Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecock's football bye week retrospective, Women's volleyball update. And I share my six pack of picks. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:54] Okay.
[00:00:56] Welcome to episode 344 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. Hope y' all had a great week. Gamecocks. Always nice. That week after a W, I'm like, I don't know about y', all, but when things don't go our way, I just shy away from just all the CFB news and all that jazz. Like this week, sure, I'll listen to a podcast about predictions for the week. I'll. I'll read articles about the SEC and college football playoffs and all that jazz. Like, it might not immediately apply to us, but I'm more apt to the idea of thinking about college football instead of shunning it away after a bad loss. So hope y' all had a great week and are ready to do something with the bye week here. You know, no game to, you know, watch. And it's always like the Ricky Bobby. Like, I just. I don't know what to do with my hands. Like, am I actually gonna get sucked into doing some errands on a Saturday?
[00:02:03] No, no, no, no. There's plenty of good games to watch. They're all important. That's what you gotta tell whoever you're with if they're trying to get you to do some nonsense on this Saturday afternoon bi week. Just cause the Gamecocks don't play does not mean that my Saturday is free. I feel like I should put that on a. On a T shirt or something like that. But nonetheless, here. Excuse me. Nonetheless, here, I'm gonna get into a just a little bit of a look back for that bye week. But before I do, I do have one score to update y' all on from the week, and that is from Wednesday with the women's volleyball team. They were in action and unfortunately took the loss to Texas a M3 to 1.
[00:02:49] Of course, I will update y' all with any other scores next time I am on. But as a programming note here, as is tradition, if you will, for lack of a better term, there will be no episode on Monday.
[00:03:02] Nothing really to recap from the football team. We're not into basketball season yet, so going to give myself a little bit of a pause here. And we're doing today, which will be, you know, Friday, Saturday, whenever you choose to listen. And then we'll pick things back up in. In A week previewing the LSU game, but more on that later. So, yes, no show. It's a. It's a no show on Monday. It's a bye week for your boy as well. But with that being said, it is South Carolina's bye week. And as I like to do, it's nice to take a little bit of a pause to take stock, take a breath and say, all right, where are we at? Where are we headed?
[00:03:43] And what better time to do it during the bye week? So, South Carolina, of course, we know our Gamecocks sitting at a 32 record going into this bye weekend. You know, let's put it out there. I've said it before. It's been set amongst fan groups, social media, whatever. It's a disappointing three and four.
[00:04:02] You know, in past seasons, I think you could sit here and say, all right, we have a winning record going into our bye week. We have a little bit of momentum with that win, probably in the best game that we've seen from the team. And you'd feel like this team is trending up, which I do feel like this team is.
[00:04:23] But going into this year, there were a lot of expectations. It was the most outwardly optimistic and the most highly, you know, projections and win totals and all that jazz I feel like we've seen in over 10 years.
[00:04:40] And so you come out of the gate strong against Virginia Tech, Relatively strong, right? It was an exciting, thrilling week. One win, you think, like, all right, you just had a little bit of rust. You shake that off. South Carolina State was a slow start, wacky game, and, you know, we were all sitting there at 2 and, oh, feeling interesting, right? Because the theme that quickly emerged through this first section of the season is that the offense just did not look crisp. It did not look smooth. It was not putting up enough points. Lenores, those first couple of games, minus a couple of drives, didn't seem like himself.
[00:05:24] And, you know, then you have that game against Vanderbilt, which, you know, if Lenores doesn't get knocked out of that game, who knows, right?
[00:05:34] We can't. That doesn't change anything. I think that's maybe why the score was so lopsided, because you didn't have that dynamic playmaker to bring you back. You'll remember they were marching when he was. When he was in the game. But nonetheless, you lose the game to Vandy, which just put the ultimate sour taste in everybody's mouth, and, you know, panic buttons were taken out and things like that. And then Missouri was a close battle. Fourth quarter, you just can't quite close. And all of a sudden you have those. The realization of that. All the preseason talk that we were saying and playoff potential and all that jazz is really out the window unless one of the most incredible runs happens. But, you know, then last week against Kentucky, I felt the team played their best game to date. Was it a perfect game? No way.
[00:06:29] Could it have been better? Absolutely.
