Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks. Both soccer teams start out well. And part two of the football season preview. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:53] Okay.
[00:00:54] Welcome to episode 401 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And, y', all, I am full on, just feeling that fall weather come around. I walked my dog this morning, and there was a chill in the air. Absolutely there was. And I literally just said, oh, football. And it's just amazing to see. And football has been top of mind nationally, locally, whatever. I mean, this absolute nonsense that's happening with the pros being able to return to college, I don't know the ins and outs about it, and I don't want to get on a soapbox here too much about this, but we have to talk about it. Like, this is national news in a sport that I love and we all love, and to me, it's just crazy. If you go through the process of submitting your name for the draft of intending to go pro, if you step inside an NFL facility, you're on the payroll. Like, any of this, like, it should be point blank, period, you are done. You are forfeiting your eligibility of college. Like, that's it. Like, I don't care that a ruling now would have meant that, oh, I would have had the fifth year. That's too bad. Like, that happens all the time, where it's like, I just missed this beneficial thing. Like, how embarrassing of it is it for you to go to the NFL, it doesn't work out, and then you're like, well, instead of, like, being a real person, I'm gonna, you know, tuck tail and head back to college. Like, what?
[00:02:34] That's just bizarre. Like, go get a job.
[00:02:37] Try again next year. You know, if you want to go to your alma mater and work out in the facilities and chop it up with the guys and give them tidbits and kind of be around the game and try and make a team as an undrafted free agent the next year, go for it, but don't be back playing in college. Like, it's crazy. And I commend the Big Ten for taking a real stand on that. But nonetheless, I digress. Let's focus here on the Gamecocks here, starting off with my handy dandy Gamecock trivia here, which is, entering the 2024, 2025 college basketball season, only two players in South Carolina women's hoops history have made the Wade Trophy. Have won the Wade Trophy as the Country's top player. Can you name this pair of Gamecocks? That's got to be Asia and Aaliyah. Yep. Asia Wilson and Aaliyah Boston. Shout out to two of the best to ever do it in the garnet in black. And you know what? I might shoot my shot here. Give me Joyce Edwards. Put her on the watch list for best player in the country. She is an incredible talent growing into her own. Very excited to see what she can do with the rest of the team this upcoming season.
[00:03:47] But all right, speaking of this season here, I have a bit of a week in review for y'. All. Starting on Sunday, Women's Soccer beat Furman 4 nothing. But actually before that, late last week, this team beat Clemson 1 nothing at home. Absolutely electric atmosphere. So shout out to the women's soccer team with a fantastic start to the year, including beating the team in the Upstate and then on Monday, men's soccer beat USC Upstate 4 nothing to move to 4 no on the year for the first time.
[00:04:20] Actually check that. That's two zero to start the year for the first time in several years. 4, 020. You kind of see what's going on there. But with all of that being said, it is time for the conclusion of the highly anticipated football season preview here. Part two. Just to recap part one, currently I have the team sitting at five and one heading into the bye week after losing to Florida in the swamp. This 5 and 1, of course, is headlined by a road upset in Tuscaloosa against Alabama, beating Mississippi State and Kentucky as well, but being tripped up by Florida on the road. So after the bye week, Carolina hosts Tennessee. It's set to be a later afternoon kickoff in late October. This is going to be scenes here with the fan base absolutely raring to go against Tennessee again and that just feels right. Tennessee, October, you know, chilly out there, kind of spooky season and it's going to be a fantastic atmosphere. Now the Vols, they've had an interesting trajectory with Hypo. I was thinking about this earlier. Like they feel like they can always go off in any game, right? Like, you know that they're going to have this strong offensive mind behind them. But what we've seen is it takes a, the, it takes the right quarterback to execute this and I think it takes really a veteran led offense to, to get the full potential of that system. And really after exploding onto the scene early in his tenure, it seems like they've leveled off a little bit and maybe the SEC defenses have caught up with them. But nonetheless they bring in Jim Knowles as the defensive coordinator. That's a big time hire. They should be improved on that side of the ball. And offensively, they have recently named their five star true freshman quarterback as their starter. So look, he's talented, he was a big time recruit for them. But there's no two ways to look at this, that this is a young quarterback in this game on the road in a tough environment.
