Here are some quick, barely researched, not fully formed thoughts from last night’s 23-21 heartbreak in Baton Rouge:

Losing?  What’s Losing?  I can’t speak for the rest of Gamecock Nation, but I didn’t exactly handle last night’s defeat with grace.  Or class.  Heck, I didn’t even handle it with baseline adult maturity.  I think I’ll keep the details to myself; for fear that I lose all legitimacy with you, our gentle readers.

However, I suspect I’m not alone, eh?

But with the rising of the sun today came new perspective:  I think we Gamecocks have all become unfamiliar with losing, and that’s undoubtedly a good thing.  Makes the rare defeats sting a little harder, but I’d rather suffer through the occasionally sharp pain than endure that old slow week-to-week torture (the way Kentucky does, for example).

Streaking. Of the myriad storylines that preceded last night’s action, several involved active streaks.  LSU was riding a 21 or-something-God-awful streak of home wins, and hadn’t lost back-to-back games since 2008.  Carolina was riding the nation’s longest active win streak of ten games and had achieved its highest ranking since 1984.  There were other streaks on the line for both squads, but all you need to know is that basically all the LSU streaks are still active, and all the Carolina ones ended with a loud and calamitous thud.

Death Valley. The HBC made a few headlines last Tuesday when he by-accidently-on-purpose forgot about Clemson’s Memorial Stadium “Death Valley” nickname during his weekly presser.  I’m not sure he put a ton of thought into the comments, but any intention on his part to establish the Death Valley in Baton Rouge as the REAL Death Valley was right on point.  That place is evidently a nightmare.

Everything we did last night looked – I’ll use the HBC’s word – discombobulated. From getting our plays in on time, to calling audibles, to make on the fly defensive adjustments, we looked out of sync.  I think it’s safe to say the hostile environment played its part in those difficulties.

Interestingly, last night was only our fourth visit to the real Death Valley since joining the SEC.  With the current divisional format, we only make that trip once every five years, so it’s safe to say that few, if any, members of our roster had experience with the place.  Maybe the western teams get used to it, I don’t know, but we get reintroduced to the insanity only twice a decade, and I suspect that isn’t frequently enough to get comfortable.

X’s and O’s. Brent and Kirk seemed absolutely befuddled that we took the ball after winning the toss.  Don’t know what team they’ve been watching, as we have a pretty firm pattern established there.  Regardless, it worked out about how you’d expect it to in that environment, with a quick three and out.

Conversely, I think LSU had their first series scripted out perfectly.  It went against all our preconceptions about their tendencies as it was pass-pass-run instead of the opposite.  It made our defensive troops think, and as we all know, thinking can only hurt the ball club.  We were reeling from the beginning, and played on our heels all night.

Jimmy’s and Joe’s.  Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought LSU had numerous linemen that either quit or were injured in the last couple of weeks.  I expected an inexperienced and undersized group of bewildered trench men, but that’s not what the Tigers looked like to me.  Instead they looked like a big group of beef jerky sasquatches out there in yellow.  Not that we messed with ‘em too much, mind you.

Lattimore.  21 had no room.  It was clear that the LSU defenders were focused on him like a laser from the outset.  That being said, we all certainly thought the Oline could get a crease opened every now and then.  Alas, it was not to be.  Marcus made one big first down run and another TD dive and they were both 100% Marcus giving 1000% effort all on his own.

Right Handed.  Anyone else notice how often Shaw rolls to his right as opposed to rolling to his left?  Even on run plays it holds true:  On the speed option right he kept the ball for a good gain, but on the following play left he pitched quickly to Latti for minimal yardage.  Don’t know what it means, whether it’s a commentary on our left tackle or just Shaw’s preference, but it seems to me that a right handed QB could see more of the field if he rolled left.

Tale of two Damieres.  And two DL’s.  Both guys made big-time tough catches last week against Georgia, and then missed on very similar throws this week.   It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, I guess.

Hanging on.   The physicality of the Tigers was obvious, and our inability (or unwillingness) to respond in kind was painfully evident.  But still we somehow managed to hang in the game.  We led at the end of the 1^st quarter; we led again at the half.  Heck, we even led going into the final period, and but for an unusual Shaw overthrow/pick, we might have led when the clock hit 0:00.   No idea how we hung around with a team that was obviously better and in such a batcrap crazy environment.  But still we did, and that must speak to our team’s tenacity at least.

Moving on.  So let’s flush it. Forget it.  Move on.  And that should be easy as we have the third straight BIGGEST GAME IN OUR HISTORY coming up on Saturday down in Gainesville.  A win down there and we are right back on the inside track.

Go Cocks, beat the Gators!

As regular readers of this space will remember, I am the unfortunate member of the TRC triumvirate that lives and works in the heart of CTU country:  Pickens County.  And while my location near Tigertown does afford many benefits (friends, lakes, mountains, and the wondrous Mrs. Tbone) it occasionally induces face-palming frustration.

