Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, the football team is on a bye week, so I hand out some mid season grades and also men's soccer beats James Madison. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay.
[00:00:58] Welcome to episode 269 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And I hope we're ready to put our feet up, maybe grab a cold glass and just sit back and relax on this bye week. How about that? Feels strange having the bye week so late. I understand it's the second of two bye weeks, but it does kind of feel weird that we are neck deep in college football playoff implication games, rivalry games happening this weekend across conferences, massive slate, and we're off. It's kind of a unique feeling, but you know, I'll take a stress free weekend, Halloween weekend, depending on when you celebrate it. So yeah, get your trick or treating stuff ready, get your costumes ready, whatever. It maybe, I guess. But yeah. So before I get into things here, quick note. Since it is a bye week and there won't be anything really to review on Sunday, no episode on Monday, so no episode from a weekend recap. Taking the bye week off myself. So then we'll be back for the home stretch Monday and Friday as we normally are, previewing the AM game and then really for the foreseeable future because we'll have basketball heating up and then obviously leading into the spring sports, baseball and things like that. So really excited for that home stretch and for some of these other sports to get into gear here. And then one other note. I know I've made mention of this in the past, but I am part of a really cool and unique group of content creators called the College Huddle. All independent, fan driven content, a lot like myself from various schools. We have representatives from each, you know, university. It's like one per whatever. I crossed enemy lines and went on the Doghouse podcast, went on a UGA podcast. They're on their bye week as well. So took the time, met with them and it was a, it was a great time, you know, nice little conversation about both of the, our games with Texas and Oklahoma and then we talked about the sec, the College Football Playoff, whole bunch of things.
[00:03:19] Go check it out if you want. I promised them I would, I would plug it, you know, trying to have, trying to cross the rivalries a little bit here. We're all friends at the end of the day, I guess. But I did get him to admit that he likes Sandstorm. He Said Sandstorm is catchy. So that's a W.
[00:03:38] In any event here, looking more focused on Gamecock exclusive talks here, let's get into a week in review before I discuss the football team and where things stand with them. So looking at Monday, we have men's golf, they finished fifth in the Fallen Oak Invitational.
[00:03:58] Tuesday, women's golf, they finished fourth in the Jackson T. Stevens Cup. So pair of decent finishes right there. And then Wednesday, men's soccer with a big win, beating James Madison 3 to 1. So that's a nice win and honestly, a pretty nice week all the way around from Gamecock sports there. Things we love to see.
[00:04:22] But all right, so here to talk Gamecock football still. And obviously there's no game to preview. So I was sitting there and I'm like, what do we want to do here? And in years past, I've done mid season retrospectives, I think in the first bye week. Basically recapped game by game on where things stood, looked at some stats and things like that. So I figured we're going to hand out some grades. Going to hand out some grades.
[00:04:51] We are talking about college athletics here. I once was in college. I know how to give and get grades. Not really give grades, but you all get the point here. So to set the stage here, the Gamecocks are entering their second bye week sitting at 4 and 3 with five games remaining in the month of November.
[00:05:12] Now, if you were to tell people this back in early August, that this is where the Gamecocks would be sitting with an entire month left of the schedule, I am willing to bet that the vast majority, and I'm saying like 90 plus percent of people would have signed up for the Gamecocks to be sitting here. And I think that that's a testament to what the team has done so far, really. So again, going to give a midseason grade here with that stage set. Right. I'm going to do each phase of the team and then coaching as well. Maybe take a little peek ahead as to what's to come for South Carolina. Now, all of these are the eye test. Okay? I didn't dive into numbers or anything like that. Y'all know me, I don't love to do that.
[00:05:59] I've said it before. I've said it again. I'm not an expert. I'm not trying to be. This is one man's opinion. Imagine I'm sitting next to you. We're just chopping it up, talking Gamecock football. This is my evaluation of where the team is at so far. So we have to start with the defense, which gets an A.
[00:06:19] I don't see how it could be anything less than an A. This group has been phenomenal. And I think going into the year a lot of us looked at the roster and said, wow, this is actually a pretty deep roster. You have veterans at every level of the defense. In theory, we should be improved. From what we saw. I think there were still some skeptics about Clayton White and things like that. How are we going to see or are we going to see that 3, 3, 5 wrinkle that we saw at the end of last season? But this group has come out and they have gelled and they have clicked and they have been the backbone of this entire team.
