Here are some quick, barely researched, not fully formed thoughts from last night’s 35-7 dismantling of Georgia:

The Big Time. First up, congratulations and thank you to everyone at the University of South Carolina who had a hand in putting on a great show yesterday. It all started at 9 a.m. with ESPN GameDay, and culminated with an absolutely spectacular scene at Williams Brice Stadium last night. I would’ve loved to have been there in person, but I can tell you it all played out on TV like we are a big time football program with big time support.

And it played out that way because we are.

Ambush. There was no reason to believe the game last night would play out differently than any other South Carolina-Georgia matchup. The game has historically been a nail-biter, with a few comfortable victories by the Bulldogs sprinkled in. But a South Carolina blowout? Nobody, and I mean NO-BO-DY saw that coming.

The spread favored USC by 2.5 points, which is about the margin you get for home field advantage. Prognosticators were split, maybe favoring UGA slightly. Desmond Howard even said on GameDay he flipped a coin, and went with the Gamecocks.

But with five minutes left in the first quarter the score was 21-0 in favor of USC, and the Georgia players looked shell-shocked at what was happening to them. They were dominated from the opening bell, and never had an answer with their high-powered offense.

Normally when we beat the Bulldogs they refuse to acknowledge we’re better – “well, if we hadn’t fumbled deep in your territory” (2010) or “we outplayed you in every phase of the game” (2011) – but there is no sugar-coating what happened last night. That was a flat-out no doubt ass-kicking, and the better team won. I haven’t heard any Georgia fans acknowledge that yet, but then again I might not hear ANYTHING from them for a few days.

Statistically speaking. Georgia came into the game averaging 536 yards and 48 points per game, and left the W-B last night with 224 yards and 7 garbage points. Aaron Murray, the leading candidate for first-team all-SEC quarterback, finished 11-31 for 109 yards and 1 INT (and probably experienced garnet-colored night terrors trying to sleep).

Our favorite new Hollywood couple, “Gurshall”, combined for a whopping 76 yards on 25 carries. Actually, if you take away Georgia’s first play from scrimmage, a 15-yard gain by “Gur”, the total is 61 yards on 24 carries.

Also, Georgia had exactly two drives of more than 20 yards all night (h/t to @gamecockhoops). Let that sink in.

More stats. We passed the ball 10 times completing six for 162 yards and scored 35 points. Georgia Tech threw the ball 14 times against Clemson yesterday. Do with that what you will.

More Latti. We won’t know for a while if Marcus Lattimore will forgo his senior year to jump to the NFL, but if he does his final stat line in three games against UGA: 88 carries for 467 yards (5.3 ypc) and 4 TDs, plus 5 receptions for 48 yards. Solid.

Heisman Watch.  There is a player on the South Carolina football team that deserves to be invited to New York in December for the Heisman ceremony, and his name is not Marcus Lattimore. While Lattimore is arguably the best running back in the country, Jadeveon Clowney is arguably the best football player in the country. Clowney’s stat line looks rather pedestrian from last night – 4 tackles, 1 sack – but his impact on the game goes much further than that. At times he was occupying three offensive players for Georgia, creating one-on-one situations for our other linemen or blitzers. His athleticism is unparalleled for someone his size and was on full display last night.

Clowney was the talk of the game last night on a defense that was spectacular, and the talk will only grow as the season continues. The chances of him winning the Heisman are exactly zero, but the Downtown Athletic Club needs to do the right thing and send the best player in the country an invite and a plane ticket.

Ace. I just don’t know how to feel having an actual living, breathing punt returner on our team. Once again, Ace Sanders was electric last night. What a great bonus to have a guy who can give you, or set you up for, six points on a special teams play. It’s a luxury we haven’t had at USC since 1987 with a guy named Sharpe.

