Yesterday I was excited to listen to Steve Spurrier appearances on Rick Neuheisel’s XM Radio show and on The Dan Patrick Show. After both I came away with the same impression – man, the dude sounds almost giddy. Maybe it’s my low testosterone levels as a result of my old age, but his willingness to be this happy the day after resigning as my favorite coach of all time kind of hurt my feelings a little. I pretty much dismissed it as “that’s just his style, Spurrier being Spurrier and so forth”, but this morning I woke up to the words below from FOB (friend of the blog) @BeatClem in our inbox. I’m not sure what Spurrier has said or not said so far really matters, we’ll all move along soon enough. But it would be nice to get a little tip of the cap, if not more, from him as he goes along his resignation tour.

The following does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of any members of The Rubber Chickens Blog, LLC. But then again it might.

Here’s @BeatClem:

On November 23, 2004, I snuck into The Zone to witness one of the most memorable press conferences in the history of the University of South Carolina athletics – the announcement of the hiring of new head coach, Steve Spurrier. As with most fans, I was excited beyond belief. I actually walked up to him after the press conference and shook his hand as Rick Henry was waiting to conduct his first interview of the new South Carolina coach. I was so excited that I could barely recall the 54-17 whooping the despised ‘Ole Ball Coach put on the Gamecocks just three Novembers prior, in his last season of college football.

(That was another historic day for the Gamecocks, being the first time ESPN College Gameday came to South Carolina, when we thought it would be a good idea to “Black Out” the Gators. The 2001 entrance was the best ever, and Kirk Herbstreit later said he had never heard a louder stadium than when Derek Watson scored to go up 7-0 in the first quarter. But those were the only two highlights. Notably, however, Jon Hoke was the Gators’ defensive coordinator at the time.)

A few games into the 2015 season, I came to the realization, like many other Gamecock fans and apparently Spurrier himself, that it was time for the HBC to retire. In his time here, Spurrier had taken the Gamecock program to unprecedented and historic levels, breaking many records and conquering many “firsts.” Additionally, as Harris Pastides said, “he gave us our swagger.” But the 2014 season, offseason of decommitments, and first few games of 2015 made clear that the program was on the decline. It was evident that recruiting had fallen behind. Coaching decisions were questionable. It was time for a change, and it would take time to rebuild.

As advocated by certain bloggers, I was in favor of a “thoughtful, tender uncoupling” between the Gamecocks and the HBC. As the losses piled up, I envisioned a retirement announcement followed by a farewell tour, where the HBC would lead the Gamecocks for the remaining games “CEO style.” The announcement this week of an immediate separation between the school and Spurrier surprised me at first, but upon reflection seems to make sense. It is not surprising that Spurrier is leaving on his own terms. Everything about his time at South Carolina has been on his terms. However, I don’t see any significant, adverse effect to the school or program created by the immediate separation. Recruiting is the obvious concern, but the uncertainty of next year’s coaching staff is the same regardless if the remaining games are coached by Spurrier or an interim head coach that may or may not remain on staff next year. However, Spurrier may indeed have already been a liability in recruiting since no one knew how long he may actually stick around, despite what he was telling recruits. Frankly, I don’t have any concern with the stated reasons for Spurrier’s insistence that the “uncoupling” be immediate, and in fact agree with many.

However, the more I reflect on Tuesday’s press conference and the events that followed, the more uneasy I feel. It originally struck me as odd that Spurrier immediately wanted to clarify that he was “resigning” and not “retiring.” At first, it sounded like nothing more than Spurrier being Spurrier, but it also gave the impression that he simply wants to do something else, presumably in coaching or television. That he is quitting on the team for his own convenience because the outlook is grim. Now I’m not one of those people calling him a “quitter” because I understand his desire to reduce stress and spend time doing something enjoyable, when it was painfully obvious that coaching the Gamecocks was no longer enjoyable for him. I appreciate that he was “over it” and therefore wanted a clean break. No problem with him quitting now to keep a few losses off his overall coaching record or to preserve his overall win percentage. During the noon press conference, I joked to a friend that he probably had a 2 pm tee time, and it seemed he may have when he abruptly said he was done taking questions. (Indeed, according to some reports, he did hit some golf balls later that afternoon.)