[00:06:31] But I think the offense, when given the ball, performed generally well. A little bit of a slog there in the third quarter, but for the most part moved the chains, scored and I think showed balance defensively. I think it's easily their best game of the season.
[00:06:52] You finally saw what this defensive line is capable of.
[00:06:57] And I said it last episode, but I've seen it out there. Is that like, maybe this is exactly the spark that some of these guys needed, you know, like the Kentucky quarterback was a deer in the headlights all night. But when you're able to get home and you can beat those blocks, I think it boosts the confidence, especially of guys like Desmond or JT Gear, even a demon Clowney. And then to see the defensive backs do their thing, which we knew they were capable of, and now getting fully healthy with Judge back there, you really saw that momentum. So it's a real mixed bag through these first five games. And so taking stock at it offensively, what do you got? You still have your likely first round pick quarterback.
[00:07:44] Lenores has.
[00:07:46] I think it was a little bit of a rusty start for him.
[00:07:50] I think he's finally feeling a little bit more settled. I think against Missouri, he was not 100%. I know he was bouncing back from the concussion. I think that had to do a lot with the play calling that we saw. I think they were protecting him still. They took all that off against Kentucky and you saw him being more aggressive with some of those read options with. With some of those RPOs, you saw a couple of those designed runs. He looks comfortable rolling out of the pocket. I think you're going to see more of that. So you still have him running the ball. The rushing attack has been a big, big slog, and it's a big point of concern moving forward because you need to be able to run the ball, especially in the sec.
[00:08:33] Okay. And if you're not going to be able to do that in a traditional manner, we need to see more screenshots, you know, quick outs and things like that, which for the most part, I feel like have been pretty successful for this team. You have Rasool Faison leading the team right now in yardage with 163, actually with the team in rushing touchdowns as well with three.
[00:08:57] But, you know, I think a guy who could be a big piece for this team moving forward is Matt Fuller. I talked about him after the Kentucky game. He got a lot of reps in that game.
[00:09:10] I don't know if that was by design or if it just so happened that they liked what they saw when he was in there. But he's the guy who, in limited carries, has shown you that he can get you those hard yards and he falls forward, he hits the hole, he can run between the tackles. He's a big dude. He's built for the sec.
[00:09:32] I think him and Sewell complement each other really, really well. Matt Fuller was a pretty highly recruited guy. He's been on the team now for, you know, I think this is his second year.
[00:09:44] He could be a piece for this team that even if it helps the rushing game going a little bit more, that he can be someone this team could potentially rely on in this upcoming stretch to compliment Rasool, because I think when Rasul makes that first guy miss, he's really good.
[00:10:04] But it's getting to that point that's. That's been tricky for the team so far. So you have to improve in the run game. Run blocking needs to continue to be worked on, but I think also these backs need to learn how to work in concert with the offensive line. I mean, I'm. I'm in deep on Gamecock, Twitter, Internet, everything. And there's been numerous examples where the offensive line play is actually decent and it's the running backs not quite hitting the correct hole or hesitating a little bit in the backfield. So while, yes, wholeheartedly think that the offensive line needs to improve, I don't know how drastically that can between now and, you know, the end of October.
[00:10:45] Happy cocktober, by the way.
[00:10:48] But I think that's why this bi week comes at a good time, because now we have plenty of tape. Everyone's gotten plenty of reps to say, like, hey, this is who we are. Like, we need to do this to help out the offensive line. Quick passes, but then also when we do run, you got to hit the hole hard.
[00:11:05] The receivers. This has been a really interesting first five games here. Shout out Vandravius, Gamecock Twitter legend. Leading this, leading the team in receiving yards. I don't know if many people had that, you know, so he's been a pleasant surprise. He's really forming into that wide receiver one, and he is more of that typical wide Receiver, one build, right? We all love Nick Harbor. We love his capabilities. He's pacing ahead of where he was last year, which is fantastic. And if you'll remember, last year, it was really October and November where he started to really shine. So if he can take another step forward, them two can complement each other really well. But Nick has had some clutch catches, even aside from those deep shots that he's capable of. But you're seeing some of these freshmen, Murph Rowe, they're getting in on the action. So again, taking the time this week to continue to develop these guys. But you're seeing that potential there, where these first five games, it was a lot of unknowns in that receiving group. You know, you knew you had Nick Harbor's physical ability. Could he put it together on the field, and you started to see that.