Today was frustrating.

My ride into work is usually a quiet time, interrupted only by the occasionally interesting story on SCETV Radio’s Morning Edition.   But since SCETV began its fall pledge drive this week, I’ve turned my radio dial to other programming (yes, I’m a freeloader on public radio, but that’s a rant for another blog).  After hovering over a few stations, I settled on WCCP, the flagship radio for Clemson athletics.

To my surprise, the normally banal and commercial heavy Mickey Plyler Show was actually engaged in an interesting debate.  The host and several of the callers were arguing over the recent revelation that local Greenville hero, George Hincappie, participated with his pal Lance Armstrong in illegal doping during their professional cycling careers.

The points of view of the callers ranged from outrage to excuse-making, but the host of the program was resolute:  a failure to abide by the rules of a sport cannot be tolerated.  Any deviation from the accepted standards of conduct, Mr. Plyler loudly asserted, disqualifies the participant from any claims of glory.  We can forgive, the host argued, but we should NEVER forget.

He drew the contrast even sharper when one caller attempted to argue that we, as consumers, are entitled to the best performance possible from our athletes, and since they control their own bodies, we should legitimize widespread doping and just enjoy the resulting show.

Plyler was livid: How can we accept these improper practices?  He offered the caller a choice:  How would the caller (an SC fan apparently) feel if Clemson paid the top athletes in the country to come to the Upstate and play ball?  How would an SC fan react if Clemson clobbered them on the gridiron with players that were bought and paid for by the Tiger faithful?

The caller retreated, and admitted that he would not like such an ill-gotten result.  Plyler crowed victorious, and proceeded to moralize on our collective solemn duty to police ethical integrity in sport.

I screamed at the radio.

Literally screamed.

I didn’t scream because of similarities between this debate and the steriod scandals at Clemson and South Carolina in the mid 1980s, although that would be an interesting discussion.  Instead, my incredulity was based on the fact that we already know the answer to Plyler’s rhetorical question because IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED, from roughly 1978 until at least 1984.

 As we all know, Clemson paid for its players and then won it all.

Now, just how does one of the chief orange apologists dare to assert such moral superiority on the doping issue when the chief accomplishment of his cherished institution, the 1981 National Championship in football, was the direct result of illegally recruited athletes?  Were the Clemson athletes not paid?  Were they not induced to sign with cash, cars, and gifts to mom?  Were the violations not so widespread that the NCAA handed down its harshest penalties up to that date?

Either Mickey Plyler has a very selective memory, or he is applying different ethical rules to each situation depending on whether or not he is a fan of the offender.

Or maybe he is going to advocate that the National Championship banner come down from Clemson’s Memorial Stadium.

Maybe, but I’m not going to hold my breath.  I’ll just have to keep screaming at the radio.

 

The TRC Unleashed gets absolutely giddy over the destruction of UGA. In addition:

• Jadeveon Clowney gets a Heisman push, but can’t win a Rubber Chickens award
• The wide receivers walk away with all the hardware
• Dameire Byrd gets some special teams love
• Georgia LSU Florida is the biggest game in our history
• We love on the overrated chant and throwing garbage from the stands
• Robert Nkemdiche is 100% committed to Clemson except that he’s not

If you listen, you’ll get the meaning of all that. Click the graphic and enjoy!

A lot of people seemed to be frustrated and angry that thousands of our fans broke out the “over-rated” chant at the end of the Georgia game Saturday night. A few took to Twitter to voice their displeasure, including some of our favorite media members to scold the fan base for somehow diminishing our win over the #5 team in the country.

Then, this morning I came across this article from Randall at the Garnet Report (which has been a fine addition to the Gamecock blogging community I must say). He complains about some fans leaving early and the wave and the songs the band plays and that kinda stuff.

He also wags his finger at the fans who participated in the “over-rated” chant:

Chanting “Overrated!” You’re obviously not using your head on this one. Think about what you’re implying when you’re heard on national TV yelling about how overrated Georgia is. ‘Hey, national TV audience! This team we’re playing today? They’re not very good. Not very good at all, in fact. We just wanted you to know how wrong you were about how good you thought they were. This win isn’t actually very impressive, come to think of it. Since Georgia’s not very good and all. So thanks for putting us on TV! We’ll just keep on beating up on this not-very-good opponent and hope that you still want to slide us way up in the rankings tomorrow!’ What possible reason do we have for wanting Georgia to be overrated? We want Georgia to be EXACTLY as good as everybody thought they were. We want Georgia to finish with the same number of SEC losses as us (if we lose a conference game, that is), so that we’d go to Atlanta with the tiebreaker over them. That would help our BCS standing. If Georgia sucks, our win looks less impressive to the computers and opens the door for someone else to get a big bowl bid over us. If Georgia is really good, the computers like us as much as the humans do, and we can all prance down to the BCS Promised Land together.