All of that was okay to me. But something continued to bother me. Maybe it was Spurrier’s immediate and unequivocal denial that he would serve as an advisor to USC or be involved in the next coaching search, and that “it would be decided later” what future role he may have with the university. But even more so, I think it was something I didn’t hear Spurrier say in the press conference. I didn’t hear our beloved Head Ball Coach say that he enjoyed his time at South Carolina, cherished the memories made here, appreciated the accomplishments, and would be proud to always consider himself a Gamecock (among the other teams he’s coached).

When asked a pointed question about what message he would like to give to the loyal Gamecock students and fan base, I was expecting him to excitedly say, “continue to be the best fans in the country and support the team just like I will” or something to that effect. Nothing rah-rah Dabo, but something sincere that showed he enjoyed his time here and was now one of us – a proud member of the University of South Carolina fraternity. Instead, with absolutely no emotion and classic shrug of the shoulders, he said, “I’m no longer the head coach, so I’d just thank them for all they’ve done. I don’t really have a message.” He thanked the fans for “receiving” him and his family. And with that, he abruptly concluded the press conference, “Okay let’s get moving, I’ve had enough here.”

That bugged me. I wanted him to talk about South Carolina like he does Duke and Florida, and convince me that he has the same type of feelings toward the Gamecocks. That he would always hold a special place in his heart for his time spent here. That he was a fan. Forever to thee.

He didn’t.

The empty feeling I had turned slightly to disgust when I later learned that Spurrier would not be attending this weekend’s Vanderbilt game, but instead would be a guest on ESPN College Gameday in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Talk about a clean break. He was done with us. No looking back. We got dumped like a high school girlfriend, and he’s already dating someone else. Although I envisioned seeing Spurrier on College Gameday eventually, I didn’t think it would be this week since the Saturday morning SportsCenter is broadcasting live from Columbia, which I assumed would include a Spurrier segment or live interview. (Why else come to Columbia?) But like Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects, poof, he was gone.

Immediately ditching us for College Gameday is a slap in the face. I still don’t consider Spurrier a quitter, but now feel like he is turning his back on us. Initially, I jokingly wondered if he would go on to pick Vandy to beat the Gamecocks this weekend, but then realized that is PRECISELY the sort of thing the Head Ball Coach would do just to get a laugh from the nation. At our expense, no less.

Like many others, I love the Gamecocks and have spent more time and money supporting them than I should have over the years. So it was disappointing to realize that Steve Spurrier doesn’t adore South Carolina like he adores Florida and Duke. But more disappointing was the realization that the Head Ball Coach doesn’t care for the Gamecocks as much as Gamecock nation cares for him. I wonder if he cared at all.

History will show that Steve Spurrier was a Gamecock. I just hope he is proud of it.

Join Buck, Tbone and the Gman for a very special retrospective on the career of Steve Spurrier, and what’s next for the South Carolina football program. Let’s do this!

Listen via iTunes here.

Or click here or the click the graphic to stream audio, and enjoy!

The last year and a half have been hard. We’ve advocated for the retirement of Steve Spurrier for a few weeks. And now it’s here in abrupt, stunning fashion.

I’m sure we’ll have a lot more to say on the subject, but for now we’ll just say thank you to the Head Ball Coach. He gave us so many great memories, and he entertained us every step of the way. I wish it was under different circumstances, but as a guy I know once said, “it is what it is”.

History will be very kind to Steve Spurrier, as it should be. He is one of the greatest coaches and characters in college football history. And he was ours for a while. And it was so worth it.

Thanks Coach.

