Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, both basketball teams have an exhibition game and the football team starts their final stretch of the season against Texas A and M. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay.
[00:00:57] Welcome to. Welcome to episode 270 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And happy Halloween, y'all. Hope y'all had a nice holiday trick or treating, getting that candy, eating the leftover candy. For those of y'all that give out the full size bars, you guys are the real MVPs. That's facts. That is just facts. You know, we didn't get too many trick or treaters over by me, but would have given them full size candy because that's just the right thing to do. And if you're doing trunk or treats or whatever those are, I don't know, I'm a little out of touch with that. But I hope y'all had fun and I hope you saw some really good Halloween costumes. But we have a busy week. Had a very busy week outside of the holiday here in Gamecock Nation. And we have a busy, busy Saturday night. And if you haven't seen, go to Gamecock Football's Twitter account, X account, whatever. They leaned in to the creepy time of year, spooky season. They had the Battle Armor video, which is rare nowadays, but I still like that they keep the term Battle Armor video crossover with the Joker. It's going to be all black Saturday night. Just, ooh, spooky. So spooky. Yeah, I mean, you have to. It's Halloween weekend. Granted, it's November when the game is being played at night.
[00:02:25] I feel like the only logical choice is to go blackout game. So you have to do that. That'll be a lot of fun. Kind of a funny mix up where this weekend for years was always the Tennessee game. It felt like Halloween weekend. And obviously there's no divisions. And that went by the wayside a year or two ago anyway, so it's kind of moot, but it still feels a little funny. But nonetheless here. I'm going to dive into football in a little bit here, of course, but I do have a week in review for y'all here. Starting on Monday when we had the women's basketball team in action. They held an exhibition game against Clayton State, and you could probably guess how this one went, but the Gamecocks won to the tune of 126 to 42.
[00:03:14] So, yeah, enough said.
[00:03:17] Never a doubt that this one was going to Go our way. But very comfortable. Allowed Don Staley to really empty the bench and things of that nature. So ready for them to take the floor. Ready for them to take on some stiffer competition and have these big games, big opening games, tip offs and things like that. Really excited for them. And then Wednesday we had women's soccer. They were in action and unfortunately lost to Mississippi State 2 to 1. That's all right, ladies. And then men's basketball, they were in action. Wednesday they held an exhibition game against Worcester, which is actually pretty neat because that is Lamont Paris's alma mater. They actually had a little gift for him ahead of time. So whoever was in charge of scheduling this, that's a nice touch that you were able to give a little nod to Lamont and his roots there. But the Gamecocks went on to win this game, 86 to 60. When you look at the highlights of this game or read up on it, whatever you want to catch up on, the high ceiling youth and the depth really was on display here. If you go back and watch it, you had Art and Connors just nailing threes coming in as a freshman. Cam Scott looked impressive as well, of course, the highly touted freshman as well. But then you had some of the staples. Jacoby Wright, Miles Studi, cmb maybe got a little banged up, but I think he's okay. Nick Pringle, and really excited for these guys. And it was neat where at one point you had five guys on the floor who were from South Carolina, and that's really, really neat. And I think that that was a big effort that Lamont Paris had. And the recruiting has increased locally and things of that nature. So anytime you can see that, you absolutely love to see it. And there's some good high school basketball in South Carolina, so it was really cool to see that on display. But this will be the lone exhibition game for the Gamecocks before they start off their season next week. So, basketball, both teams are about to be in action here. Very excited here. Men's basketball kicking off soon. I believe it's North Florida, I believe, coming up on next Tuesday or so. But very excited to see this team back in action. I think that when you look at the roster, who's left, who's new, I think you're going to see a very competitive team yet again for the Gamecocks this year with a little bit of expectations, so going to be very fun to follow along with them. And I'll say it again, and I normally say this around this time of year here when we have multiple major sports in action here, the main focus of the show will still be on football. You know, we have the home stretch here of the football team. Very important, high leverage, high stakes games