Great expectations. I don’t know about you guys, but my expectations began to shift last night as I watched N.C. State rally to beat FSU. We will move up to #3 in the polls today, and one of the teams ahead of us we will have the opportunity to play in the SEC Championship game if we continue to take care of business. I know, I know, trips to Baton Rouge and Gainesville await, and both of those games will be street fights. But I make no apologies for looking ahead, because after all, I don’t have to play (thank goodness).

There are many obstacles in the way, but there’s no denying a path has been laid out for this team to get to Miami.

Let’s go streaking. South Carolina now owns the longest winning streak in the country at 10 games, which also happens to be the longest winning streak in school history.

Look in Damiere. In addition to his great catch on the second play of the game, Damiere Byrd once again saved us on special teams. For the third time this year, Byrd tracked down a kickoff returner to prevent a touchdown. And it’s not like Malcolm Mitchell is a slow dude. Aside from Ace Sanders, Byrd has probably been our most valuable special teams player.

Keeping it on the D.L. D.L Moore has been somewhat maligned in this space and on TRC Unleashed, but he deserves major props for his great catch last night. Because of his size, we keep wanting him to be a shadow of Alshon Jeffery, and last night he delivered, out jumping and out fighting a Georgia DB to set up the TD that was the final nail in the coffin. Mad props D.L.

The other 21. Devonte Holloman, another great game last night.

Two fiddy. Congratulations to Coach Spurrier on his 250th career victory last night. Fitting that it came against his old nemesis.

Go Cocks, beat LSU!

We’ll finish off our brief and fun look back at some of the great Gamecock moments against Georgia in the last 25 years by fast-forwarding to the 2010-2011 seasons.

After the wins in 2000 and 2001 for South Carolina, Georgia was able to win seven of the next eight contests. A couple of those games were not particularly close, but more often than not the Gamecocks could point to one or two plays that cost them in a tight game, i.e. fumbles on the goal line, missed extra points, etc. (We don’t really have to re-hash those do we?)

But in 2010 a young freshman named Marcus Lattimore arrived on campus in Columbia, and he had his coming out party against UGA that season, rushing for 182 yards and two TD’s in a 17-6 victory over the Bulldogs.

In 2011 a wild game broke out in Athens that had just about everything. Once again, Lattimore was a major factor for the Gamecocks, overcoming a slow start to rush for 176 yards and a touchdown. But two plays will forever stand out in Gamecock football lore.

One, a fake punt, I chronicled here as possibly the greatest special teams play in South Carolina history.

The other play essentially sealed the game for the Gamecocks (although not without some additional drama). It also introduced the college football world to a kid named Jadeveon Clowney, and firmly established Melvin Ingram as a player to watch throughout 2011.

Let’s hope we have some great moments to recount after tomorrow.  Go Cocks.   

On September 2, 2000, South Carolina snapped the nation’s longest losing streak (21 games) with a 31-0 victory over New Mexico State. The following week the Gamecocks welcomed #9 Georgia into Williams Brice with hotshot quarterback Quincy Carter. Phil Petty and Derek Watson paced the offense, but the story of the game was Charlie Strong’s zone blitz-crazy defense that led propelled the Gamecocks to a stunning 21-10 victory.

Georgia fans still recall with horror Carter’s five-interception day.

The following year in Athens, the Bulldogs were breaking in a new coach named Mark Richt and new quarterback named David Greene (you know, David Pollack’s roommate). They had the game against South Carolina circled because they wanted revenge and wanted it bad.  

But once again a defensive struggle ensued, and a late fumble by Watson seemingly sealed the Gamecocks fate. But Petty, with a major assist from Ryan Brewer, led the Gamecocks on an improbable drive at the end of the game that resulted in this touchdown and a 14-9 victory.

A classic moment in the rivalry. This YouTube clip alternates between the calls of broadcasting legends Larry Munson and Bob Fulton as Carolina culminates a game-winning drive led by Steve Taneyhill and Brandon Bennett in Athens.

I was fortunate enough to be in Sanford Stadium for this one.

In the latest edition of TRC Unleashed, we talk about the terror that filled us when TJ Johnson’s snap sailed over Connor Shaw’s head late in the first half on Saturday night against Kentucky, and then the relief we felt in the second half when we realized we are awesome and Kentucky sucks.