Some quick, barely researched, not fully-formed thoughts from South Carolina’s 45-24 loss to LSU:

Our Fall of Discontent. After one of the most disastrous weeks in the history of our beautiful state, the South Carolina’s relocated game against LSU was an opportunity for an ever-so-brief healing moment in the midst of tragedy. If only our beloved football team could give the 7th-ranked Tigers a fight, and maybe even pull off an upset, we could take a moment to smile and give a high five or two. Unfortunately, the 2015 Gamecock football season continued to play out in the worst possible fashion in Baton Rouge.

For the first half the Gamecocks played well, but not particularly inspired. They went into halftime down 17-10 in a  game that had a weird vibe from the very beginning. Then the Tigers woke up. Heisman candidate Leonard Fournette ripped off an 87-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second half, and the game for all intents and purposes was over. In a game where we were hoping for an inspired performance, and perhaps even a (gasp) moral victory to give us some glimmer of hope for the remainder of the season, LSU gashed USC with long run after long run to hand the Gamecocks another embarrassing loss in a year that is sure to be full of them.

Our severely depleted offense did all they could, but in addition to Fournette’s big day, the defense gave up career highs to backup running back Derrius Guice (16-161) and career highs in completions (18), attempts (28), and yardage (228) for quarterback Brandon Harris. LSU rolled up a humbling 624 yards of total offense against our million dollar coordinators.

As was noted on Twitter, this game felt a lot like a Gamecock football game from the ’90s – completely outmanned, able to hang for a while, but ultimately obliterated by the other team’s obviously superior talent.

How in the world did we get here.

The HBC. Well, we can start with this guy I guess. I’m not sure there’s anything else we can say on this blog about Steve Spurrier’s future that won’t sound like dead horse flogging. But, as if we needed more evidence that the HBC is going to be done after this year, we got this gem:

With all due respect to Carlton Heard, him not wanting to play even though he was cleared it not a big deal. But Brandon Wilds is a different story – a senior and a guy we praised earlier this year for calling out the coaching staff for not giving him the ball enough against Kentucky. Wilds quit on Steve Spurrier, and quit on us, yesterday. I don’t type that lightly. I don’t know how badly Wilds was/is hurt, and I don’t know what was said to other coaches are trainers. All I know is Spurrier was frustrated that one of his main guys was cleared to play and decided he didn’t want to.

Oh, but it doesn’t stop there, a guy who has taken about five snaps this year decided to chime in as well (since deleted):

This devolved into a short back and forth between Shameik Blackshear and Cory Helms, but that’s beside the point. The point is Steve Spurrier has lost the locker room. He had some lame comment that “ah this type of stuff happens when you lose”, and no, it does not. Respected leaders can lead a losing locker room just as well as a winning locker room and prevent nonsense like this.

Steve Spurrier no longer has that respect.

One step HokeWard, ten steps back. After 2014 there was a great cry for Spurrier to make a change at defensive coordinator. Instead, he waffled, deflected, and finally sort of demoted Lorenzo Ward and brought on old buddy Jon Hoke to take over. The results? See for yourself with where South Carolina stands in these up-to-date SEC rankings:

• Total defense – 14th
• Scoring defense – 14th
• Rushing defense – 13th
• Pass defense – 12th

Pair these with the offensive statistics (we’re currently 13th in total offense) and congratulations we have the worst team in the SEC. Some people blame talent, some blame coaching. I think you have to blame it all.

Have I mentioned we finished #4 in the country a mere season and a half ago?

Fenton-ease. Our biggest bright spot yesterday was Rashad Fenton, who broke a dubious 13-year streak by returning a kickoff for touchdown. Ghosts of Matthew Thomas, be exorcised!

Leonard Fournette and LSU. What a touching move by Fournette yesterday to offer to auction off his jersey and give the proceeds to flood relief in South Carolina. After all, if anyone knows what the people of our state are going through right now it is him. As a 10-year-old, during Hurricane Katrina, Fournette lived on an overpass for five days and four nights in a harrowing experience. Thank you Leonard, go win the Heisman, you have the entire state of South Carolina pulling for you.

