Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking Gamecocks, basketball media days wraps up, and Gamecock football looks to start the second half on the right foot. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:54] Okay. Welcome to episode 267 of Cox talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001 and hope you all are having a nice week and ready to take on the weekend this week. You know, in the southeast especially, that that autumnal climate really hit. It was chilly, that extra crisp in the air. Mid October playoff baseball going on, too. So much football nonstop every day of the week. You got some action going on. Absolutely love it. Beautiful time of year. And I hope we are all feeling fresh, rejuvenated and what have you after what was probably a little bit of a bounce back day or two after last weekend. But a lot of action across Gamecock Nation, all different avenues, news scores, things like that. And then, of course, Gamecock football is looking to start off the second half of the season on the right foot. It's kind of sad to say. It's crazy. I don't know about y'all. This football season has kind of flown by. I don't know if it's just how it was set up with the two buys where you had that start, stop, start. But to think that we are in the back half of college football just makes me sad. And I feel like I say this every season because no matter how much they play with your emotions and how much your heart might get twisted and ripped out, I still love this time of year. And I just love Gamecock football. So let's enjoy these next few weeks. But then I guess, you know, you got the expanded playoffs, so college football still has more time. But gamecock football, maybe a little more finite amount of time here. But before I jump more into that, I do have a bit of a week in review for y'all. Starting on Tuesday, men's golf finished second in the Everett Buick Classic. That's a solid finish. Way to go, guys. And then on Tuesday, the women's basketball team actually had an exhibition game against Memphis, and they won 106 to 63. So really picking up right where they left off. Newcomer Joyce Edwards, she was looking the part already. Already very impressive. Chloe Kitts also had nice game. Really, everyone. It was a nice showing from the team. See the ladies back on the court. Always nice to be able to watch them. And then speaking of women's basketball, they held their media day Thursday, so always a great time to get that perspective from Don Staley, from some of the players. As well, and just to see that undefeated record still from last season is just so, so nice. And with this week, the ladies were officially claiming the number one spot in the AP poll. I mean, as they should be. That would be the most bizarre thing I would have ever seen in my life if they were not number one to start this year after what they did last season. But all is right in the world. So very cool to see. I believe they have one more exhibition game coming up later this month. Like, I could be wrong if it's one or two, but then on the men's basketball side of things here, they wrapped up their media day earlier in the week. The story here was Lamont Paris once again standing up for his guys and our program after the media picked them to finish 11th in the, in the conference, which obviously that's a far cry from last year where they were picked dead last by everybody. But you ask me, I still think that's pretty disrespectful. This team went down to the last wire, that's even a phrase of the season, trying to get that regular season SEC championship game. I understand in the tournament it was a one and done type of deal, but that still just seems low. I mean, I know there's some, you know, key guys you're replacing, but I don't know. But nonetheless, Lamont got up there and said, hey, we are who we are. We'll take whatever we can get, but we're not going to back down from any challenge. And he once again said, I wonder how many people who are picked towards the top of the conference by the folks in this room are actually going to be there. So he's standing ten toes down and I absolutely love it. And it's great to see both him and Don Staley back on our screens. Basketball season is right around the corner. I'm very excited to watch both these programs all season long. Let's go. That's great. That's great. But with that being said, the main focus of our weekend will be Gamecock football here as the Gamecocks head to Oklahoma to face the Sooners in the first conference matchup between these two programs. So kind of neat. We're kind of getting that experience of playing different teams that you normally wouldn't going to. Norman, pretty cool. You know, that's a storied place to play to see our team there, and we watch it on tv. And those of you going, it's going to be a very cool experience. But again, you know, Carolina is in the back half of the schedule now officially and looking to get back in the win column. As of right now, South Carolina is just a one and a half point underdog in the game.
[00:06:25] Makes me nervous. Hand up. It makes me a little nervous, but started at three points and now it's shrunk. So some people somewhere are thinking that things might be trending in the Gamecocks direction here. But, you know, for me, it's. It's really a question of which South Carolina offense, I was going to say team, but which South Carolina offense shows up? And it's a question of, do we get the version of this team and of this offense that was Ole Miss and old Odu, or do we get the version that we saw against Alabama, Kentucky, most of the LSU game, because it really has been this volatility where week to week, the one thing you can count on is the defense playing hard and the defense getting after people. But, you know, against LSU, you know, they gave up some points and gave up some points late against Alabama, but, you know, you can't really fault those guys. But point being, it's been a little volatile from this program of week to week. You don't really know what you're going to get. Are you going to get a team that gets penalized out the place?
[00:07:43] It wasn't necessarily the case against Bama, but you had to deal with turnovers, so can we avoid that? Do you get some points from your defense like you did?
[00:07:52] So it's.
[00:07:54] It's this question of which team's gonna show up, because if the team that can play complimentary football for four quarters shows up and you limit the penalties and you limit the mistakes and you give with the defense, you take what the defense gives you rather than. And our defense continues to get after it. That's a good team. That's a really good team.
