Use your eyes. I didn’t get to watch a lot of the Gamecocks 44-14 loss to Texas A&M last night because I was busy watching my beloved Atlanta Braves earn a trip to the World Series. And thankfully the Braves are in my life, because Gamecock football continues to be an exercise in futility and disappointment.

The USC offense has been sad all year long, ranking 13th in the SEC and not even on the radar nationally in most statistical categories. Vandy hero Zeb Noland got the start last night at QB because of Luke Doty’s season-ending surgery, and because he presumably gave the Gamecocks the best chance to “win”. He proceeded to go 7-12 for a whopping 30 yards, mostly because he was running for his life because our dog of an offensive line continued their substandard play. (We had SIX yards of total offense 3/4 of the way through the game.)

The USC defense has been somewhat of a bright spot for most of the year, playing above their talent week in and week out. Last night they appeared to walk out on the offense like a cheated on spouse – “hey, if you’re not going to try to save this relationship I’m not going to try either.” The Texas A&M offensive line shoved our guys around all night long and created freightliner-sized holes to run through.

Special teams? Well, giving up a 95-yard punt return for a touchdown barely two minutes in kinda helped set the tone for the game.

TRC member Tbone flew right by criticizing Shane Beamer last night and went all in on Ray Tanner. And I wasn’t mad about it. Six years ago Tanner plucked Will Muschamp off the garbage heap hoping he could right the South Carolina ship even though he flopped at Florida, a place much easier to win at than Columbia, SC. Then after the Muschamp experience failed miserably, Tanner quickly zeroed in on Shane Beamer,

Beamer sold Tanner and the USC brass on his enthusiasm and love for the university. Never mind that Beamer had never been a coordinator, much less a head coach, or that we were competing with absoutely nobody for his services. I don’t really recall anyone saying he was a rising star in the coaching ranks or somebody who should be on lists for teams looking for a coach. This was a concern that was covered up quickly by slick videos and tears and enthusiasm and LOVE.

Before anybody goes off the deep end and thinks I’m calling for Shane Beamer to be fired, I’m not. But if you’re not concerned about how this season has played out you’re not paying attention. No we don’t have great talent, but the coaching mistakes we’re seeing are glaring. For the “give him time” crowd, you’re missing the point. What you want to see in a first year is progress, that kids are getting the schemes, making fewer mistakes each week, being COMPETITIVE. We have seen the exact opposite of that, especially the last three weeks.

28-0 first quarter deficit to Tennessee (who also was a train wreck and has a first year head coach.)

Last second touchdown to beat Vanderbilt by one point. (Vandy lost 45-6 at home to Mississippi State last night.)

44-0 deficit to TAMU before we scored a point.

At South Carolina we’re used to our football program being average, that’s our brand. But getting embarrassed is where we should draw the line as Gamecock fans, and the last three weeks have been downright embarassing. And don’t give me the “lack of talent” angle either. You can’t tell me we don’t have at least comparable talent to Tennessee and much better talent than Vanderbilt.

It is highly concerning, and it’s all on Ray Tanner at this point for taking such a risk for a head coach.

Finally, I see a lot on Twitter about who the real fans are, and how “real fans” wouldn’t turn on the team. First of all, I’m turning on the adults in charge, I’ll never turn on the guys who put on the pads day in and day out.

Second, if you’re not pissed off at what you’ve seen so far this year, then I’d argue you’re not the real fan. We deserve better. @3×5 said it best last night:

gamecock fans have earned the right to complain, period. however we want to whine or complain, we’re allowed.

— uneducated poverty (@3×5) October 24, 2021

Go Cocks.

A win is a win? When Vanderbilt took a 17-14 lead late in the third quarter over South Carolina yesterday, I pretty much decided there would be no real positives to take from this game, win or lose. After all, this was a Vandy team that hadn’t won an SEC game in 15 tries, lost by three touchdowns to East Tennessee State, needed a last second field goal to beat the worst team in FBS (UConn), and lost by a combined 104-0 to Georgia and Florida. Sure, we’re dealing with a rebuild and a first year head coach, but Vanderbilt is a never-been-built whose football history makes South Carolina look like Notre Dame in comparison.

With about two minutes left and Vanderbilt well within field goal range to extend their lead to 20-14, I tweeted this:

From “bad football team” to “laughingstock” in one afternoon. Worst loss since The Citadel.

