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Just curious -- who's your favorite team, gsupstate?
He graduated from the University of Alabama so i'd go with that. USC and Clemson both looked horrible at the end of this season. This is especially true of the bowl games.
He graduated from the University of Alabama so i'd go with that. USC and Clemson both looked horrible at the end of this season. This is especially true of the bowl games.
Ahhh, that explains a lot. We bought our SEC Championship tickets from a Bama fan that assumed they would be in Atlanta. It's tough when you think you're going to win and end up in fourth place.
I agree both USC & Clemson looked bad at the end but Clemson struggled the whole year. I will add Clemson sure put up a fight until the bitter end of their bowl game.
I wonder if graduating seniors just lose their enthusiasm/motivation and it the ennui just spreads to the rest of the team. Spencer Lanning had a great season until the last couple games, for example.
Oh well, we had a lot of fun with the Gamecocks this year and next year's looking good.
I guess our definition of good is different. Loss of the SEC championship by a large score / loss of the bowl game to a non SEC school / will end the season not even ranked in the top 25. If these things are what is considered "a good season" then the USC football program definitely has a long way to go. I thought Spurrier would set the bar higher. Guess not.
I didn't say the Gamecocks had a good season. I said pundits didn't expect them to have "as good a season" as they had, including and even especially the beat-down of the Tide.
I guess our definition of good is different. Loss of the SEC championship by a large score / loss of the bowl game to a non SEC school / will end the season not even ranked in the top 25. If these things are what is considered "a good season" then the USC football program definitely has a long way to go. I thought Spurrier would set the bar higher. Guess not.
South Carolina hit a milestone in its program by winning the SEC East for the first time. If you don't think 9 wins qualifies as a "good season" for Carolina football, then what does?
How about Clemson and Alabama? Where does "losing to South Carolina" fall in this good season-bad season scale?
Where does "losing to South Carolina" fall in this good season-bad season scale?
Not sure, since Alabama will finish the year definitely in the top 25 (probably around number 12) and South Carolina will probably not finish in the top 25 after the Florida State Chick-Fil-A bowl loss....what does it mean? Not much.
For any team who doesn't finish in the top 25, I just can't call it a good year.
Maybe South Carolina has lower standards than other schools and to South Carolina finishing this way, with two major, end of season losses, is a good year?
Looking forward to the day USC receives just one national championship title (nevermind 8 or 9).
Sadly, this loss on the heels of the SEC loss to Auburn, makes the South Carolina year seem very average and gives more credibility to the growing belief that South Carolina stumbled (fell) into the SEC championship game not due to their ability to play well, but due to the fact that other SEC East teams were really off this year.
South Carolina was indeed fortunate to be in a position to play so many teams that were uncharacteristically struggling this season, however they earned the necessary number of victories to achieve their status as one of the best in the league. Had they repeated their second half performance at Kentucky in subsequent games, your argument regarding their perpetual mediocrity would carry more weight. As it stands, they performed better than normal this season.
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Originally Posted by Columbiadata
No one close to USC predicted anything like as good a season as the Gamecocks ended up having, including the beat down of Alabama.
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Originally Posted by Columbiadata
I didn't say the Gamecocks had a good season. I said pundits didn't expect them to have "as good a season" as they had, including and even especially the beat-down of the Tide.
I heard a few say it was a major trap game for Alabama and that South Carolina had a serious chance to beat the Tide in Columbia. I also believed it could happen, considering the way the Gamecocks had played well at home against top-rated teams, versus the way they tended to play poorly on the road against virtually any team except Clemson. Furthermore, I believe South Carolina has collected enough talent via its great coaches (excluding Spurrier, IMO) and depth of skillful players to compete well against any team in the country on any given day. Unfortunately they were unable to capitalize on two tremendous opportunities late in the season, but that does not diminish what they accomplished this season.
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Originally Posted by gsupstate
If these things are what is considered "a good season" then the USC football program definitely has a long way to go.
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Originally Posted by GSP101
9 wins is a good season, not a great season but, good.
Considering the overall history, I would say that a 9-win season is especially good for any South Carolina college football program.
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Originally Posted by GSP101
As for next year, Carolina returns a lot of talent as well as a solid group of redshirts and new players. It should be fun to watch.
Absolutely! As a Clemson fan, I would love to be equally as confident in the Tigers next season, but too many questions need to be answered first -- yet again. They have some great looking verbal commitments from high school seniors, but the #1 question at this point is, "Will they all remain committed and sign up to play with the Clemson program, or will they decide to sign and play elsewhere?"
Considering the overall history, I would say that a 9-win season is especially good for any South Carolina college football program.
That is a true and accurate point. For their history the season was good.
For national powerhouses and even established SEC powerhouses, their season would be considered average.
The way the season has ended has indeed thrown in a good amount of doubt though (maybe not from fans, but from a national perspective). To win 9 games / lose 3 is good for USC.....then to lose both the SEC and the bowl game.....many still see and hear the images of the historic USC average, ho-hum, inconsistent play. More was expected from USC, ESPECIALLY against Florida State, a non SEC team, in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.
Last edited by gsupstate; 01-03-2011 at 10:49 AM..
That is a true and accurate point. For their history the season was good.
For national powerhouses and even established SEC powerhouses, their season would be considered average.
The way the season has ended has indeed thrown in a good amount of doubt though (maybe not from fans, but from a national perspective). To win 9 games / lose 3 is good for USC.....then to lose both the SEC and the bowl game.....many still see and hear the images of the historic USC average, ho-hum, inconsistent play. More was expected from USC, ESPECIALLY against Florida State, a non SEC team, in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.
There is nothing ho-hum about about a 9 win season even for traditional college football powers. Sadly, if you pay a coach $6m per year then, 9 or even 10 wins would be a let down. But, that is only if a school puts so much emphasis on one sport to let that happen.
But, you are wrong, from a national perspective, Carolina was regarded as a good team, nothing average. Additionally, ESPN, CNNSI, rivals and others have Carolina in the mix to win the SEC East next year as well. Only time will tell.
You seem to be the only one who is arguing that Carolina somehow had an average season with 9 wins...interesting but, you have yet to prove a point.
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USC and Clemson both looked horrible at the end of this season. This is especially true of the bowl games.