We also preview the UGA game (biggest game ever?) and discuss what’s been going on around the SEC.

Oh, and This Week in Dabo.

Click it and enjoy!

Five weeks down already, and the Gamecocks are ranked #6 and have tied their all-time record for most victories in a row at nine. They can make it ten this weekend with what could turn out to be one of the biggest wins in school history over #5 Georgia. Did we learn anything this weekend from how our past and future opponents played? Let’s find out:

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

Sorry for the late posting, but here are some quick, barely researched, not fully formed thoughts from yesterday’s 38-17 victory over Kentucky:

A tale of two halves. A 17-7 deficit in the first half, and a 31-0 whitewashing of the Wildcats in the second half. That’s the epitome of two different games rolled into one, and pretty much the opposite of our last trip to Lexington. Thank goodness for our coaches, veteran player leadership and sideline full of guys who didn’t panic. Not much more could’ve gone wrong in the first half, and it’s as if the Gamecocks took a deep breath at halftime, said “ok, we’re much better than them, let’s go execute”. It was game over when the teams came out of the locker room for half number two.

The Gamecocks muscled up and played like the #6 team in the country should against an SEC also-ran. Starting at about 7:06 on Saturday night, we won’t have the luxury of sleepwalking through a half any more. It’s time for some big boy football now.

Flashbacks. Speaking of that last trip to Lexington, a lot of people on our side downplayed the 2010 game all week. But when we were down 17-7 and that snap sailed over Connor Shaw’s head giving Kentucky a shot at more points just before half, you couldn’t help but recall that nightmare feeling. That feeling you were about to lose to a vastly inferior team. That feeling that you had to deal with an extra layer of the Sunday blues. That feeling that you had to try to explain to all your co-workers what the heck happened on Saturday night. Goodbye SEC, goodbye SEC East, goodbye GameDay, goodbye season. A half-full Commonwealth Stadium would forever be our house of horrors.

Good thing our guys had another script written, and I didn’t have to write another post like this.

The I has it. Since Marcus Lattimore arrived on campus, we’ve seen very few traditional two-back sets in our offense. We have been mostly a one-back, zone read kind of team for the last three years, but when we weren’t having success against one of the worst rushing defenses in the country last night, Steve Spurrier dusted off one of the back pages of the playbook and pulled out the old I-formation. That’s when Lattimore gashed the ‘Cats for most of his 120 rushing yards. It was nice to see, and according to the HBC we’ll probably see more of it going forward.

Maybe even inside the 5 coach?

Latti-MORE. #21 had a vintage game last night. Everybody keeps saying Lattimore is “not quite back yet”. I’m not sure exactly what they’re seeing, but he’s looked pretty good to me all year, he just hasn’t had the opportunity to take a game over until last night. I think his carries have been limited for the most part to ease him back before we hit the meat of our schedule, which happens to be next week. If he’s got it going on Saturday against UGA, expect to see him get 25-30 carries.

Hampton In. Props to Vic Hampton for quite possibly saving the game last night. If Kentucky walks that fumble in just before the half, who knows if that’s a knockout blow to our psyche. Maybe not, but you never know.

How was Hampton in the right place at the right time? I sent a tongue in cheek tweet saying “thanks for being lazy Vic Hampton” that was probably taken the wrong way by a few folks (one in particular). The ball was bouncing around for such a long time you’d expect all eleven defenders to be around it, but Hampton was hanging in the back because he had followed his guy into the end zone. He wasn’t being lazy, he just found himself where he did because he was doing his job.

Plus, he deserves a mention because he played a pretty good game.

Most popular guy on the team. You know who it is? The backup quarterback. I actually saw a couple of tweets at the half last night calling for Dylan Thompson to replace Connor Shaw.

You know this guy Shaw? The guy who in his last two games has completed 35-39 passes for 397 yards and 4 TDs? Oh, and rushed for 117 yards on top of that? Yeah, that’s the guy you want replaced?