— TRC (@RubrChickens) October 16, 2021

Now, I know better. And I knew better as soon as I hit send, and walked that tweet back before the game-winning drive even began. (We don’t delete tweets for the most part, because we believe owning our stupidity is a path to growth, and deleting something that eventually turns out to be wrong is cowardly.)

But even though Zeb Noland rescued us from the fire yesterday, the point of that tweet still stands. Who are we if we lost to THAT Vanderbilt team? Or even come that close to losing to that Vanderbilt team? I was highly critical of our team last week when we fell behind to Tennessee 28-0 in the first quarter. Someone on Twitter came back at us with “well what did you expect this season under a first year head coach?”

I’ll tell you what I expect, to not be 13th in the league in almost every statistical offensive category. To not have to kick a last second field goal to beat East Carolina. To not lose a game to rebuilding and first-year head coach having Tennessee before the first quarter is over. To not struggle against the likes of Troy and Vanderbilt. To not commit boatloads of penalties and have critical turnovers every game. To not have to question at least one major coaching decision every week.

Look, I know who we are, I’ve been at this for 30+ years. I don’t expect us to compete for championships, quite frankly, but I would love for us to at least be COMPETITIVE. We have at least the resources of Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and they continue to be more competitive than us year in and year out for the most part. And occasionally they’re pretty darned good.

Somone will accuse me of being a miserable Gamecock fan. I can assure you I’m far from it. I will admit that I am fiercely competitive and despise losing at anything, but the part of me that used to carry a Gamecock loss around with me for several days is long gone. But I do like to still write about it, and I try to tell the truth as I see it.

The truth is, we deserve better. And we should all expect more.

Old man yells at cloud. I feel like I have to repeat this every week, but I really like Shane Beamer. He has done a fine job of selling a family atmosphere to both the players and the fan base. He wins every press conference, and like last night, when one of his kids jumps in his arms at the end of game and he has a big smile on his face you can’t help but think “awwwwwwww”.

However, you know what Shane Beamer I really like? The Shane Beamer I saw with about two minutes left against Vandy. He was pissed, stressed, and had a look on his face like “how is this happening”. He looked like a football coach who wanted to chew somebody up and down for allowing this to happen.

This is probably going to sound idiotic, but I don’t mind the positivity that comes out of Beamer. But there are also times to be an old school football coach. This blog lived off of making fun of Dabo Swinney for being a “cheerleader” instead of a coach for years. And don’t deny it, you did as well. It would be hypocritical of me to sit here and say I love it when Beamer does it but hate it when Dabo does it. I don’t particularly like it when either does it.

Here’s the gist, and I keep saying it but I think a lot of people aren’t really getting it – at the end of the day winning matters. It doesn’t matter what your personality or sideline demeanor is if you produce wins instead of losses. Winning cures all, and losing…well, we all know what losing does.

I have high hopes that Beamer will start winning, and winning big. And then he can come out in a Dumb and Dumber tuxedo and dance a jig after every first down for all I care.

Bad choices. Last week we let a defensive end throw a pass that was intercepted in the end zone and yesterday we passed on three points to go for it on 4th and 5. Like I said, I feel like every week we’re talking about at least one terrible coaching decision by this staff. Personally, I need to feel good that these coaches can handle the pressure of making basic football decisions on game day.

Noland to the Zebscue. After the first two drives of the game yesterday, Luke Doty just didn’t have it. And he threw two really, really bad interceptions that could’ve easily cost us the game late.

Zeb Noland finally came in with a minute and a half left because Doty had a *cough cough* “flare up” in his foot. Noland looked like Joe Montana as he marched the Gamecocks to the winning touchdown.

I am indeed beginning to question the long-term viability of Doty as a difference making QB. Yes, he’s still very early in his career, but there aren’t even really flashes of that “it” factor that good signal callers have. Has the OL been terrible? Yes. Has Doty been hurt? Yes. So there are reasons/excuses for his lack of great play other than he’s not very good. But we need to find out what he is soon, or we have decisions to make about transfers in the offseason.

Oh, and if he’s still hurt, STOP PLAYING HIM UNTIL HE GETS WELL.

Game balls. Zeb, of course. And welcome back Xavier Legette. And way to keep balling Jaylan Foster.

What’s next. Texas A&M, a team that has all of the sudden found itself in the last two weeks. A very tough challenge for the Gamecocks, but a good chance to show that competitiveness we’ve been talking about.

Go Cocks.