that will take up the majority of the episode. But of course we want to give the basketball team their flowers. So of course we're going to cover the highlights, we're going to talk stats, we're going to talk storylines, any analysis that is pertinent. But then once football season wraps up, we will dive, of course, much deeper into basketball, talking about all the highlights, all the news breakdowns from the games and the previews, of course. So very exciting time. Going to be a lot of action in Gamecock Nation. And when you have both basketball teams rolling or, you know, exciting to watch, and then you couple that with the football team on Saturday, your week is full. It's almost like a full time job trying to keep up with it and I absolutely love it. But to bring back all that, the main focus for the rest of the time here will be on the football team as the Gamecocks are fresh off of a bye week and ready to begin the final stretch of the season as they look to make this a November to remember yet again. Of course, kicking things off with A and M this Saturday. And I was thinking about this right now, where the Gamecocks stand and quick plug. I've talked about them in the past, but I collaborate with a site called the College Huddle and I recently posted an article about the opportunity ahead for South Carolina this month. So if you have a few minutes, go to TheCollegeHuddle.com find my article, you can quickly search up South Carolina and you'll see it there. So more thoughts on this in the article. But nonetheless, this moment and these next few weeks, more. So it feels like a watershed moment for not just the team, but for the program as well. And I say that because I think right where the team sits this season, it's pretty emblematic and reflective of the state of the program. South Carolina sitting at 2, excuse me, 4 and 3.
[00:08:23] Surprising some people. Maybe a little bit ahead of schedule. Solid. Good. Not great, right? Feeling that you're trending. Well, some of the hard work is paying off on recruiting and some of these coaching hires, like a sterling Lucas Robertson. Right.
[00:08:41] But it also feels like a very fragile state where nothing feels too certain yet, where a 4 and 3 record can become 9 and 3. It could be 5 and 7. Could it be 6 and 6? Right. There's so many different ways that this can go. And these next few weeks, it just feels so delicate where you feel like one play can bring it all kind of crashing down to reality or one big moment can push this group over the top.
[00:09:16] And these next few weeks are going to be how this group is remembered. You have fantastic opportunities to shake up the conference, to shake up the college football world. The playoffs and of course, your own standing. A very respectable record and bowl game are still very much in reach. But at the same time, you're sitting in a position where you have some challenges ahead of you to get there and nothing is going to be given to you.
[00:09:46] Maybe with the exception. Not maybe, but with the exception of the Wofford game, everything is kind of a toss up at this point.
[00:09:54] Nothing else other than that you can pencil in.
[00:09:58] So it feels very symbolic of where this program is right now, where you're. You feel like you're on the edge of taking that next step and proving some of these doubters wrong. And you're going to have some opportunities to do that this month.
[00:10:14] But you can also say, well, you know, there have been a couple inconsistencies here and there, and if they rear their head in a big way in the wrong spot, this thing might not go the direction we want it to. So this all falls on Shane Beamer. I think the team being at four and three is a testament to the coaching job that he has done to this point, to the culture and accountability that he has in that locker room. And he has to navigate this couple of weeks this month really, really well. And if he can end up on the right side of this thing, I would argue that it's probably his best coaching job to date. You know, to have this group with a young quarterback. If you can find a way to seven, eight or more, my God wins that, that's good. I would feel like you're winning that tenfold.
[00:11:07] You know, if you walk backwards into six and six into a decent bowl game, yeah, like, that's fine, right. That's an improvement of where people thought this team could be this year. But when you're sitting at four and three with three games left at home, you feel like you can maybe do something really, really special. So let's see how this goes. But first things first. South Carolina has to take on the Aggies at home this Saturday night in Willie B. So what are the Gamecocks looking at in A and M?
[00:11:36] If you haven't heard, the Aggies are having a very impressive season, sitting at 7. 1 overall, 50 in the SEC. It kind of feels like all that impressive recruiting that they did under Jimbo Fisher is paying off now because they have a competent coach in Mike Elko.