First of all, how many people do you think were sitting at their TV’s and said to the person next to them, “Hey Jim, what are they saying? Overrated? Hmmm. By golly maybe they’re right, Georgia is overrated! Well, my respect for this South Carolina team is diminished greatly!”

Or maybe a pollster who watched the game: “Well, Florida State and LSU lost in addition to Georgia. We should probably move South Carolina up to #3, but you know, their fans were chanting ‘over-rated’. This really gives me pause about whether they should move up at all, since obviously UGA was overrated. I mean, the fans’ rhythmic chant told us so.”

No, that didn’t happen. Anywhere. People saw us hammer a very good Georgia team and now we’re not only in the SEC Championship picture, but the NATIONAL Championship picture.

Look, the “overrated” chant has been around forever. It’s a great college chant, right up there with “air ball”. It is not and never has been a vehicle to lessen the accomplishments of the team/fans delivering the message.

“Overrated” is simply salt in the wound, a twist of the knife to your hated rival. I’m a UGA hater from the late 70’s, and I got a kick out of hearing the chant. Kick ‘em while they’re down I say.

At the end of the day we can’t control how good or bad Georgia is. I hope they’re good, really good. But if we don’t keep winning it doesn’t really matter.

We’re the #3 ranked team in the country. Let’s have some fun with it. No inferiority complex needed.

The Gamecocks moved to 6-0 with another victory over a vastly inferior opponent this weekend. They also rose to #3 in the major polls, leaping like J. Clowney over pretenders LSU, Georgia and Florida State.

How did the other teams on USC’s schedule do, and what can we glean from their performances? Let’s take a look:

(Reminder: I do not include this past week’s opponent in the TPR.)

• Vanderbilt – beat Missouri 19-15. Vandy gets their first conference win and first win over an FBS team. Hey, it’s no Super Bowl, but it’s a step in the right direction if the ‘Dores want to get bowl eligible. TPR for Vanderbilt: Would like to see Vandy get back to the level they played against us, but they’re still not very good.
• East Carolina – lost to Central Florida 40-20. Turns out they’re just a bad football team, and Ruffin McNeill’s seat is getting warm. TPR for ECU: We will get no satisfaction out of scoreboard watching ECU this season.
• UAB – beat Southeastern Louisiana 52-3. The Blazers get their first win! TPR for UAB: Starting to get the ECU and UAB games confused in my head. Did we have a minor quarterback controversy mixed in there somewhere?
• Missouri – lost to Vanderbilt 19-15. Poor, poor Missouri. Their first season in the SEC is turning into a disaster. A late October date with Kentucky is starting to look like their best shot at a conference win. Getting bowl eligible is going to be a struggle. CBS would like a do-over on the two times they have chosen Missouri for their game of the week. TPR for Missouri: Looked like a good win, then a mediocre win, now a game we should’ve won by more.
• Kentucky – lost to Mississippi State 27-14. A valiant effort by the overmatched Wildcats. They took the redshirt off their hotshot freshman QB, and he leads them to a TD before he proceeds to sprain his ankle. Poor ‘Cats can’t get out of their own way. TPR for Kentucky: Spurrier should carry highlights from the first half of our game against them around on an iPad to show the players and keep saying, “See, they suck, so you must not be that good.”
• LSU – lost to Florida 14-6. LSU was a mark in the loss column for us at the beginning of the year, but their season hasn’t quite turned out as planned. Only beat Auburn 12-10?!? Still, they’re an immensely talented bunch that could put it all together at any moment. Baton Rouge at night ain’t no fun either.  TPR for LSU: Slight edge to the Gamecocks right now because of a quality win over UGA.
• Florida – beat LSU 14-6. Not many people are mentioning the fact that Florida had two weeks to prepare for LSU. Like LSU, a stingy defense, but still trying to find an identity on offense. That identity might wind up being Mike Gillislee 30 times a game. TPR for Florida: Great defenses for us and them, an edge to us in offense, they get home field advantage…ask me after this week.
• Tennessee – bye week. Have lost to Florida by a lot and Georgia by a little, which makes us feel like we’re the better team. If UT isn’t in desperation mode yet, they’re right on the cusp. This game still scares me, and scares me even more if we somehow get through the gauntlet undefeated and are susceptible to a letdown. TPR for Tennessee: Scary but manageable because of their atrocious defense.
• Arkansas – beat Auburn 24-7 (!!!). Sorry, getting used to putting exclamation points after their games. It would be just like the ‘Hogs to get back on track just in time for us. TPR for Arkansas: Wary, but still confident.
• Wofford – beat Furman 20-17. The Terriers moved to 5-0 on the season, but had their first real test against the 2-4 Paladins. TPR for Wofford: STOP SCHEDULING OPTION TEAMS.
• Clemson – beat Georgia Tech 47-31. Something’s wrong with Sammy, he’s not being awesome. Something’s also wrong with the defense, they’re not stopping people from running to the end zone. TPR for Clemson: 4peat coming.