Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking Gamecocks. Gamecock football has a palate cleanser. Ray Tanner is stepping down as ad, and the women's basketball team releases their schedule. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:56] Okay. Welcome to episode 261 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And hey, it's a new week. We can all sort of relax a little bit. I hope y'all are doing great out there in Gamecocks Nation. I hope work went well. I hope school went well. Hope the family's good, whatever it is. I hope y'all had a lovely week, and I hope we're all feeling great, headed into another weekend of college football. We are just so in it. We are so back. It's awesome. We've had some crazy upsets around. We got Friday night games, big ranked games. NFL is in full swing, too. It's just great. It is just absolutely great. What a time. What a time here. Got a fun episode for y'all here. Starting off with a good weekly recap here. Well, I guess. I guess it's good. It's just newsworthy. Let's say that here. But this was a piece of old news that I didn't touch on last episode, so the news dropped last weekend. But just with all the hoopla of everything that was last weekend. I didn't elaborate on the news that happened, but it came out that Ray Tanner will be stepping down as athletic director at the end of the fall terminal. So it's not an immediate thing. He's going to stay on. And then once he's done with the athletic department, he's actually staying with the university in what I understand it to be as sort of like an advisor role to the president. I don't really know what all that means, but he's not leaving the university entirely.
[00:02:47] I take that as a sign of things that are, you know, this is fine. You know, this is his decision. I think anytime you get a sudden notice of athletic, athletic director leaving, folks automatically think that there are some bad news coming around. But I think if that were the case, Ray would have just retired or he would have been stepping away from the university entirely. So I don't think it's cause for concern. It'll be interesting to see what direction president emeritus decides to go with this search. There's a few ways you can go when it comes to ads. Personally, I think it needs to be someone who can help South Carolina navigate this new world of nil and potential revenue sharing and things of that nature. I think this sudden change in college athletics might honestly be part of the reason why Ray is stepping down. It's just so different than what he's used to. He, you know, has done so much for the university where having to relearn everything, it probably, in his mind, is just not worth it. So let's bring in someone who is more apt to learning these new things, to trying to help South Carolina get ahead of the curve in a lot of it, and it'll be really interesting to see. And no matter which way you slice it, like, this is not like a coaching job, right? Like, people don't look at athletic director positions at the power level, let alone in the SEC, and say, oh, no, it's. It's not a top tier job. Like, no, this is a top tier job. Like, I think some folks are nervous that the a list candidates might say no because it's South Carolina. Like, that's not the case when you talk about power conference athletic directors, especially in the SEC, where you will have all of the resources that you can muster. There's only, what, 16 of them now in the SEC. So we're going to have our pick of the litter. As far as Ray Tanner goes, you know, I've said it before, I'm not going to get into this whole thing here, but I don't think his tenure as ad was as terrible as a lot of people make it out to be. He helped fast forward the facilities to modern day. He helped bring us to the forefront of all of college football with our facilities. And then that's also not even mentioning, like, some of the other athletic facilities and other, the other improvements he made across different sports. When you look at some of these smaller sports, like the ones that I talk about, you know, equestrian, women's golf, men's soccer, all of these things, he's made solid hires. They have had success under him. Don Staley has been great. I think the black eye on his tenure were the hires of Muschamp and Kingston, and those two sports suffered in those times. But, you know, outside of that, I think he fundraised well, I think he made a correct hire in Lamont Paris, which I think at the time, people thought might not have been the right call. I'm a Beamer guy, you know, but no matter where you slice it this time, you know, compared to five, six years ago, football team. Football team is enter place. So rate tanner stepping down. Big news. Will obviously update y'all with any new info. As I hear it, outside of that, talking actual sports here. Women's basketball team. They released their season schedule, so got a few highlights for y'all. Here. They are opening October 15 versus Memphis. They take on Clemson November 20. They host LSU January 23. Might have to go to that one. And they close things out against Kentucky on March 2. Outside of that, the only score that I have for you all from this midweek slate is from Tuesday when the women's volleyball team beat East Carolina. Three nothing. So shout out to the women's volleyball team. Holding it down. Much appreciated here. But with that, let me turn our focus to the gridiron as the Gamecocks take on Akron. It is a new week, it's a new challenge, and our support never wavers.