[00:11:57] They're a team that is really strong along the line of scrimmage. They do a great job running the ball and stopping the run, which are the things that these coaches preach that they want to establish, especially in conference games. Now their quarterback situation is one to watch. Connor Wegman was their qb. One started the year, got a little banged up. So then you have Marcel Reed come in and he did a good job in relief of Wegman. Wegman comes back and then against lsu they brought Reed back in and he really sparked that offense. He scored multiple unanswered touchdowns. His mobility and ability to run the Reed option is a dimension that Wegman just doesn't really give. So it will be interesting to see how they handle a potential two quarterback situation. I think we're going to see both. I think you'll maybe have Wagnerman start the game, but you'll have a short leash to go to Reed. Maybe it's even situationally short yardage. You bring in Reed to give you that option. I don't know. It's a lot to prepare for, but something that South Carolina players and fans need to be aware of. But I do think that South Carolina has the perfect situation to prepare for this bye week aside, think about the quarterbacks that South Carolina can go against. Up in practice you have Davis Bevel, who is more of a pocket passer, bigger guy, not as mobile. That kind of reflects Wegman. And then you have Lenora Sellers, of course, but Robbie Ashford, who is mobile and can run the Reed option and loves to scramble and has that breakaway speed just like Reed.
[00:13:42] So I'd like to think that these days leading up to A and M, you have the defense preparing for both of these guys against those types, right? Against those types of players where it's not just saying we're going to run our thing. So going into this game also, Gamecocks are sitting at just three point underdogs depending on where you look. So Vegas says it's going to be a tight one and my goodness, I'm already nervous. But let's dive in to my Crows to the game here. If there are any new listeners. I don't do keys to the game. Everyone does that. We have our rooster crow.
[00:14:18] So I have my crows to the game here. So first crow for the whole team. And I'm really kind of saying coaches in this one keep the nerves in check. Okay? We do not need a repeat of coaching decisions that plagued the last time this team played after a bye week. Not going to get into all that. So go into this game with confidence and trust in your training, in your team and teammates, and let the rest come to you. Okay? We don't need to act desperate or galaxy brain this thing too early. I'd like to believe that those first few drives on both sides of the ball, you should be able to put your cleats in the dirt, line up against these guys and stay competitive. If it goes a little sideways early on, then, okay, maybe we can galaxy brain it a little bit, but let's just be normal and see how that goes and then we can get creative on the defense here. My first crow is seal the edge. Okay. There's going to be a lot of stress put on our edge rushers when Reed comes into the game because of his ability to run that Reed option. That whole group needs to stay disciplined, stick to their assignment and force Reed to hand the ball off hopefully into some traffic.
[00:15:42] My second crow to the game here is force A and M into passing situations. Kind of feeds off each other there. They have had a lot of success running the ball this year, but our defensive line and linebackers will be some of the best they have faced this year. So if our front seven can stand up to the challenge and force A and M to pass, it will really let our defensive linemen to pin their ears back, rush the passer. And I'd like to think that our defensive backs should be able to hang with their wide receivers on offense. My first crow to the game here is find success through the air.
[00:16:23] And I say that it's very broad, right? So you could really, like, roll up two or three crows to the game in this one here. But you say that because you need pass protection to hold up well against a good D line. You need Lenorris to be aggressive and trust his reads, but at the same time don't take bad sacks and you need to have the receivers get separation.
[00:16:45] And I say all this because running the ball is just going to be tough sledding in this game. You can't abandon the run, but I don't know if you're going to be able to make a living on it this game.
[00:16:58] For most of this year, Lenoris has been able to get away with really, in my mind, not putting the burden on his arm, but this feels like we may need to do that. And I want to see a lot of what we saw in that first half against lsu and let's see that pocket presence that he showed against Alabama combined with some of those explosive plays and off schedule throws that were successful. And let's bring all that together and combine with some of the play calls that we saw against Kentucky and also Alabama.
[00:17:37] And then Lenora should be able to kind of take the training wheels off, for lack of a better term here and put the team on his back.
