Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks. Citrus bowl preview, hoops recap and New Year's resolution. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:52] Okay. Welcome to episode 285 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And let me just say, I woke up feeling cheesiest. Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. So, so freaking excited for the Cheez It Citrus Bowl. I love college football. I love that we get hyped about a trophy that in its foundation has Cheez its stuffed into it, and then it's topped with oranges and lemons and different citruses. It's incredible. And don't even get me started on the Pop Tarts bowl, because that is the greatest piece of American culture that has come out in the last 50 years, at least. Absolutely love it. I love this sport. I hope everyone out there had a safe and happy holiday and is ready to ring in the new year. I'm glad to be back over the airwaves with y'all. It was a hectic, call it last two weeks or so, just between holiday travel, work, being up and down, you know, you're off and you're not. It's just a lot. So more on a regular schedule now. Glad to settle in and want to say Happy New Year to each and every one of y'all. I will be speaking to you after, of course, this episode airs. It'll be 2025, so hope you guys have some nice New Year's resolutions out there for me. I want to make it to more Gamecock games. You know, I've told you all in the past, I moved back south and so being closer to Columbia has allowed me to go to more football games this year than I had in the past. But I'd like to see the basketball game in action, or, excuse me, basketball team playing basketball games. I'd like to see them in action. And I definitely want to make it to founders in the spring. So that's a good Gamecock themed resolution there. And then in terms of the podcast and maybe personal goals, I'd like to work with more businesses to help get the word out there about their brands, do some mutual sharing, things of that nature. So if anyone out there does have a business or a project, a company, whatever it may be, that they'd like to promote and sponsor some episodes or have some social media posts and things like that, feel free to reach out. My DMs are open. Would be glad to chat about that. But enough about me Enough about feeling cheesy. It's time to talk Gamecock sports here. So a lot of the episode is going to focus on the Cheez its bowl, but there was some action to catch y'all up on again. There has been a decent gap since the last sort of recap episode. I know I had the Christmas special there, but we want to just catch all up for what happened on the Gamecock front of things, starting with women's basketball. Sunday night, the women were back in action against Wofford, winning 93 to 47. So, yeah, the ladies did not miss a beat, to say the least. It actually marked the 65th straight home win for the Gamecock. So just absolutely dominating cla. I've said it before, but CLA is a fortress for women's basketball in Columbia. The ladies just looked sharp in this one. You know, they continued to get contributions from up and down the roster. I'm going to talk about that in a second here, but that's exactly what the calling card of this new era of women's basketball for South Carolina has been. You know, when you look at the last, you know, two national championships, let's say it's been how deep this team has been. So some player highlights from this game here. Joyce Edwards led the effort with 16 points. Tessa Johnson with 14 points right there. That's great contributions from the bench. Raven Johnson had 13 things you love to see. And then up next for the ladies is SEC play. So getting down to business in the conference as they will take on Missouri. This will be in Mizzou. So Currently Mizzou is 11 and 4 on the season and are currently unranked. I feel like this matchup has had a little extra juice the last few years that, you know, some of that heat has died down, I think. But this is a game that you always want to have and especially when you're going up against your conference, you want to have a good showing here. So crow to the game. Continue to find production from the bench, because again, when Don is able to put out a team that can be as deep as we've had in the past, it has proven to be very difficult to stop. Okay, you have your starting five, of course, but if you can go 7, 8, 9, 10, even deep, it's just so, so hard to stop. And it makes the team so good late in games. Like maybe Wofford isn't the best example, but their best quarter was the fourth. So that's exactly what you want to see when you get into these conference games that you can have that stamina and be sharp as the game goes on. And I think the team has settled down a little bit more compared to earlier in the season. We're going to see how it looks against the sec, so tune into that one. It'll be fun to watch. And then sticking on the hardwood here, you got men's basketball. They are back in action Monday night against Presbyterian. Now the Q Zips will look to end the month of December and they're out of conference, scheduled the right way that they absolutely had to. It's been a while since I've gotten to talk to y'all about Gamecock basketball here, but you had the Clemson win and then you carried that over to the next game. Believe was Radford, and you absolutely looked great. So I talked about it earlier in this month where I said you have to really have a fantastic end to the calendar year and to the out of conference schedule. You had a few bumps in the road earlier in the season. The only way to make up for that is to win. And when you have a win against Clemson and then you end this year, I think at the time when I said that you had five non conference games