Also, thank you to the great people of Louisiana State University. Your hospitality will not be soon forgotten.

Go Cocks.

When did you realize the Steve Spurrier era was over at South Carolina? I’m not talking about the general speculation that has followed the HBC since he stepped on campus almost 11 years ago. I mean that moment when you said, “OK, this is definitely it for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina, he’s hanging it up.”

Maybe it was after last season’s 7-6 finish. Maybe it was after his “enemies” rant late this summer. If you were like us, you came to the realization after the Kentucky game. Or maybe you hung on to see if we could spring that oh-so-common upset of Georgia.

Then again, maybe you still aren’t quite there yet. Maybe you’re hanging on to those glorious back-to-back-to-back 11-win seasons and you feel like all we need is a tweak or two to get back on track.

If you’re in that last group, then I submit to you a quote from Steve Spurrier’s call-in show from last night, courtesy of The State’s Matt Connolly.

I cannot find the words to properly express how baffling, frustrating, and embarrassing these revelations are. First of all, wrap your heads around the thought that a major college football team, led by one of the greatest offensive minds in the history of the game, against the two-time defending SEC East Champions, ran all of TWO running plays for an entire game. And it’s not as it they were working, these two brilliant running plays didn’t work at all. We finished with 112 yards rushing (3.3 ypc) and 60 of those yards came on Lorenzo Nunez runs that were mostly not designed running plays.

Second, I’m not big on the thought that teams are spending a lot of resources on trying to steal signals or plays. If they are, then they are taking resources away from the things that actually win a game. However, when your playbook can fit on half of one side of a cocktail napkin, you make it really easy for the other side to figure out what you’re doing. If Missouri was picking up our signals, then good for them. I honestly don’t think it was part of their game plan, they just happened to see a $20 bill lying on the sidewalk and they picked it up.

Finally, I was listening to a radio show, “Chuck and Chernoff”, driving home in Atlanta yesterday. Chuck Oliver is an excellent college football guy, and has followed the path of Steve Spurrier for many years. Here’s what he had to say:

Chuck and Chernoff on Spurrier

Oliver nails it here. There seemed to be so much fire and passion behind the “enemies” rant, and now Spurrier just sounds sad. I don’t think he’s necessarily lost his passion, I just don’t think he knows what to do. Practically everyone on our schedule has more talent and better coaching than us, and he knows it.

As the evidence continues to mount week after week, there is no question it’s almost over for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina. He hasn’t quit on us yet, but based on what we’ve heard the last week, he’s in the process.

Some quick, barely researched, not fully-formed thoughts from South Carolina’s 24-10 loss to Missouri:

The HBC. If you’ve read this blog or listened to our podcast, you know our position on head coach Steve Spurrier, and each week the case against his return in 2016 continues to mount. It’s way past time to fire off some “it’s time for Steve Spurrier to go” blog post. There’s pretty much nobody left to convince. Besides, we did that after the Kentucky game.

We talked on one podcast a few weeks ago about the five stages of grief as it relates to Spurrier’s time as the head Gamecock. I’m now squarely in the final stage, acceptance, and I suggest you find a way to get there yourself, because it is time to put a new plan in place and move on.

This final season is going to be the exact opposite of the way we would’ve drawn up Spurrier’s departure. We would’ve wanted that ever-elusive SEC Championship, followed by a major bowl game, with the HBC holding up a trophy and telling everyone it was a great run but it’s time to step down while on top. Hell, in hindsight, even making that retirement speech while holding the crappy Duck Commander Independence Bowl Championship trophy would’ve been light years better than what we’re staring in the face right now.

Instead, what we’re facing is our greatest leader in our most important sport, and one of the most legendary coaches in the game’s history, making his retirement announcement after a probable four-win season, two years removed from a top 10 finish. He’s going to be exactly the guy he didn’t want to be – the coach who hangs around just a season or two too long and leaves behind a declining program in need of a major rebuild.