[00:17:45] I think Lenoris is going to need 35 to 40 pass attempts in this game and he needs to be ready to capitalize.
[00:17:54] I quickly checked. I think the most he has had in a game is maybe 32, right? Where Young quarterback, you're trying to rely on the run, that's about where you want to be, right? 30ish throws. So I really think it might need to be 35 or 40 attempts this game so that he's going to have his opportunities. Of course you want to limit mistakes, but again, staying aggressive, keeping that pocket presence. Don't take bad sacks, right? You want him to trust his instincts and to trust his gut. He's a good football player and he can make some plays. So it's going to come down to can you read the defense well? Do you have that pocket presence and everything that goes along with that.
[00:18:35] Which kind of ties into my second crow a little bit here, which is we need to see improved offensive line play and that's across the board, right in both run and pass blocking.
[00:18:46] I've been less critical of this group this year for the most part, but it still is an area of concern, right. My hope is that the bye week could work some wonders for this group. And wonders is probably a stretch.
[00:19:04] Maybe we see some different guys in there. You know, it's been fantastic to have the same group game in and game out, but generally it feels like they've underperformed. You know, they've had some good moments, they've had some good drives, things like that. But it feels like we should be a little bit farther along at this point in the year. So maybe you mix it up, right? Like is tree or trow if they're healthy, do you mix it in? Do you maybe slide a guy to a different spot? I don't know.
[00:19:36] You know, Case and Henry, like, you know, do you maybe swap him out? I don't know. Maybe that's what this team needs, a spark. So I hope that over the bye week those guys can improve and come out ready to play in this one. This whole game, for this offense it's going, it needs to be, it needs to be the definition of a team effort. Everyone in the blocking situation needs to block their ass off.
[00:20:02] If you were pass pro as a running back or a tight end, you're blocking your ass off. You're run blocking as a wide receiver, you're blocking your ass off. And every single play, these offensive linemen are blocking their ass off. We need communication across the board to be the best it's been. And we need the guys ready to go out and ball.
[00:20:23] It's going to take creativity, some tempo and execution for four quarters from this unit. That's something we haven't really seen this year.
[00:20:34] Four quarters. Okay. A lot is going to be on the shoulders of the offense in this game. Of course the defense has to keep him out of the end zone. Of course the defense has to keep this game close. But I have trust in that unit to come up with some key stops.
[00:20:52] The offense needs to pick up the slack in this game. We need to play complimentary football. We've seen this team do it. We have seen this team do it.
[00:21:03] They just need to close. Okay?
[00:21:06] So just overall for this game, it just. Once again, the Gamecocks are standing on the edge of a massive moment at home.
[00:21:16] The question is, is the third time the charm?
[00:21:22] And it just kind of feels like that everything that this team has gone through this year, everything the close wins, wins on the road, battling through injuries, whatever it may be, it's culminating into this moment.
[00:21:40] Can they take advantage? I'm ready. I'm excited, I'm nervous. This is what you play for, this is what you practice for. This is everything at home at night going to be absolutely electric. Let's go, Cox.
[00:21:54] But all right, let me give you all my six pack of picks and then I'll get you all out of here. As previously predicted, after a sweep of the six pack two weeks ago, last week wasn't so hot. So hopefully this week it balances out in the ACC. I'm going Stanford versus NC State. Give me the Wolf Pack. Minus 10, Big 12 Texas Tech plus 13.5 versus Iowa State. Big 10 Oregon versus Michigan. Over 45. I think Oregon scores a lot and Michigan just brings it over. SEC two picks here. Vandy plus seven and a half versus Auburn was kind of surprised at this line. Maybe there's something I'm missing. Auburn stinks and Vandy's not terrible this year, so I'll take the points. Florida versus Georgia. Give me the dogs minus 14 and a half and then group of five. Fun one here. I'm going Air Force versus Army. Army minus 21.
[00:22:52] 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. Maybe check out the College Huddle while you're at it. But I appreciate all y'all go co.