left and Presbyterian would mark the fifth. So if you can go five for five in the non con and then have a strong showing in the SEC this year, which is a very good conference, going to be a lot of quad one opportunities out there, you can make up for some of those early bumps in the road. So now you're starting to think about these things. You know, we're at the point in the year where you're getting into conference play and you need to be able to really capitalize on some of this momentum that you have. So I'll get into that preview next episode. But they will start SEC play also this weekend, so I will preview more of that there. But yeah, the Q Zips need to keep up that momentum there. But with that being said, all eyes in Gamecock Nation will be on the football field Tuesday afternoon in Orlando, Florida. The most magical place on earth. The happiest place on earth, some people would say, as the Gamecocks take on Illinois in the Cheez It Citrus Bowl. We're so back. We're so back. It feels great. And I mean, it's. It's crazy to think that this is the last time that we're gonna see this group until, you know, next fall.
[00:08:27] So it's the end of a chapter in the program. It's an end of another chapter in the Shane Beamer era. And it's been a fantastic one. I'm not gonna get into all that right now, but this is a great season. And I think the players, when they were rolling to end that year, you know, they just wanted to get back out there. And I think as fans, we just wanted to keep watching them. And it was just so much fun to watch a team do some of the things that they did. And for a fan base like ours that has craved this and has been close.
[00:09:01] But to see that consistency and to see the ranked wins again, winning on the road, winning at home, beating your rival, all these things that this team did, you just want to see more of it.
[00:09:14] And yeah, with the CFP rankings and things like that, it ended on kind of a weird note in the regular season.
[00:09:21] I think now after seeing that first round, I think we all feel confident that the Gamecocks could have held their own. But that's neither here nor there, right? Like, that is what it is. We've moved past it. We can debate it until we're blue in the face. It doesn't change anything. But you have an opportunity here to do something great. So the 15th ranked Gamecocks will be taking on the number 20, fighting Illini, both teams sitting at 9:3 looking for a 10th win. And it really just sets the stage for a good game between two good teams who both kind of went through this resurgence, if you will, in the 2024 season. So from the Gamecocks perspective, you know, again, this is like not a season that comes along very often. We hope to have more of it under Beamer and with some of the recruiting that this program has done, this staff has done, but it's been a long time since we've been hunting for a 10th win, right?
[00:10:22] So Shane Beamer has a chance to secure the fifth best season in Gamecock history if he secures a 10th win.
[00:10:31] And so going into this game, you have a few pieces of major news here. First is that Mike Shula will be calling the plays. I don't think this is surprising. I think it would have been a little weird, like not unheard of, but a little weird for Dowell Loggins to come back and call the game. You can kind of read between the lines, the Shane Beamer's press conference. It seems like Dowell accepted the job and was focusing on that and Beamer was just like, you're kidding yourself. And I'm not going to drag my feet here to think that you can do both of these jobs. Like, we're trying to get a 10th win. Here, this is not a nothing burger game. So he, I think he kindly told Dowel to hey, stay at app, do your thing. Like, thanks, but you're out the door now. You're not with the team. So Mike Shula calling the plays, which I think is nice because there's obviously that familiarity there. I don't think you can look too, too much into this game and be okay. That's what the offense is going to look like next year. I think there'll be some tweaks in the offseason, of course, roster movement and things like that. But you get a little bit of a taste and you know, he gets to knock that rust off a little earlier, which is probably for the best here and then from the opt out perspective, because that's what we have to talk about now in modern college football and bowl games. But Gamecocks are dealing with a couple of opt outs. Big names, y'all know this already, but they're limited, which I think is nice. Right? So you have Kyle Kennard and Rocket Sanders are both sitting out the bowl game, but other than that, every key contributor is set to play. And I think that that speaks to the culture in this program right now and this group of guys in the locker room who want to end things the right way. Now of course, though, when you talk about the comeback player of the year in Rocket and an All American and Kyle Kennard, like the question is, how do you replace that productivity? So it's not really a quantity issue that you're dealing with here, but you have a quality of player that is opting out two of them really. So what are the Gamecocks looking at in Illinois here? So the Illini are going to be without their best receiver as he has opted out. But from what I see, really outside of that, they will have the rest of their regular starters. They lost a big player to injury around the midpoint of the year, but I think outside of that they've had like a couple of reserves, hit the transfer portal, things like that. Things that every program is dealing with this time of year. But so they're going to be pretty much at full strength. They finished fifth in the Big Ten. Offensively, they are very physical. They're going to look to establish the run.
