I know after reading about the gamecocks are picked to finish 4th again in the SEC East and that the Spurrier Experiment needs to pick up steam….blah blah. USC fans have some patience! I too want 9 wins in a season on a consistent basis and yes a SEC crown would be nice. And LOHD feels we are getting there just give the man some time to get his players in there and correct some of the thinking that goes on….including the fans. Trust me a 5 game losing streak hurts but keep the faith in the gamecocks!
With the season a little over a month away it is important to look at where you have been and where are we headed. As a football program we are inching oh so close…
Just to show you guys exactly how close we are…Spurrier’s record at South Carolina is 21-16. At first glance, not overly impressive right? Particularly not to someone unaware of the state our program was in when SOS took the reigns and/or the difficulty of our schedule year in and year out.
Well of those 16 losses, 9 of them are by 7 points or less.
Spurrier ALWAYS preaches the importance of winning the close games and that being the mark of a good team. Let’s just assume we were able to win 4 of those 9 games mentioned above. Several games come to mind that could easily comprise these 4 (Mizzou in the Independence Bowl, @ Florida in 2006, either of the 2 Clemson losses that we led in the 4th quarter, UT last year, Auburn at home in 2006, etc etc).
IF we had won 4 or those 9 7pt or less losses, Spurrier’s record would be 25-12, a winning percentage of 67%, and an average record of 8-4 over 3 years. I know I’m really playing the what-if game here so shoot me down if you must, but I think that really illustrates just how close we are to where we want to be!
Hopefully this year is the year that our boys get it together and win a few of those oh so important close games! GO COCKS!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