[00:06:42] Tennessee is going to be coming off a long string of games, including Alabama prior to this game.
[00:06:48] I think the bye week for South Carolina comes at the perfect time. It's the exact middle of the season, which is really, really cool. I mean, you look around the sec, there are some wacky schedules. You got bye weeks four games into the season. You have bye weeks eight games into the season. So it comes at the exact middle of the year.
[00:07:10] Perfect chance for both sides to catch their breath a little bit, reevaluate and get healthy, particularly on offense. I think this could give Briles a chance to install a couple of new wrinkles or something along those lines that could pay off in the back half of the season. Beamer tends to get his teams to play well after the bye week. So give me the Cox in this matchup to move to 6 and 1. And I mean just imagining the vibes in Columbia in Gamecock Nation is, is just wild. Like could you imagine that like sitting at 6 and 1?
[00:07:47] Literally everything is possible.
[00:07:51] Like you are on everyone's board for you could be in the bracket, right? I don't, I don't know exactly when the exact playoff rankings are released, but it's around this time of year, right? I guess it's more in November, but nonetheless, like you're going to be projected to be in that conversation, right? And you're starting to really believe here and you're starting to have this, this sense of that this team is special. And especially after coming off of last year, to be bowl eligible this early with everything in front of you would just be so, so incredible. So then the Gamecocks head to Oklahoma on Halloween, which I don't know how I missed up until this point. But like my goodness. And this game, it's that flex window. So it's like 3:30 to 8. We just don't know what time it is. Like if this is a night game, like, sorry, neighborhood kids, like I'm putting a bowl of candy out. I'm not greeting you at the door for trick or treaters, like, take some candy, I'll still put it out there, but I'M watching this ball game like, my God.
[00:08:53] So here we go. Will Carolina get treats or will it be all tricks and Norman? See what I did there?
[00:09:01] But Oklahoma does really have the potential to be really good again this year. If Mattier stays healthy and cuts down on the turnovers, I honestly could see them as being one of the conference's best. This program seems to have a lot of momentum going for them into this year. And of course, Carolina handled their business really well the last time we went to Norman. And really, if it wasn't for Shula, we probably beat them last year at home, too.
[00:09:29] But I do think this road trip proves to be a little too much. And Carolina falls back to six and two, which brings us to the start of November. Crazy to think sitting at this point here, but homecoming weekend against Texas A and M. And I have to say, before I get into this here, I don't know how the schedule shakes out with everything now. I don't know when it's going to happen, but I am so ready for A and M to get off of our schedule. I am just so sick of this team. I'm so sick of this program. I'm sick of when people gas them up. I just. I'm tired of them, right? And the games have been stressful.
[00:10:10] They're annoying. They're a weird fan base. It's just bizarro land with them.
[00:10:15] But back to this season. This is an interesting team.
[00:10:19] They had that pathetic showing in the playoffs at home last year.
[00:10:24] They return some playmakers, some key playmakers on both sides of the ball, including their quarterback, Marcel Reed. It's the question, like, can he progress?
[00:10:34] He's dynamic.
[00:10:36] He can make a play in the blink of an eye, but he had made some bad mistakes last year. You know, they lose KC Concepcion, but they have some other big play, wideouts. Their offense just got stuck in the mud, right? So if they can be more consistent on that side of the ball this year, they could be. They could be a tricky one. And if they can't, South Carolina could take advantage of them in this game with some big plays of our own, because I think that's going to be a calling card of ours at times this season. Now, defensively, A and M was good last season. They're going to be looking to keep that up. Elko, that's his forte. He's a really good, you know, schematically in that regard. I think he's got the culture right in that group.