[00:13:16] Wouldn't say it's necessarily this like old school, like your father's Big Ten team, just where they're just going to ground and pound the hell out of it. They will have a quarterback who can make throws and can actually make some runs himself. So there is a Little bit of a dynamic athlete under center there, but they're going to lean on the run, really. And, you know, but don't be surprised if they do pop a big pass here defensively. I mean, look, from what I can tell, it kind of seems like they're hit or miss. Like, it seems like they're middle of the road in terms of Big Ten ranking. They've had some games that have been low scoring where the defense has kept it at bay, but they've had a few higher scoring ends where they. They let up a good amount of points as well. And I don't know, like, maybe this is SEC bias here, maybe not. I'm just calling it like I see it. Y'all know me. This feels like it's one of those deals where they have a good record and they're ranked 20th for a reason. Right. You have to expect it, you know, to, like, look closer. You know, like when you look at the two teams, you think, okay, these are going to be some evenly matched teams, right? 9 and 3, comparable, you know, 15th, 20 ranking. They're both going to be hungry going into this one. When you compare the schedules is what I'm trying to say here is that it's not exactly apples to apples. When you look at Illinois schedule, they've had some good wins, yes. But it seems like when they've played a team with a pulse, like, and even some, like, average to below average teams in the Big Ten, they've been in close games or they've even lost.
[00:15:00] Like, they haven't been fully handling their business. Like, yes, there's a few blowout wins that you would expect them to, but they had a really close game to Purdue. I believe they lost to Minnesota. They were in a tight one with Nebraska. So, like, there are some teams that are average in the Big Ten, which, if you ask me, like, outside of the few top teams, like, it's a pretty average conference when you look at it. So I think this all points to South Carolina. Strength of schedule maybe being a little bit more battle tested going into this one. And I think Vegas agrees with that. South Carolina is favored by 10 points, but sometimes it's a little tricky with bowl games. You got to play when there's been a big rest and things like that. So I don't know. I do think that even without Canard and Rocket, there is great depth on our team. And I think that this team is really motivated to end the year the right way. I mean, it's a group of seniors and older guys that Want to prove that this team is one of the best in the country and wants to end on the right foot, especially given what this team went through just one year ago. So with that said, that brings us to the Crows of the game. Crows of the game for the last time this year, really, I guess, in general, but for the football team. So overall for the team, the Crow is just finished what you started. Okay. Like, it's been well discussed that this team, the leaders on the team had a meeting with Beamer. I believe it was after the Alabama game and they said the goal was to win out. Well, now you have that chance. You won out in the regular season. It was incredible.
[00:16:45] Finish the job, finish what you started. Just go out and do your job and trust in what got you to this point, which was just staying your assignment. Playing complimentary football for four quarters.