I have a feeling the next eight weeks are going to be the hardest we’ve seen around here is a long time.

Nun-YIKES. Lorenzo Nuñez was borderline spectacular in his first start against Central Florida last week. He was basically the entire offense, and he gave Gamecock fans hope that he could salvage our anemic 2015 offense. But in his first SEC start on the road in the other Columbia, he looked like the moment was much too big for him. He made poor decisions, poor throws, and was contained for the most part by a fast, strong and talented Missouri defense. Spurrier said if he’s healthy next week that he’s still the starter, but now I’m beginning to believe the job might not be as hard to win back for Connor Mitch when he returns from injury.

That not to say Nuñez doesn’t have a bright future ahead of him, because he certainly does. But if he continues to play like he did yesterday, he just doesn’t have much of a present.

22-Follow. We had a running (pun intended) joke at my high school that we only had one running play, and if was called 22-follow. Those of you who know a little bit about offense know that was a simple dive play where the tailback follows the fullback through the “2” hole. The offense was never that sophisticated, and when nothing else was working we always had the ol’ 22-follow.

South Carolina is a major program with one of the great offensive minds in college football history. Though it’s not the 22-follow, somehow it feels like we only have one running play, and it’s not very effective. Yet, we continue to run it despite very little success. I realize we sometimes run a zone read out of it, and we have a stretch play that we run occasionally, but imagine our run game playbook being a half page long and we only use 1/3 of it.

Bad Omen. We should’ve known it wasn’t our day yesterday after the first three possessions. The game started with USC forcing a three-and-out, followed by a shanked 24-yard punt by Missouri. We took over at the Tigers’ 49-yard line, proceeded to lose 17 yards, and then Sean Kelly returned the special teams favor with a 17-yard punt. The net? Missouri took over at the same place our drive started without the benefit of a turnover. That’s hard to do.

Oh, yeah, they went on to score a touchdown too.

Miracle in CoMo. ESPN showed highlights of the last time we traveled to Columbia, Missouri. It’s a great memory, probably one of the top 5 Gamecock games of all time, and will get greater with time. Unfortunately it was only two years ago, and it feels like ten.

Washout. Tbone, Gman and I headed to the coast on Thursday for out semi-annual fishing trip. We knew the weather forecast wasn’t conducive to fishing, but the older we get the less the trips are about actual fishing and the more they are about just getting away for a few days.

On Saturday morning, with the waters rising around the house where we stay, we decided to trek up to Gman’s house where it would be “safe”. We had a nice day of watching football on Saturday, but woke up Sunday morning to “considerably more” rain than they had originally called for in Columbia. It took a while for us to find literally the one road out of town (me to Atlanta, Tbone to Greenville), but fortunately we made it out just in time.

The Gman’s yard got quite wet, but his house is fine, which is more than can be said for many of his neighbors. All of you have probably seen the devastation, with many people temporarily displaced and others who have basically lost their homes.

If you’re in the Columbia area and have the ability and/or resources, we encourage you to lend a helping hand to those in need. If you’re not in the area, look for other ways you can help, most likely through financial donations. If you know of any opportunities to donate food, clothes, money, or even give someone temporary shelter, please tweet them to us and we’ll gladly RT.

We may not all be Gamecocks, but we all take great pride in our state and our people. Please help out where you can.

Go Cocks.

Whoa, we totally forgot about the TPR last week. Not “didn’t have time to do it” or “was having computer problems so couldn’t do it”, but just flat out forgot to do it. Fear not fair reader, for we are back.

Week 4 Results:

North Carolina (3-1) – Beat Delaware 41-14. After losing to the Gamecocks in their season opener they’ve rebounded by beating three straight tomato cans.

TPR for UNC: The more I see them the less I think of them. Thank God we won that game.

