but Clemson was widely known as the better team even after losing. Would SC had been better than the eventual national champions(Florida) had they made the field goal at the end of the game two years ago? There is a reason that you play 12 games per year and not 1. I wouldn't expect a Clemson fan whose team plays such a high school schedule to understand anything about wear and tear from a tough schedule.

*editor's note: asked if he was being serious, the same poster produced this gem

- Again, very convenient for you to say that, but I seriously doubt that anyone in the country thought that Duke was better than Clemson a few years ago. Use some commons sense, if that is at all possible for a Clemson fan. Another note, on years when SC has beaten better teams(UGA or Florida) and still loses to Clemson, that should tell you something.

On recruiting:

- Spurrier has one exceptional class, and three good, down to earth blue collar type kids who want to play. He is doing the exact same thing at Carolina that he did at Florida. One stone at a time to build a wall. He said 5 - 7 years and I believe him. This is a great class of hard nosed kids who in a year or so will kick a$$. Any GC fan who says different is a frickin' chicken idiot! Plus, we have last years class coming up. It's gonna get interesting in August!

- I dont beleive how a player performs in high school is any indication how he will do in college.

- Recruiting isn't nearly as important important as coaching. I'd rather let UGA have a top 5 class every year with Richt as there coach, and us finish somewhere btwn 20-30 with Spurrier as our coach. 16-12 ring a bell???!

About Mind of a Gamecock(MOAG)

2008-07-19T14:56:00.001-04:00

The basic purpose of this blog is to provide a place where fans of college football can congregate and make fun of South Carolina fans. To help facilitate this derision, I will post the best thoughts and quotes(with editor's notes) heard from Gamecocks fans on a daily basis. All quotes are taken directly. I won't correct spelling or grammar. My contributors and I have discussed it, and we feel doing so would undermine the service we are providing. These are all 100% real, and 100% gamecock. I will update the blog daily. There is never a shortage of the gamecock delusion we have all come to know and enjoy. The following is a sampling of what you can expect to find on this blog:

- I personally think we did compete for the SEC East last year('07) we just didn't close the deal.

- Most of Clemson's "awesome talent" isn't nearly as good as it's made out to be. Boyd and Davis were better than Spiller and Davis, but who got all the press?

- ANY game we score 28 points in, we'll win! Some of you need to take another look at our defence. The best in the SEC!!

- There is really no reason not to think this years team will be better in almost every aspect.