Is there anything positive to take away from South Carolina’s dismal season? Maybe. And it could come from the unlikeliest of places… Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer.
Follow me on this one.
Steve Spurrier made Florida. He put them on the map. He took an average, mid level program and made it in to a national powerhouse. He did it as a player and a coach. During his tenure at Florida he was lauded as a god among men on the field. Nary could a negative word be said about the ball coach. If a Florida fan even thought of uttering an ugly phrase in relation to Spurrier, his Florida fan friends would eat him alive.
Coach Spurrier earned a reputation at Florida of being the coach that will run it up on you to prove a point. He routinely embarrassed opponents and earned himself a mention as the top coach of all time.
A few years back, Coach Spurrier decided he would try his hand at the NFL. Like many college coaches, he found the lack of control to be a little too much for him and he left the pro game. Though there is much debate on the exact particulars as to how it went down, but the long story short is that the AD at Florida told Spurrier he would have to interview to get his old job back. This was much discussed as Florida fans were beside themselves that their AD would do that to them. Prideful and wanting to coach, Spurrier took on the task of turning a mid level and average South Carolina program in to a power. Three years in, he is well on his way to doing that despite the stumbling this year.
During his tenure at the University of South Carolina, Spurrier has said that he is a gator at heart and always will be except on the days that South Carolina plays against them. As Carolina fans, we accept that. It’s ok. He can pull for them the rest of the year.
Meanwhile, the University of Florida ran off a great coach in Ron Zook and hired a brash and cocky guy named Urban Meyer. Urban gained notoriety by running a weird offense that tends to rack up points. He has done a fabulous job of winning with Zook’s players.
The first time Spurrier coached against his old team, he beat them. The second time, they needed three blocked field goals to beat us.
This past weekend, Urban Meyer won a decisive victory over a South Carolina team that has been a skid. It was obvious early on that South Carolina did not have the defensive answer for Urban’s trickery this year. Then near the end of the game, unsatisfied with just winning, Urban Meyer may have done something to help the South Carolina team.
With a minute and a half remaining, a 13 point lead and the ability to run out the clock, Urban sent his star heisman caliber quarter back out on to the field and took a shot at the end zone. The pass connected and the Florida Gators notched their score up to 51 points.
There is not doubt in my mind and I am sure there is no doubt in Spurrier’s that Meyer was not taking a shot at South Carolina. That last touchdown was meant for Spurrier.
In it Urban was saying many things; you can take your pick. But the one that I think resonates loudest is this one: “This is my team. I am the coach of the Florida Gators.”
In my opinion, this is true. He is the gator’s coach. The gator fans apparently think so. They applauded Urban’s effort with articles on blogs and in the local newspapers talking about how good it felt to hang 51 on the old ball coach.
The fact is that Spurrier would never set out to embarrass Florida. If he were given the same chance, he would take a knee and the victory.
Hopefully, this is the slap in the face that Spurrier needed. This is an insult but the Florida fans and Urban Meyer. They apparently have very little respect for all that Spurrier did for them. Hopefully, the humility will fade and Spurrier will come out with that fire and look to cut a few heads off.
Hopefully, Coach will wake up and realize that he is a gamecock now… in every sense of the word.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — University of Florida coach Urban Meyer walked away from his postgame interview early Sunday morning repeating the same phrase.“Seven touchdowns,” Meyer muttered. “Unbelievable.”
I know we 0-21. I know we lost to Navy when we were ranked #2 in the country. This has been a gut wrenching, heart breaking, nose bleeding, season.
There is nothing like watching a championship slip through your fingers. There is nothing like watching your team lose to Vandy. There is nothing like watching your team get rolled up for 48 and 51 points in consecutive weeks.
There is nothing like watching Darren McFadden run for more yards than any other sec running back in history, then watch a poor Tennesse team hold him to just over a hundred.
There is nothing like watching Tim Tebow do the same thing over and over and still gain yards. I mean, is it just me? Am I a genius? I called every play Florida ran before they ran it. How is that I can see it and Coach Nix can't?
Sad. I have never been more disheartened as a Gamecock fan.
This is not about the players. We have the players on both sides the ball. The way this team feel apart this season is on the coaches. Coach Nix especially.
And it's not over. We still have to play those troglodytes from the upstate and I do not have faith in this coaching staff to bring home a victory. In two weeks we will be forced to watch another 63-17. Mark my words.