Kentucky (3-1) – Beat Missouri 21-13. They finally won an SEC game against a team not named South Carolina or Vanderbilt. Thank you for removing us from that dubious company Mizzou.

TPR for Kentucky: Copy and paste from two weeks ago: I don’t Kentucky is any better than they were last year, I just think we’re worse. They’ll still struggle to get to bowl eligibility. Have fun in Birmingham, Wildcats.

Georgia (4-0) – Beat Southern 48-6. A nice tune-up game for the Bulldogs before their showdown with the Crimson Tide.

TPR for Georgia: If Greyson Lambert can continue to play well enough to keep the pressure off Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, Georgia should be able to cruise to the SEC East title uncontested.

Central Florida (0-4) – Lost to USC 31-14. The Knights had some momentum in the first half, then they remembered how bad they are.

TPR for UCF: They are a shockingly terrible football team considering they won 12 games and a BCS bowl just two years ago.

Missouri (3-1) – Lost to Kentucky 21-13. You lose to Kentucky, Maty Mauk, and the powers that be find a way to make your disappear.

TPR for Missouri: Nobody has believed in the Tigers since they joined the SEC and they’ve continued to prove people wrong. That time has come to a close. This team is not good, which gives us about a 50/50 shot this weekend I’d say.

LSU (3-0) – Beat Syracuse 34-24. I didn’t watch so I have no idea why this game was only decided by 10 points.

TPR for LSU: After our game with them people will be calling him Leonard Four”hundred yards”nette.

Vanderbilt (1-3) – Lost to Ole Miss 27-16. Vandy put a scare into the third-ranked Rebels. Which puts a scare into me.

TPR for Vanderbilt: Vandy has gone from (in my head) sure win, to probable win, to GROOOOOAAAAAN.

Texas A&M (4-0) – Beat Arkansas 28-21. This game was more about the Hogs’ failures to finish the Aggies off. Regardless, the Aggies remain undefeated.

TPR for Texas A&M: Have you SEEN the wide receiver talent on that team? Reynolds, Kirk, Seals-Jones, Noil, etc., etc., etc. What a nightmare.

Tennessee (2-2) – Lost to Florida 28-27. Butch Jones has proven he can recruit, but has still not proven he can coach.

TPR for Tennessee: If they keep losing, they’re gonna be awfully mad by the time we roll into town.

Florida (4-0) – Beat Florida 28-27. A borderline miracle final minute minutes keeps the Gators undefeated.

TPR for Florida: They seem to be improved under McIlwain, but I’m still not convinced. Should be a good one in Columbia.

The Citadel (3-2) – Lost to Charleston Southern 33-20. The Bulldogs have fallen on hard times since their fast start.

TPR for The Citadel: Will still be painful, but should be a win.

Clemson (3-0) – Bye week.

TPR for Clemson: The Tigers play the biggest game in college football history Saturday night against Notre Dame. God is so not happy about this that he sent a hurricane to try to ruin it.

Projected final record: 5-7

Don’t let the title fool you, we don’t talk about 1984 at all, unless you mean Van Halen’s seminal album from that very year. With the Gman absent, Tbone and Buck forge ahead with a  review of the UCF game and grade first-time starter Lorenzo Nuñez’s game, and preview the Maty Mauk-less Missouri Tigers.

Click here to listen via iTunes.

Click here or click the graphic to stream this mother lover, and enjoy!

Some quick, barely researched, not fully-formed thoughts from South Carolina’s 31-14 victory over Central Florida:

Nun-YES™. Several times during the pre-season people suggested Lorenzo Nuñez would/should/could be our starting quarterback. Several times I responded that if Nuñez was our starting quarterback at any point during 2015 then something had gone terribly wrong with the season. After anemic offensive performances through three games, a significant injury to Connor Mitch, and a valiant but losing effort by former walk-on Perry Orth, I think it was safe to say things had gone terribly wrong.