[00:12:18] You knew you had some experience with Mazio, JB and Vandravius. Was someone going to step up from that bunch. Now those last two games, you're seeing Vandravius, maybe not so coincidentally. The offense has put together some drives and some points those last two games as well.
[00:12:37] And then if you sprinkle in these freshmen, okay, now you can say, well, maybe for these next four games, we can get these guys even more involved and we have a little bit more of a pecking order here that we can work with, so. And then, of course, you know, when you, you know, you could get the tight ends in there, too. I'd like to see more Brady Hunt. I think Dingle has. Has done some different things. Michael Smith, very interesting. Mia. Michael Smith, I really thought he was going to have a big year. He's been very quiet through these first five games. I don't know if it's just a depth chart thing or what, but got to keep getting Brady Hunt the ball. He's looked good and continue to have these. These tight ends involved in a big way. And then defensively, I mean, I've been pretty happy defensively. I mean, they've scored multiple times, they've caused turnovers, which has been a calling card of the Clayton White defense. Definitely disappointing efforts in those two losses.
[00:13:33] A with Vandy just giving up as many points as they did be in Missouri, getting worn down in that fourth quarter, not being able to make tackles, things of that nature. But through three quarters and change through like three and a third, if we're talking baseball terms, the defense kept. Kept the team in it. You know, they were doing their job for the most part. And it was the offense failing to kind of get over the finish line in that Missouri game. So for the most part, I've liked what I've saw.
[00:14:06] I think going into this, the question mark was, okay, who's going to be opposite of Dylan? Brian Thomas is the clear answer. He's having a nice year. I think he has three sacks, I want to say, and Dylan has three and a half. But then behind them, who was going to play?
[00:14:21] And you're starting to see a little bit more of Desmond come into his own. You're starting to see JT Gear, like, that's a big confidence boost for him against Kentucky. If he can stay healthy, if Gear can stay healthy, he's a nice third edge there. And I'm big on Desmond. You know, he was a highly recruited guy. He's been in the program for a couple years now. He can continue to develop, but you need someone to do it a little bit more consistently. But you look at the inside of the line, Gabe Brownlow, Dinley has been a good transfer pickup for us. Barrett and Goodwine, I think, have been playing good as well.
[00:14:58] That was a question mark going into the year. How do you replace some of those defensive tackles that you lost? I think.
[00:15:05] I think we do see a lack of depth there, where last year you had really four or even five deep. Now it's three, kind of four. Right.
[00:15:16] So I think you see that in these games where it does become a sort of a grinder in the fourth quarter. I think you see that raise its head, but for the most part, I think they've done okay. Linebackers, that's where you had to really replace everything, right? Like, the linebacker corps last year was just so, so good and so, so experienced. Like, they're all gone, you know, like, yeah, we talk about Fred Johnson. He was a freshman last year. You know, he played meaningful snaps, but he was by far a backup.
[00:15:47] You know, like, none of these guys are here. And I'm. I was excited going into the year about the potential that this group has. I think you're starting to see them come together more, and you've seen what they can do, how fast they are. You saw that right out of the gate in Virginia Tech. But I think there were growing pains those. These first few games, you know, and now you're past that point where the growing, you know, you can say growing pains, and it's. It's time to really, you know, put on your big boy pants here with this stretch of next few games that we have. But I think linebackers coming together well. I think Sean Murphy and Jo are good Transfer pickups, they're growing it to their own. I like Fred J.R. johnson a lot. After that Virginia Tech game. He hasn't been like, quite flash off the page, but he's made plays and he's active. So all. All in all, I think they're doing a solid job. And then in the defensive backfield, I think we missed Judge.
[00:16:47] I think his absence hurt us, especially in Vandy and Mizzou. Him coming back is huge. But you have to give a shout out to Gerald Kilgore. You have to give a big shout out to Brandon cc, who might be the best transfer pickup of them all this year. He's been as steady as you could ask for in that position.