Now before your cry baby, touchy feely, whiny heart fans out there call for my head, I am a Gamecock. I will always be a Gamecock. That does not mean, I am not allowed to be pissed off. I will always support the players. Always. The coaches are a different animal. If Coach Spurrier does not fire Coach Nix, this season will fall squarely on his shoulders and even though he is a great coach, it might be time for us to look somewhere else. You heard me.
So… we are playing Florida this weekend. As I said already, I see us going 6 and 6 this weekend. Wait… if you are a superstitious person, we were ranked 6th and we are going to finish up 6 and 6…. 666… the sign of the devil! ACK! The sky isn’t falling, Chicken Little is dead! Darren McFadden ran him down!
We will lose to Florida.
Here will be the call of the game:
Commentator 1: Coming back from half time what does Carolina got to do to get back in this game down by 28 points?
Commentator 2: Well the last two weeks in a row, they have come out of the tunnel and played an amazing half of football, coming close to coming back against Tennessee and keeping it interesting against Arkansas. They are still in this thing.
FAST FORWARD TO 4 MINUTES LEFT IN THE GAME.
Commentator: The gamecocks are down by 3 points. Florida is on the gamecocks 20. SC needs a turnover. Tebow takes the snap. He drops back. OH MY GOD NORWOOD JUST LEVELED HIM! THE BALL IS LOOSE! CAROLINA HAS IT. NOPE WAIT THE BALL IS STILL LOOSE. THE BALL HAS TRAVELED ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE FLORIDA’S 4 YARD LINE! TEBOW PICKS THE BALL UP! HE GETS HIT AGAIN. THE BALL IS LOOSE!!!! Nope. Florida recovered. Wow. 5 gamecocks touched the ball.
Commentator #2: That was the most ridiculous play I have ever scene. Florida has the ball on their own 4 yard line. Holy cow!
Commentator #1: It looks like Urban is going to try and run the clock out. The gators are set up in the I formation.
Commentator #2: Wait… who is that? That isn’t Moreno. Who is #5? See if you can zoom in on the running back. (PAUSE) OH MY GOD its DARREN MCFADDEN! He takes the snap. He dodges one gamecock, another, another, another, and another… HE IS IN THE OPEN FIELD! NO ONE IS GOING TO CATCH HIM! TOUCHDOWN GATORS! TOUCHDOWN DARREN MCFADDEN! 96 YARD TOUCHDOWN SCAMPER! THE GAMECOCKS WORST NIGHTMARE JUST CAME TRUE! THE GATORS WIN! THE GATORS WIN!
Seriously. Final Prediction: Gamecocks 21 Florida 38
Did someone... (other than Gamecock fans like me... ) use the words legitimate national title hopes in the same sentence with the Gamecocks? It appears so...
4. Florida at South Carolina, Nov. 10 Whenever the Ol' Ballcoach gets a crack at his old team, it's always interesting. This year, it means much more, given the Gamecocks' legit national title hopes. Last year, UF blocked a last-second field goal to preserve a 17-16 win. The home team has won 4 of the last 5 in this series.
2007 Mish Mosh
The Florida Gators... National Champions.
Congratulations to Ron Zook and to a lesser extent Steve Spurrier. Spurrier recruited Leak and Ron Zook recruited everyone else. Urban Meyer is a fraud. He has a gimmick offense and with out the exceptional talent recruited by the previous staff(s), he would not be in the national championship game.
That being said, it is still an SEC team. Is there another conference that can even begin to compete with the SEC? Not a chance. As one of the Florida players said (I believe it was Jarvin Moss but I am not sure) there are 5 or more SEC teams who would have spanked Ohio State the same way.
My teams:
Auburn
Tennessee
Arkansas
South Carolina
and LSU.
Hell I might even go so far as to say Kentucky would have a shot.
Nuff about that.
Sidney Rice.
I feel bad for the kid. Not only would I never want to have to make a deciscion like the one that faced Sidney, I feel like he made the wrong choice.
Granted I do not know his current financial status or that of his families, all I can do is comment on what I have read. Maybe Sidney should have Ben Franklined the whole thing and he would see the folly of leaving South Carolina early.
Here are my thoughts: So Sidney gets a couple of million up front. Great. Wonderful. Fantastic. After all he could get hurt next year in college and then where would he be? Well, he would have the insurance but is that worth millions? Depends... What if he gets hurt his first year in the NFL? How would his situation be different? It wouldn't. By leaving he not only left the ability to play football in college but he also lost his chance to get finish his education.
I feel bad for Sidney... I think he got Bob Sugared.
-The Cool Chicken