[00:07:03] I mean, you're looking, it's really the fruits of the labor of some of the recruiting that this group has done. When you look at a guy like Nicki, man worry, Jalen Kilgore, right? Judge Collier, Dylan Stewart, TJ Sanders. But then you're also seeing some of the Portal guys paying off, right? Demetrius Knight, Kyle Kennard. I was actually thinking about this earlier.
[00:07:31] It's obviously different with Kennard being a transfer guy, but talk about the dynamic between Kyle Kennard, this veteran guy, his last year in college, having a career year, playing himself into a high draft pick and then right next to him on the depth chart and on the other side of the line is a five star stud freshman who's already showing flashes of being great. You know what that reminds me of? That reminds me of Melvin Ingram and Jadevian Clowney a little bit of a different circumstance. I understand. But you have a veteran leader who's getting a lot of attention from opposing defenses, who's getting some NFL love right now.
[00:08:16] But then right on the other side is a five star phenom who you can't ignore and who no doubt will be taking notes from things that Kyle Kennard does on and off the field.
[00:08:27] This group is able to minimize the game for the opposing team and for even our own team, right? You can feel comfortable, you know, in some instances, of course, giving the ball away, saying, hey, if we can, if we can pin him back a little bit here, we net. We don't necessarily have to take a risk. Our defense can handle this. I would have liked to see some of that more early in the Ole Miss game, but I digress.
[00:08:53] Putting up 14 points in the first quarter against Oklahoma, setting the tone for that game, telling the entire team like, hey, we're here to play. We're not effing around Here we're going to kick the door down in this matchup and we're going to win. They are the reason that we were right there in it with Alabama.
[00:09:13] They're really the reason why we escaped week one against odu.
[00:09:17] They dominated and put up points on the board against Kentucky.
[00:09:21] This is the most fun and dominating group I have seen since, what, 2012.
[00:09:28] The way that they just get after it and the way that you have confidence in them, that's really what it is to me is that yes, the stats are there, the players are there, they got the dudes, they got the attitude, but it's the confidence and the trust in them. Like, yes, opposing teams are going to score from time to time.
[00:09:49] And there were moments where you really hated giving up a late score and things like that. LSU and Bama. Right. But it's a, it's a unit that I trust seeing on the field, knowing that at every level there's someone who can make a game changing play. And that's really what you saw on display at Oklahoma. So moving forward, this is going to be the unit that this team relies on. This is a defensive football team here, a defensive first team.
[00:10:20] And Beamer ball, and I saw, I saw someone write this the other day, like Beamer ball originated from the idea of you can score at any level of the game at any point in the game. And right now that's what we're seeing because the defense certainly can score. Special teams can score as well. So defense gets an A. We wouldn't be here without them. We would not be in the position that we are without them.
[00:10:44] And going down this home stretch, the reason why I feel comfortable in pretty much all the games, not pretty much all the games, is because of this defense. Because they can keep you in a game.
[00:10:57] Nothing should really get out of hand. Fingers crossed they get an A.
[00:11:03] But now let's look at the offense.
[00:11:07] I'm giving the offense a C plus. Okay.
[00:11:11] It's a passing grade.
[00:11:13] It's not the worst, but there certainly is room for improvement.
[00:11:20] And I really just think the biggest challenge on this side of the ball has been getting a young, largely unproven group to come together in a short amount of time. And I understand there's training camp and things like that, but game reps are different. And when you look across the board, who was proven going into this year, Josh Simon, I would say, you know, but he was playing behind Trey Knox. So he was a guy that you knew it was there and we're seeing it now, but was he ready to take that next step. Turns out he was Rocket Rocket Sanders.
[00:11:57] You felt he was proven, but he was coming off a tough year and you know, injury riddled season. Can he get back to his old form? That was the question there. He largely has. But again, aside from him and Josh Simon, like who else was proven? You have a true freshman wide receiver Mazio Bennett, you have a red shirt freshman and Lenora Sellers. And I think that was something that we forgot going into this year.
[00:12:24] Lenorris was billed as the self as the second coming for Gamecock football and he very well might develop into that, but he's still a red shirt freshman. And so we have those growing pains and we have that development process that we have to go through. So he's a red shirt freshman. You got Thompson, left tackle, true freshman, starting on the line.