[00:11:23] This is a team that has really just been a thorn in our sides for years. And I hate saying this, but again, this is me trying to be a little bit more tempered and a little bit more realistic here. I think this is one where Carolina could have a disappointing showing and slips two in a row to be at six and three. It just feels like one of those games where you're back home.
[00:11:49] You know, you got this really good record, you've done some really good things this year and there's just. There's always one of these with us where it's just a game that you let slip that you probably shouldn't have.
[00:12:01] Feels like it's going to be this one, but nonetheless, you're still sitting at a really impressive record. They're looking to end the year well. We've seen Shane Beamer's teams perform well as the year goes on. The tricky thing with this year though is that it's really a tale of two halves. Like you can look at the schedule and there's a lot of teams out there that have either young quarterbacks like a Tennessee, you know, like an Alabama, or you're looking at first year head coaches.
[00:12:35] Kentucky, Florida, going to get to Arkansas in two seconds here. So there's a lot of opportunity seemingly on paper that you have the head coach in place, you have the experienced quarterback, you got this core group of veteran players around you that you really should be in a lot of these games. Like, I don't necessarily see South Carolina getting blown out really at all this year. Right. I mean, I just think we are going to field a very competitive team week in and week out this year. Are there going to be games where it doesn't click? Are there going to be games where you make mistakes like. Yeah, of course. Right. And talking about this A and M game, you know, there's life of a Carolina fan where you know that there's usually one that gets away from you. Right. But all this to say I think if Lenores plays up to his potential and Kendall Briles really puts together strong offensive game plans weekend and week out, like we're going to be tough opponents. Right. So sitting here in this scenario at 6 and 3, it would be disappointing because you know you dropped one or two that you probably could have gotten away with, but at the same time you can still end the year strong. So I think all that to say is that I think the vibes could end up still being okay. Right. Because you go back on the road here after A and M, you go on the road to Arkansas and it feels like a little bit since We've seen Arkansas on the schedule here. Kind of weird to put them in the same breath as the Georgias and the Florida's of the world, but get to see them back. This is a team though in Arkansas that's they're going through a lot. They are going through a big rebuild. They got a first year head coach, they have the new quarterback as well, tons of new starters trying to revamp a defense that was one of the country's worst last year. Now at this point in the season, mid November, we'll know how that rebuild is tracking. Like are they gritty and like have they taken to this new coach and it's kind of working and they're tricky to play or are they still just really struggling and they're going to need another year or so to to rebuild that roster. But I think this game comes at a time when Carolina is going to be really hungry for a win, especially after projecting two losses in a row here. But it's just a tough stretch where you, you start this back half of the year with three teams that very well could be in the top 25 all consecutively.
[00:15:11] And then you talk about Oklahoma for sure, maybe A and M as well. You could be Talking about top 15 teams and teams that are vying for a top spot in the conference.
[00:15:22] So I think it's a great spot for Carolina to go on the road, get off the schneide and move to 7 and 3, which is crazy because now it brings us to the last home game of the year and probably the second most anticipated one and that is the Georgia game. And it just feels wild to say that again because this game was always one that I circled for for years. Like anyone who's listened to me for seasons past, like, you know that I hate Georgia and this was one that I always got hyped for. And no matter the circumstances, like I always believed Carolina has a shot in this one.
[00:16:03] And it's just so cool to see them back on the schedule and even more wild or bizarre, whatever you want to use that it's so late in the year end, the last home game to boot, like that's always a big thing, right? You get to see the team off. Like we're doing Senior Day for the Georgia game. Like it's crazy. Kickoff is slated for that flex time. So anytime from 3:30 to 8, but it doesn't matter, Willie B. Is going to be absolutely jammed for this one. And if the record is in fact 7 and 3, the Gamecocks will be fighting for their playoff lives and can't afford to slip up. Like, this is one where it's going to be standing room only. Like people are going to be hanging around doing whatever they can to get a glimpse of this game. It's going to be electric, right? And we're going to be talking about all the history that this matchup has been, the close ones, the upsets, etc.