[00:17:00] Now, on the defensive side of the ball here, my first crow is use your speed, right? That can be an advantage for us in this game. Illinois has some big dudes, they got some big bodies along the line of scrimmage, so it will be a physical game, but the speed of our defense I think could be a bit of a shock to Illinois. So we have to capitalize on that. Don't let them seal the edge, don't let them bounce out. They're going to try and stretch, you know, with these stretch runs, things like that. Don't let them do that.
[00:17:30] Second crow to the game here. Dylan Stewart needs to be a disruptor. This game very well might serve as a preview for what life will be like for Stewart without an all American opposite him in Kyle Kennard. Meaning he's going to be drawing a lot of attention and probably double teams, things like that. But he needs to find a way to navigate that and make an impact because that's what life's going to be like for him. Now, I do believe that we have other capable guys in that group. You know, you talk about Gilbert Edmond, J.T. gere, Dez, Brian Thomas Jr. There are guys who have been on the field who have logged plenty of snaps who can be capable and can be effective in this game. But Dylan Stewart is a guy that drew a lot of attention across the country. He's young, but he's super highly recruited freak athlete. Next year is going to be his moment to shine in sort of that number one edge role. So get after it.
[00:18:34] Third Crow on the defensive side here is get Illinois in obvious passing situations. With how they play, I think they want to make the game small, right? So if our Defense can get them to obvious passing downs. I just think the athletes in the back of our defense will overwhelm their receivers.
[00:18:54] Moving over to the offense here, first crow to the game here is find big production from the wide receivers. I feel like I talked about this multiple times throughout the year, but this time it feels like there's a little bit more emphasis, a little bit more of a need on that. The tight ends for the Gamecocks are banged up right now. Brady Hunt is probably out. Simon and Crew, from what I've seen and read, they have lingering injuries and so they should be able to play. But it's a question of how effective can they be.
[00:19:26] So we need the receivers to step up. Right? So do we see the extra practice pay off for a guy like Nick Harbor? Dale Von Campbell had a few nice games to end the regular season, so he could be a factor. Also probably trying to make a last impression for the draft. Do we see Mazio or Jared Brown flash? You know, bottom line is we need a few to make their presence known. I talked about one guy this season. I think we're going to need a few receivers to log multiple catches and like big catches. So find someone in the wide receiver room or a few guys to step up.
[00:20:05] Second Crow, not a shocker here. Minimize the absence of Rocket. That's easier said than done. I fully recognize that. But the backs that will play in this game probably are going to be the regular rotation that we see next season. So it's a question of who will step up. Okay. Attaway is probably going to be the top guy, but I am very excited for the potential that Juwan Howell brings. So maybe this game serves as a jumping off point for his case to be RB1 next fall.
[00:20:38] My third crow here is let Lenoris Cook. Okay? He was le savior for this season and it was on his shoulders that this team did some of those incredible things. So you have to just trust him to do it again. I think he will have benefited from these extra practices and again, having that continuity with Shula as the new OC. So let him cook and let him start a 2025 Heisman campaign in this game.
[00:21:08] So overall, for the game, you know, I. I think it's a great bowl game. I mean, it's the freaking Citrus bowl against a good team. You know, this is a chance for the Gamecocks to yet again show the country that they are an elite team by having the chance to notch another ranked win. Illinois is a respectable program. They're going to be hungry for a win. And the Gamecocks are out to prove that this season was no fluke.
[00:21:35] I believe that the Gamecocks are more battle tested than Illinois. I think strength of schedule will prove to be a difference in this one. I believe that the Gamecocks have better athletes than Illinois. Probably a little deeper too. And I believe that the Gamecocks have the right culture to go out and fight for four quarters and end this thing the right way. It's a great opportunity. It's all you can ask for from a bowl game. Right? If you're, if you're not fighting in the, in the bracket, in the playoffs. Right? This is all you can ask for. National TV, great bowl game, good opponent with a chance for 10 wins and end this thing the right way and set the stage for next year. Let's go. Root them in. Happy New Year. And with that, that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox Gamecox. 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 coc.