[00:12:46] Kind of a hodgepodge of guys on the line. Right.
[00:12:51] So outside of that, Nick harbor, he, you know, he wasn't proven right. He has the raw ability.
[00:12:59] No one really else had done the production at a high level in the SEC consistently. So that to me is the biggest challenge for this group. We can talk about has the coaching and the game planning done enough to maybe minimize some of those gaps? I think that's a fair debate. I think it's a very fair debate.
[00:13:19] But I give it a C plus because there have been those strong moments and when they've needed to score, you know, like late in the game against Old Dominion. They did get the ball in the end zone last week against Oklahoma when Lenores has that big scramble after the interception, first drive, you really got to get a touchdown there because if you don't, that's momentum back to Oklahoma. They were able to punch it in. You're seeing Lenorris keep his eyes down fields. He has the escapability, he has all the traits.
[00:13:56] No turnovers last week, if that can keep up, that's phenomenal.
[00:14:01] But it's not a B or certainly not an A because it's been inconsistent and this team, this unit has made mistakes.
[00:14:13] Game costing mistakes. Alabama, but they've also had their droughts. Look at the last, the second half against Oklahoma. You don't score a touchdown. They were right there. But then what? You get penalties and you take a bad sack. So there's instances where the team has not shown up. Ole Miss, right. Despite being in a hole early in that game, you still didn't really put up much of a fight. So there's still room to grow, there's still things to be desired from this side of the ball.
[00:14:45] My hope is that in the bye week they can look at some things. Yes, you got to give time and let these guys continue to gel and continue to work. But maybe there's different formations you wrinkle in, maybe you make a change on the offensive line, things like that. So they get a C and it just, it leads to this tantalizing sat word tantalizing scenario where you can just run these what ifs and you can sit there and say, well, what if the offense was, you know, top third in the SEC to match the defense that we had? Like, could you imagine what that would be like?
[00:15:28] Or just like, what if they didn't have that turnover against Alabama? Right. It's like, it's tantalizing, it's intoxicating. We can't do that. But that's why it's a C, because there's definitely room to grow. But again, they've done enough to earn a C.
[00:15:46] Special teams, I'm going with B. They've done very well for the most part. But it's not an A.
[00:15:53] Don't want to call the one guy out.
[00:15:56] But there have been some missed kicks. A couple of them have been important, right? Two really important kicks were missed. It's really why it's not an eight. But Kai Kroger has been outstanding. He's having a phenomenal year punting the ball. That onside kick he did at Bama was a thing of beauty. We've seen blocks from that group, we've seen that group score points. And then another reason maybe why it's not an A is I think the return game has just been fine.
[00:16:25] We haven't had a one go back to the house. We have, you know, there hasn't been this game changing return or anything like that. It's been fine. So special teams gets a B.
[00:16:37] Now coaching, I'm talking mainly Shane Beamer here, right. But you know, the whole staff, I guess we can throw in here. But B minus. So this was tough. I was between a B, B minus. I'm going B minus. Right?
[00:16:50] You have to give credit for what Shane Beamer and his staff have done to get the Gamecocks sitting where they are okay to go on the road in Kentucky so early in the year with that young offense of a tough performance and get the win was massive.
[00:17:08] And then to navigate the injuries of Rocket and Lenorris, well, I think that's noteworthy. Granted Luck was on our side with Akron and then a buy, but to navigate that and to build the team to Have Robbie as a more than viable backup. That's noteworthy, right?
[00:17:28] And then to have the team on the road come out and slap Oklahoma after a very emotional loss the week before, that's a testament to the morale and culture that Shane Beamer has instilled in that locker room. Okay. One of accountability as well.
[00:17:48] On the other hand, penalties and silly mistakes have plagued this team, and they were a main factor in two of the three losses. And I'm not saying that he can prevent all of that, but coaching is where you start in those instances, and that's where you have to point the finger. Like, how are we not working on some of these small little details, like the handoff exchange?
[00:18:14] How are we preaching to play smart and not get ourselves behind the chains or to give the ball back to other teams with penalties? Right? So you have to look at coaching for that.