Chill people. Seriously.

Game Freakin’ Day. When was the last time we had a game as big as this coming weekend’s at Williams-Brice Stadium? I’m not talking about just having a big-name or highly ranked opponent coming in, I mean a game with major national implications like the UGA game will have. Alabama? Nah, we had already lost a game to Auburn that year and weren’t ranked anywhere near where we are today. Maybe Florida State in ’84?

UGA should have a clear shot at the SEC East title with a win, and while we still have work to do if we win (LSU & Florida among others), I think it can be done. Then, a one-game showdown with Alabama to go to the BCS title game? Sign me up.

When you think about the possibilities for the winner of this game, I’d say it’s hard to find a game that’s been bigger that we’ve played in. Period.

Mick Patrick – Play by Play Professional. Our old College World Series buddy was back at it last night, and by the end of Kentucky’s first offensive series had already called out “Myron” Jerideau and Aldrick “Foreman” on our defense.

It surprised me a little they didn’t try to find Mr. and Mrs. Refsnyder in the crowd.

APB. Please let us know if you’ve heard from Ron Morris. We’re getting worried.

Go Cocks, beat Georgia!

If there was any shred of doubt left, last night cemented that the HBC has clearly regained his swagger. 

Last night’s weekly call-in show – normally a dry, coachspeak preview of this week’s opponent interspersed with sometimes imbecilic fan questions – provided Coach a public forum to unload on a certain unnamed columnist at an unnamed Columbia based newspaper. 

And boy did he ever unload.

Using a tone and language usually reserved for Seminoles or Volunteers during his Gator days, Spurrier ripped into this so-called columnist with venom and fire.  The message:  Enough is enough.  No more unresearched columns designed to denigrate our program and the character of the HBC.  No more outrageous comparisons to Penn State.  No more back-stabbing from the home town paper.

As we all know, this feud between coach and writer has been going on for quite some time.  It started with the Bruce Ellington “poaching” comment, continued with an accusation that coach callously and carelessly played an injured Connor Shaw, and culminated with a comment that the program was starting to resemble the one at Penn State.

We have commented on the stormy relationship between coach and columnist before.  After yesterday’s written apology by said columnist and today’s bombastic response by the HBC, we have been contemplating our reasoned and carefully crafted response to the latest developments, and we present it here:

HELL YES !!!!!

For years our program has been pushed around by just about everybody-our conference foes, CTU, the media, you name it.   It’s long been “sport” to take pot shots at the moribund USC football team.  Well, things are a changin’. 

Yesterday was a landmark moment in the evolution of the program. The HBC’s rant was a statement that we are becoming, dare we say it, Big Time. 

For years the football team needed the local paper for publicity.  Now, it’s clear that the worm has turned.  The paper, faced with a shrinking readership and competition from all sides, needs the football program (and the other USC sports programs as well). 

There’s no denying that the sports page is by far the most important section of the paper.  Heck, on some days they don’t even publish other traditional sections.  Yet, they can’t help themselves.  They can’t seem to break from the days when all they had to write about was the negative stuff.  You would think that the paper would embrace the recent successes and rejoice in the fact that we finally have a coach who has an idea or two about how to win a football game.

In addition to winning, the HBC is (or should be) a newspaper man’s dream.  He speaks off the cuff and oftentimes gives the best quotes in the business.  The folks at the paper should realize that they have it pretty damn good under the circumstances.  

But what do they do?  They try to screw it all up by allowing a guy to repeatedly attack the character of the HBC.  While coach has his faults (well, don’t we all), I don’t think there are too many folks in the world of college football who would question his character.

We at TRC love the HBC and what he stands for. He’s called the Head Ball Coach for a reason.  In many ways he’s a throwback to a different era of college football  — an era when the players answered yes sir and no sir.  Yesterday he half way threatened to leave if the local paper continued to allow moronic columns by moronic columnists.   

Yesterday he drew the line.