[00:08:16] But unfortunately, we've seen a couple of instances where that is not the case. And again, it skews more towards the offense not showing up in a few occasions. But I do feel like in those specific instances, you could point to one or two things and be like, well, that's not necessarily the case this game. Right. Lenores going in feeling much better, 100%, not the first game, nerves, all these things. Right.
[00:08:45] So that, to me, is the biggest question. And in terms of the betting line, if the right team shows up, that's a great line there. But I put this out there on social media, and I think that this two week stretch, and I know it's going to sound a little silly at first, but hear me out. I think this two week stretch, this week leading into the Oklahoma game and then next week, the bye week are actually the two most important weeks of the season.
[00:09:17] I mean, especially now, like in the remaining weeks left, I think these are the most important. But I could take a zoomed out view and say maybe these two weeks, South Carolina is three and three right now.
[00:09:32] They've either been at or above 500 the entire season.
[00:09:37] If the Gamecocks can go to Norman and get a win, they'll have a winning record. They'll be back in the win column. And then they're able to take that confidence, that swag, that production, that good vibes back home in the bye week and they can build off of it. Because in November you're at home three out of five games and you come out of that bye week against a and M, it's homecoming.
[00:10:09] Last time they were Williams, Bryce, you were able to be on the right side of that. But you could be going into November 4 wins, five to play, and you have everything right in front of you, basically. But I think if you're able to get this win here and you can go home in good shape, then that bye week changes. Because then you can fine tune this thing, right? You can say, okay, we need to make some tweaks here on the offense. We're going to continue to grow and develop the offensive line. These receivers are going to continue to come along even more. A guy like Nick Harbor, Maisie O'Bennett, right. Michael Smith, tight end. So you'll be able to bring everybody along together.
[00:10:55] Whereas in the first bye week, the name of the game was get healthy and hope that you can roll in to that next game in a pretty good spot.
[00:11:06] I don't think guys came out of that bye week 100% at all. The game plan didn't do many favors, but I don't think Lenoris and Rocket were 100% in that next game.
[00:11:17] If you can go into this bye week in good shape with a w all of a sudden I think the vibe changes in that building and you can say, hey, we can use this week to, like, get better and we're going to self scout and we're going to come out with our hair on fire against a and m. And that's more of what that Shane Beamer Bye week teams we've seen in the past where they've come out of the bye week self scouted and the couple of things that you can really point to have seemingly been improved over that week on the defensive side of the ball. This bye week would be a little bit more of getting healthy. Maybe a guy like DeAndre Jules banged up, but you can continue to make some small tweaks and tighten it up there. So if you ask me, this game against Oklahoma, if you get the w leads into the bye week, two critical, important weeks in the season for how it shapes up for the rest of the year.
[00:12:11] So massive, massive implications here. But what are the Gamecocks looking at in Oklahoma?
[00:12:18] The Sooners are having a weird year.
[00:12:21] There's just no other way to put it. They're four and two, but they're just one and two in conference, and especially in the conference games. And even really outside of that, they just look off. They look off offensively, they're struggling to score at all. I think they're towards the bottom nationally in points scored per game. They're dealing with a ton of injuries, yes, but working a true freshman at quarterback, trying to find a spark, they are just out of sorts now. Defensively, they play very hard, and they have some dudes out there. Venables will always field a competitive defense, and we know it and he knows it. But he has plenty of experience being a damn thorn in South Carolina side, and I'm just not looking forward to seeing that mug on the other sideline.
[00:13:16] Thought we were done dealing with you. Here we are again. And it's crazy. Like, I've heard multiple people say, like, oh, he's known as being a guy who's good at getting signals. Like, I. I know we've moved past that somewhat with the helmet communication. It's. There's still plenty of sideline communication with signals, make no mistake about it. But, like, there was always grumblings about that kind of stuff when he was at Clemson, but now we can just say it in the open because of the stallions scandal. Like, give me a break. So South Carolina better be ready for that. But I digress here.
[00:13:53] This game is funny because, South Carolina fans, we're looking at this game as a winnable road matchup with chance to get momentum back on our side. Right? Right.
[00:14:05] Nothing's a shoe in in this world. It's winnable. It's doable.
[00:14:09] But when you look at Oklahoma, they're sitting at four wins and they're in the teeth of their schedule. So they might also be looking at this game as a must win to continue on their path to a bowl game.
[00:14:25] They end their year, I think Alabama and LSU, I think they still have ole miss on their schedule. So it's us. And then I think I looked and it was the University of Maine. So they have those games. Us and Maine are the only non ranked opponents they have left on their schedule. So they're going to be coming into this locked in because if you're venables and staff, you're not on the hot seat per se, but you got to make a bowl game if you're at Oklahoma. So going to be very competitive both ways because both teams are looking for that spark in this game really for the rest of the year. So what are my crows to the game here? Any new listeners? I don't do keys to the game. I do crows to the game because we have our rooster crow. So for the whole team, crow to the game, continue to bring that road dog mentality at Alabama and at Kentucky were arguably the best, most complimentary football this team has played in the SEC.