Nuñez got his first college start on Saturday, and while I wouldn’t say he came through with flying colors, his performance was definitely good enough to cement the starting role at least until Mitch comes back. (And probably longer.)

After an ill-advised throw on his first play, Nuñez had the best single passing (184 yards, 2 TD) and rushing (18-123) games of the season for the Gamecocks. He showed skills we haven’t seen at the position since Anthony Wright. (You might say Syvelle Newton, but don’t, Syvelle never had the arm Zo does.)

There will be growing pains for sure, but at this point Lorenzo Nuñez by far gives us the best chance to move the ball, score points, and most importantly, win games.

King Tuttch. Down. Pharoh Cooper was in the midst of his worst game as a Gamecock. First, he made the boneheaded decision to try to field and return a punt inside his own 5 yard line. The muff led to a UCF recovery and 1-yard touchdown drive for the statistically worst offense in FBS. Next, he let a sure touchdown go though his hands that could’ve cut into the Knights lead right before half.

Undaunted, Cooper responded in the second half with an improvised touchdown run off a busted trick play. Then he came back later in the half to haul in a 35-yard touchdown from Nuñez. He’s not having the season he would’ve hoped for so far, but he’s still unquestionably the best offensive option we have on a team with a dearth of them.

Movin’ on Up. The Gamecocks have once again fielded one of the worst defenses in the country so far this year, so the offensively challenged Knights were just what the doctor ordered. USC held UCF to 230 total yards, with only 23 coming on the ground. There was a terrifyingly familiar 93-yard drive by the Knights late in the first half, and there were way too many Gamecock defensive backs not in the same zip code as the wide receivers they were covering. But aside from those things the defense was very solid. With the likes of Texas A&M, LSU and Clemson coming up, we needed a confidence builder, and we got it.

Holla man. There was much made, mostly by Steve Spurrier, of the decision to start TJ Holloman at middle linebacker this week. After all, the coaching staff was displacing our defensive MVP, Skai Moore, and potentially screwing up the one thing we had going for us on defense.

Holloman responded with his best day as a Gamecock, recording two interceptions, six tackles (one TFL), two quarterback hurries and a pass break-up. Tip of the cap to Jon Hoke and staff.

Boosie. Every once in a while we steal a kid from another state that turns out to be a real player for us. With a sack and a safety yesterday, Boosie Whitlow looks like he might be one of those guys.

The HBC. Yesterday certainly helped the morale in an around the program, but nothing happened to change our belief that this will be Steve Spurrier’s last season at the helm for the Gamecocks*.

After last week’s game he said there would be changes on defense, and those changes would be communicated by the defensive staff. The defensive staff made a significant change (Holloman, Moore) that Spurrier then publicly denounced on his Thursday call-in show. You might argue this is just Spurrier being Spurrier, and to an extent it is. But calling out your assistants, whom you asked to make changes, for doing the job you asked them to do is just being an ass. Handle that internally.

Then, after the game, the HBC was asked about play calling.

“I delegated early and obviously the second half I jumped in there a lot of times.”

This is beginning to annoy me. Either call the plays all the time, or have someone else call the plays all the time. The stories about 2-3 guys on the headset discussing what plays to run next for basically the entire game is not normal. Don’t tell us how sharp you are for a 70-year-old and then delegate the thing that made you famous to someone else.

Either call the plays, or butt out.

Moving on. We step up the competition a notch with a conference road game next week against Missouri. Fortunately, they are currently just as dysfunctional as we are, so it should be a good match-up.

Go Cocks!

*Note we still have not called for his firing, dismissal, ouster, or any other word suggesting he be dismissed against his will. 

On this week’s TRC Unleashed the boys discuss the Georgia debacle, if Lorenzo Nunez can spark the team to victory, and who some potential replacements might be for Steve Spurrier (if the job comes open and we’re not saying it will we’re just speculating like all fans do so back off.)

Click here for the iTunes link.

Or you can click here or click the graphic for streaming, and enjoy!