[00:17:05] The safeties, I think they've been. I think you are missing the presence of Nick there, but it's time to step up. You know, DQ has made some plays, but he's had some plays where he just has missed tackles or he's gotten beat. And we've seen that from DQ in the past. But I think he's still a very reliable player for you. Peyton Williams, you're still trying to see, like, can he make that big play when you need him to. He's been all right, but for the most part, I think the defensive backfield has been solid. Vicari, of course, everything he's done in special teams, but also in that position group as well. So, you know, defensively, I think we have been solid. You have. You've had some. You've had some lumps. There's some marks there. But the defense kept you in the game and had some big stops against Virginia Tech.
[00:17:54] They played great against South Carolina State, and they played amazing against Kentucky. And it's a unit that you probably have to continue to rely on and your special teams, you know, I think it's. It's been a mixed bag. It's been. It's been pretty darn good for the most part.
[00:18:10] You know, you've had, you know, some kicks you wish you could get back. The kickoff to start Kentucky, you wish you had back. But everything that Valkari has been able to do in that return game has been phenomenal. But continue to tighten the screws there and hone that unit to be a weapon. So, look, you're sitting here at 3 and 2.
[00:18:32] It's a disappointing 3 and 2 from the standpoint of the preseason expectations. Right. And that's the nature of disappointment. You had an expectation, and right now we're not living up to that. But I still believe that we have a good squad.
[00:18:47] You know, it was two tough losses, but if those two losses were to, you know, Bama and you know, I don't know, I can't think of someone right now, Tennessee, you know, you'd say, all right, you're three and two, you're hanging in there. If this was a year where you didn't have that preseason ranking, I think you'd feel a little bit better. I think it's just the nature of how those losses happened.
[00:19:12] I think it's the names of who you lost to Vanderbilt. But I think sitting at 3 and 2, there's still a lot of football left.
[00:19:24] And I know that these next couple of games are going to be all against highly ranked teams. You're going to have to go on the road. Death Valley, you're going to have to go on the road. Ole Miss.
[00:19:36] So the challenge is certainly there, but we haven't even played our A game yet.
[00:19:43] And I think that's the scary thing for teams facing South Carolina.
[00:19:48] What if the coaching staff takes this week and really changes it up a little bit and you see more of an attacking style, offense maybe with a little more tempo, doing a little bit more of these read options, RPO type deals. Lenore statistically is better than he was last year throwing the ball, so you can lean on that. And I think there's still a lot of good football left in this team. And I think you saw bits and pieces of that in the first four games. Like when these teams plays complementary, they can be pretty good. And I think you saw that really fully in action against Kentucky.
[00:20:23] So take this week, get healthy, continue to develop, but then maybe fine tune some of these things, you know, maybe give Matt Fuller some more reps and maybe look at the scheme you're doing offensively and say, you know what, maybe we gotta mix it up on first down some. Maybe we do gotta incorporate some tempo and figure out what you do well, double down on that. Start to think outside of the box to how you can overcome some of these deficits. And that is something we've seen Shane Beamer teams do after the buy. He's tended to have his teams play well after buy weeks.
[00:21:01] We'll see.
[00:21:02] So all told, you know, it's not the record I think any of us thought we would have want to have.
[00:21:09] But I am still going to choose to be optimistic that there's plenty of football left and you can still have multiple paths here to having a successful season. Maybe not what we all thought before week one, but still a successful season because of the guys who have performed to this point, the guys who are developing behind them and some of the potential that is still out there.
[00:21:33] So with that y', all, let me give you all my six pack of picks and I will get you out of here. Just fully focused on this this week without the Gamecocks playing. So real quick here. ACC, give me Miami minus four and a half versus FSU. Big 12 going two here. Kansas State versus Baylor minus six and a half and then Texas Tech versus Houston over 52.5 in the Big Ten I'm going Minnesota versus Ohio State over 43.5 sec.
[00:22:04] I don't love this one but we're doing it. Texas versus Florida, give me the Gators plus six and a half and then group of five Friday Night lights for y' all here. Western Kentucky versus Delaware minus three but with that y', all that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox Gamecocks. Instagram is just the name of the show. Cox Talking Gamecocks. And please like subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'. All. Go Cox.