[00:15:32] So continue to bring that intensity and continue to not be intimidated by a big packed stadium on the road. And who knows? I mean it's an early kick central time over there too.
[00:15:47] Down year. Maybe it lightens the crowd a little bit. I don't know. I don't know. Defensively, my first crow is don't let Michael Hawkins break containment. Ok. Their true freshman quarterback, he's, he's struggled throwing the ball to say nicely, I guess, but he does have the ability to run. He's been at or near the top of their rushing every game since he's taken over the Gamecocks front seven. They have the speed to hang with mobile quarterbacks and Saturday needs to be more of that.
[00:16:22] My second crow to the game on defense has continue to be optimistic. Excuse me. Well be optimistic. Well take that. Well take that. Its crow. One and a half second crow. Be opportunistic.
[00:16:37] There we go. Be opportunistic. This defense has to continue to capitalize when things line up for them. Whether thats a quarterback making a mistake under duress, coming up with a big sack to stop momentum, this unit has to continue to make plays and give the offense the best chance to possibly succeed.
[00:17:00] Speaking of the offense, my first crow to the game here shouldn't be a surprise. Limit the turnovers. Ideally don't have any, but removing the goal posts a little bit here, limit the turnovers. Okay. Lenoris and the whole staff have been asked about this all week and while they all know you can't be turning the ball over and they all say the right things, we need to see it in action and it's a, it's a tough balance. I feel like it is at least right where you don't want Lenoris to get in his head about this, right? You don't want him to play timid or to be overthinking it and in the moment make a silly mistake. But that has to be the number one point of emphasis for this offense. You know, like if we, if we look back to the fumble against Alabama where he was going to the ground and he kind of threw it off his own head, like, terrible, terrible. Look, I think that's a young quarterback in his head focusing on not getting sacked. He was probably saying to himself, I can't take a sack in this situation, so if I get in trouble, I have to throw it away. And he got in trouble, and so his body just told him to throw it away and ended up hurting us more. So it's this balance of. It's a point of emphasis, but you don't want to be in your head about it. So kind of tricky there.
[00:18:24] My second crow to the game here is stay on schedule. Okay? South Carolina cannot get behind the sticks a lot because that will allow Venables to be even more aggressive than he already will be. And you better believe they're going to be aggressive in this game. They're going to be sending extra guys all day. So on first and second down, there needs to be no pre snap penalties. The plays have to be productive. Third and short is where this team has to live all day because if they get into obvious passing situations, Oklahoma is going to do their damnedest to take advantage of a young quarterback and an offensive line that has struggled with pass protection this year.
[00:19:08] But overall, for this game, y'all, I see this as a fantastic opportunity and that's what it is. It's an opportunity. Nothing is given. But you have another chance here. Make no mistake. Right. It's gonna be a challenge. Venables knows how important this game is. His team is going to be coming in fired up.
[00:19:30] However, for South Carolina, they're facing a team that is just out of whack in Oklahoma. The vibes can't. Vibes can't be good over there. The vibes can't be good over there.
[00:19:45] Even at home, they've struggled. They struggled against, I think it was Houston at home. Respectfully, this is a chance for South Carolina to exercise some demons here, go on the road against a, quote, name brand team and get yourself a conference win.
[00:20:06] If the Gamecocks can do that, they will once again have that winning record, have themselves set up to have a successful November. Right. Like you will have successfully set yourself up to have a November of real consequence.
[00:20:24] If you can win this game, go into the bye week and get better, you can stare at your November schedule, which I think every game is doable. You'll have a chance in every game the rest of the way here.
[00:20:37] And a good record, as good a record as you can imagine is in front of you still. But it all starts with this Saturday, right? Because even with Oklahoma having offensive struggles, a good performance against them will be a massive boost, especially if this offense can execute for four quarters against a well coached defense.
[00:20:58] Carolina has been on the edge twice this season now of getting that big win against a big brand name, if you will.
[00:21:07] I understand Oklahoma isn't ranked, but this is still a chance for the Gamecocks to make some noise across the conference. So let's absolutely go.
[00:21:19] But all right, let me give you all my six pack of picks and then I'll get you all out of here. Quick announcement on the six pack of picks. This is the first time in the history of Cox talking Gamecocks. Last week my six pack swept. I went six for six. We swept. I do every game individually and then I always do a little sprinkle of a parlay for all six. Electricity? Absolutely electric. For those keeping track at home this week, how do we follow it up? Probably going to fall on my face. ACC Notre Dame versus Georgia Tech. I'm going over 49.5. Big twelve. Colorado versus Arizona. Give me Arizona minus two and a half. Big ten. Wisco versus northwestern over 41 and a half. Sec. This is where I'm doubling down this week. Alabama versus Tennessee. I'm going vols plus three.
[00:22:13] I don't know, just kind of like it. And Auburn versus Mizzou. Mizzou minus four. Auburn is terrible. Group of five. Western Michigan versus Buffalo. Give me the Pete limbo in Buffalo plus one and a half. I don't know why, 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.
