Gamecocks on point
posted by David Cloninger, 10/26/2009 04:59:00 PM
Never become fact.”
---------- BLACK FLAG
Who would have thought that of all the teams who Lane Kiffin rankled during his first offseason at Tennessee, it would fall to South Carolina to be the teacher?
Ol’ Kiffikins took great pride in blasting Florida, Alabama and USC when he was first hired, although he said it was all about promoting the name of the program. As the season progressed, the Volunteers began to draw some respect for playing close games, although they weren’t winning any of them.
All of the fans salivating at the thought of Florida and Alabama, the first two of the disparaged three on the schedule, turning Kiffin into six feet of lumps were disappointed.
The Gators beat the Vols, but only 23-13 at The Swamp. The predictions had Tim Tebow still throwing with a 70-point lead as Kiffin begged Urban Meyer for mercy.
The Crimson Tide beat the Vols last week, 12-10 in Tuscaloosa, and had to resort to a blocked field goal on the last play of the game to do it. If not for Terrence “Mount” Cody getting his Butterball-sized hands up, Tennessee could have beaten the former No. 1 team in the country.
So now it’s up to the Gamecocks. The same ones that beat then-No. 4 Ole Miss but struggled against Vanderbilt. The team led by a coach who Kiffin has been compared to.
I can see the parallels. Young coach comes in talking, swaggering all over the league and taking potshots at opponents, then goes out and backs it up. Steve Spurrier did it at Florida in the early 1990s and nearly 20 years later, is one win away from tying Johnny Vaught as the second-winningest coach of all time in SEC games.
The major difference is Spurrier won right away while Kiffin has yet to. And also that Spurrier didn’t seem too enthused about being compared to the guy on Sunday.
One of my fellow scribes queried Spurrier if he could see the comparison. Spurrier replied that he didn’t need to answer that, next question.
Playing Devil’s Advocate, the Head Ball Coach is still rankled at Kiffin’s offseason jabs about recruiting tactics, a point Spurrier emphasized to everyone and directly to Kiffin at an elevator dust-up during the SEC winter meetings. The malevolent demon in me makes me think Spurrier wants to go to Knoxville on Saturday, turn gas-pumper extraordinaire Alshon Jeffery loose and shut up Mr. Mouth in the bright-orange jacket once and for all.
What reality tells me is the Gamecocks will play a close game, because that’s what they do, and Spurrier will avoid all questions about “revenge” or “payback” or “muzzling,” because what would be the point?
It seems like a great set-up. Everyone expected Florida and Alabama to maul Tennessee so bad that it’d limp into Saturday against USC and then get beat again. The Gamecocks might not dominate, because that’s not what they’d do, but they’d win.
Judging from last week’s game, USC might not even be favored, much less be the heavy who will throw Kiffin and his team on the grill for some fresh Vol-B-cue. I doubt that any college football junkies will look at this game and think it’ll be the one where Kiffin gets his long-overdue come-uppance.
Which is what makes me think Spurrier may be cooking up a little surprise for Saturday. It may not work – we’ve all seen how best-laid plans go awry when USC throws down.
But boy, wouldn’t it be fun if it did?
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“Promises you made,
Never become fact.”
---------- BLACK FLAG
Who would have thought that of all the teams who Lane Kiffin rankled during his first offseason at Tennessee, it would fall to South Carolina to be the teacher?
Ol’ Kiffikins took great pride in blasting Florida, Alabama and USC when he was first hired, although he said it was all about promoting the name of the program. As the season progressed, the Volunteers began to draw some respect for playing close games, although they weren’t winning any of them.
All of the fans salivating at the thought of Florida and Alabama, the first two of the disparaged three on the schedule, turning Kiffin into six feet of lumps were disappointed.
The Gators beat the Vols, but only 23-13 at The Swamp. The predictions had Tim Tebow still throwing with a 70-point lead as Kiffin begged Urban Meyer for mercy.
The Crimson Tide beat the Vols last week, 12-10 in Tuscaloosa, and had to resort to a blocked field goal on the last play of the game to do it. If not for Terrence “Mount” Cody getting his Butterball-sized hands up, Tennessee could have beaten the former No. 1 team in the country.
So now it’s up to the Gamecocks. The same ones that beat then-No. 4 Ole Miss but struggled against Vanderbilt. The team led by a coach who Kiffin has been compared to.
I can see the parallels. Young coach comes in talking, swaggering all over the league and taking potshots at opponents, then goes out and backs it up. Steve Spurrier did it at Florida in the early 1990s and nearly 20 years later, is one win away from tying Johnny Vaught as the second-winningest coach of all time in SEC games.
The major difference is Spurrier won right away while Kiffin has yet to. And also that Spurrier didn’t seem too enthused about being compared to the guy on Sunday.
One of my fellow scribes queried Spurrier if he could see the comparison. Spurrier replied that he didn’t need to answer that, next question.
Playing Devil’s Advocate, the Head Ball Coach is still rankled at Kiffin’s offseason jabs about recruiting tactics, a point Spurrier emphasized to everyone and directly to Kiffin at an elevator dust-up during the SEC winter meetings. The malevolent demon in me makes me think Spurrier wants to go to Knoxville on Saturday, turn gas-pumper extraordinaire Alshon Jeffery loose and shut up Mr. Mouth in the bright-orange jacket once and for all.
What reality tells me is the Gamecocks will play a close game, because that’s what they do, and Spurrier will avoid all questions about “revenge” or “payback” or “muzzling,” because what would be the point?
It seems like a great set-up. Everyone expected Florida and Alabama to maul Tennessee so bad that it’d limp into Saturday against USC and then get beat again. The Gamecocks might not dominate, because that’s not what they’d do, but they’d win.
Judging from last week’s game, USC might not even be favored, much less be the heavy who will throw Kiffin and his team on the grill for some fresh Vol-B-cue. I doubt that any college football junkies will look at this game and think it’ll be the one where Kiffin gets his long-overdue come-uppance.
Which is what makes me think Spurrier may be cooking up a little surprise for Saturday. It may not work – we’ve all seen how best-laid plans go awry when USC throws down.
But boy, wouldn’t it be fun if it did?
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.