[00:18:26] And then also Beamer calling that fake punt early in the Ole Miss game, I mean, that was a early critical mistake, and it was a turning point in that game. In a game there are a lot of people thought we really stood a good chance.
[00:18:38] Looking back on it, I don't think Lenoris or rocket were 100%, but nonetheless, you put the team in a hole. He admitted it to it. So overall, for this team, I hate to say it, I hate. I just. I don't like this adage, right? But you are what your record says you are. And so when you look at 4 and 3, I think it says we're good. I think it says you're a good team, but you're not top of the S.E.C. great.
[00:19:08] You know, I mean, this team is in a funny position where one side of the ball is deep, full of veterans with a great chemistry, and the other side is just young, raw, still developing.
[00:19:23] So when you have that and the team isn't fully complete, right, like, there's some gaps on one side of the. Of the team here. That's what you have. You have a good record, a solid record. It's just not quite great because one side of the pie, if you will, one side of the coin isn't fully polished.
[00:19:47] And so there's going to be times where you just quite come up short because whether it's silly mistakes that happen, young players, guys not quite finishing, you know, you a couple of times just couldn't quite close the deal. And it stings because this group is inches away from sitting in the top 25 right now.
[00:20:08] But alas, that's life.
[00:20:11] Now, the good news is, in my opinion, as we look ahead Here, this team really should only continue to get better, okay? Offensively, the more time Lenorris has with wide receivers and his running backs, the better it has gotten. Just look at week one to now, okay? The timing is much better. You can tell they're more confident. They're, you know, on the same page. All that along the offensive line, maybe this staff really does reevaluate things and try some different combinations in there. Because despite having the same group for the majority of the year, things just don't seem to be clicking like they should. I mean, even in run blocking, it's. It's been not the greatest, right? So maybe now is the time to mix it up a little bit on the defensive side. This group can take the break to rest up and heal. But again, it also gives time for some of these younger guys, maybe someone like Fred Jr. Johnson, to get those additional practice reps as he's going to get a lot more playing time down the stretch, right?
[00:21:20] Maybe a guy like Vicari, Swan, Swain, right?
[00:21:24] And seemingly like this group has also gotten better and better. And the chemistry is just unlike anything we have seen since the Spurrier era.
[00:21:34] So more time together can only help.
[00:21:38] Now, in November, the Gamecocks have three out of five games at home. They have a night game at home right out of the by, so you can feel positive about some of these things.
[00:21:50] As it stands right now, they will face three ranked SEC opponents in a row. You have Mizzou and Vandy mixed in there too, so we'll see how that shakes out by the time we play them.
[00:22:02] It's going to be a challenge for sure.
[00:22:05] But I'm not sold on any opponent in November, including the one in the last game of the year. I'm not sold on any of them being a world beater.
[00:22:16] Do I think South Carolina can run the table?
[00:22:20] I don't know. I don't know. It's not out of the realm of possibility, but I do see an offense that has weaknesses, and I think those weaknesses will flare up once or twice down the stretch, potentially in an ugly way.
[00:22:35] But the good news is our defense can more than make up from mistakes from the offense. They can erase mistakes. They can get you the ball back right away.
[00:22:47] And Lenorris has this natural ability to also erase some of those mistakes with a bad play. One drive can be a great play. The drive after that.
[00:23:01] So I look at this next game against A and M as the real test. Those guys are becoming off a tough, emotional game. Either way you slice it, win or lose right and coming into Williams Bryce at night can cause problems for any team. So if the Gamecocks can start this home stretch of the season on the right foot then really everything is on the table.
[00:23:26] So that's my mid season report, my mid season thoughts. Hope you all enjoyed that. Let me give you all my six pack of picks for the weekend and then I will get you out of here starting with the acc. Give me Oregon State. I'm going Oregon State plus ten and a half Verse Cal Cal has played teams very close the last three or four weeks. I don't see how this is 1010 points. I don't know. Big 12 BYU versus UCF over 54 and a half. Big 10 got two picks here. Michigan State plus five versus Michigan rivalry game. Think it's going to be close. And then Penn State versus Wisconsin over 47 and a half. I don't know. SEC, LSU versus Texas A and M. I'm going under 54 and a half. Two good defenses, a lot on the line. I think that that's where that goes. And then group of five give me Charlotte versus Memphis. Memphis minus 18.
[00:24:21] 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.