[00:16:55] Now, looking at this Georgia team, all I could think of was that, you know, Georgia is Georgia. Like, they always have talent. They're big, they're physical. They're a team that a lot of people see as a real threat to win the SEC last year.
[00:17:10] Like, they really just like, like bullied people. Like, they just like kind of like leaned on people and got wins. They, they didn't have a lot of flash on either side of the ball. They just played tough.
[00:17:22] Gunner Stockton showed he's a solid quarterback, so we'll be interesting to see if his supporting cast steps up. Also, now that I'm thinking about it, interesting storyline there. With Gunner Stockton coming to Williams Bryce, a place that he once committed to effectively.
[00:17:38] Carolina's linebackers are going to be key in this one. Going to look to limit Gunner's running ability. I think this game is close.
[00:17:45] I think this really comes down to maybe who has the ball last or which quarterback just makes that one extra play to get their team over the top. It's going to be close. Like, I really do see this as a matchup where you could have a talented and still hungry South Carolina team amped up, raring to go against a Georgia team. But on the flip side of that, this Georgia team, like has seen a lot of this before.
[00:18:13] They probably won't be too rattled and things like that. Like does Carolina get a little too over amped? Do they get a little ahead of their skis, so to speak? So it pains me to say this, but I do think Georgia will just edge out Carolina and the Gamecocks drop to 7 4.
[00:18:30] Which brings us to the last game of the year, the Palmetto Bowl. And let me tell y' all something. Clemson is a whole mess.
[00:18:38] They are a mess. Quarterback is a massive question mark. Defense has a ton of new faces. The shine has worn off of this program and seemingly the game is passing by Dabo. And that brings me so much joy to say, like, of course they have a relatively soft schedule this year, but they're going to have multiple losses by this point. Beamer has found success in the upstate. Of course we've seen Lenoris have Magic there as well.
[00:19:10] All of that to say you're going to have voices in our locker room who are going to be confident going into this one.
[00:19:18] And we don't know what time that game is going to be yet. But if Clemson struggles this year, hopefully it ends up on the earlier side. But nonetheless, I think Carolina has the better team top to bottom this year. So give me a win in the Fake Death Valley to finish the season eight and four and that record will be very interesting to see like what the postseason looks like for this team.
[00:19:42] But if I'm sitting here right now, I sign up for that and I don't think there's a ton of fans who would be disappointed with 8 and 4. Like, of course that's including, you know, a loss or two. That is disappointing and that's the nature of the sport. It's the nature of being Gamecocks. But you know, it's still a solid record and I think that 8 and 4 is a pretty accurate reflection of the roster and where this team is right now, where it's solid, you know, you're not just scraping by, but there are holes in this group, in this roster that could show up in a tough spot or two. We talk about kicker, you know, we talk about a lack of depth in the edge group a little bit. Right. There are some question marks on the offensive line.
[00:20:30] So if this team gets to eight and four, I do consider that a success. I think Shane Beamer certainly will keep his job. I think you would have to give a ton of credit to Kendall Briles because you don't get to 8 and 4 by just slogging your way with a crap offense. Clayton White of course would have to get a ton of credit as well. He'd probably be getting head coaching buzz at this mark here and it would afford us a really nice bowl game.
[00:20:56] And look, don't get me wrong, like, I think Carolina is going to have a shot in every single game that we play in this year. I want this team to do as much as they possibly can. I want this team to go to the playoffs. I'm trying to be a little bit more realistic and less garnet glasses in these season predictions. But I think that is a very solid year and I would sign up for it. Although I do think when we look at some of these games there are toss ups there that South Carolina certainly can win. A and M, Georgia, the home games, the home slate. I think South Carolina is going to have a shot and could win every single home game this year.
[00:21:33] But this is how I have it shaking out right now and I am very excited for the season to start and hopefully be proven wrong in some of this and have some more wins. Nine, 10 wins, whatever. But that wraps up this episode y'. All. 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.