[00:07:19] 730 kickoff in Williams, Bryce. It's already been announced that it is a sellout. And that's what I'm talking about. You know, this game was already slated to be in that night slate, so I'm sure people were excited to go and they bought tickets for it. But I think it'd be easy for a lot of people, a lot of fan bases to be like, you know what? It was such a tough loss last weekend. Like going to sit this one out.
[00:07:42] Not us. Not us. We put our fandom on full display last weekend and we're going to do it again this weekend. And I also think this is a sign, the ultimate sign of support for our team, to say you really gave it your all and we fully commend you for that. We're going to sell Willie B. Out. But I look at this game here as it's a palate cleanser, right? I mean, the team and us fans, we've done all that we can to put last Saturday behind us. We've burned Sage, we've blocked Tigers from our mentions and our timelines. Whatever the hell you had to do, you got over it. But the only silver lining from that game last weekend is that it happened at the middle of the season, you know, really, really towards the beginning of the season, meaning there's a lot of football left. You can correct some of these things. You're not ending the season on that note. So the team can go out and really just kind of get that palate cleanser right? Get that taste out of your mouth. Us fans get to watch our team against someone else and create new memories. It's almost like getting a change of scenery, really. So the guys have to go out there Saturday night and put it all behind them and just have a nice showing against Akron. Really. So that brings it to the job of the staff to make sure that the guys are out in the right mindset and not to look at this game as something that they can maybe take their foot off the gas but stick to their job, execute well. You want to avoid that sluggish start where some guys aren't locked in as they could be. Now, as it stands right this second, the Gamecocks are 28 point favorites on the injury front. There does not need to be a injury report for this game because it's not a conference game. So we don't really have a whole lot of intel as far as Jared Brownlen or seller. Some of these other guys. Beamer was a little bit coy in his press conference. Granted, this was Tuesday.
[00:09:59] He said some of the guys got out there in practice, they moved a little bit. He said that Lenora's told him he feels good and he's going to be good to go. But if I were a betting man, which I am, I would bet that this game is where we see Robbie Astrid start a quarterback.
[00:10:18] And I say that because if Lenora Sellers is anything less than 100%, you. You just need to bench him, right? Not, not bench him, excuse me, sit him for this game.
[00:10:31] It's not worth it for him to go out there and risk further injury. We have a bye week after this game. It's the perfect time for if Lenoris is 80%, 85%, I don't care. I'm let them rest, get two full weeks of rehab and then can go out and practice for full for Ole Miss.
[00:10:54] Robbie Ashford is more than capable of handling this game. The rest of our team is more than capable of handling this game. But unless I'm missing something, I have no word on the official starting quarterback. And I don't think we'll see that. Because now that you can't really have that gamesmanship in the SEC, I would expect Shane Beamer to have that gamesmanship against Akron. Not that you really need that, right? I mean, at least I hope not. But he's going to take anything he can get here. So what are the Gamecocks looking at in the Akron zips? I actually saw it out there that the zips is like short for zipper. Like there was like a zipper factory or something in Akron. Like, I don't freaking know if that's not the most Ohio thing I've ever heard. Like, I really don't know what is, maybe other than moving to Myrtle beach. But nonetheless, here, Akron is currently one and two. They started their season with two consecutive losses to power conferences in Ohio. State and Rutgers power conference teams, and then they recently beat Colgate. Their head coach is randomly Joe Moorhead, where, if you all remember him from Mississippi State, weird stint as head coach. There was offense coordinator at Penn State and maybe Oregon thrown in there. But big time offensive guy Shane Beamer talked about how their offense is tricky to prepare for because he said they will a lot of times have both quarterbacks on the field. Like not a two quarterback system, but two quarterbacks on the field, tricky formations. I don't really know their defense last year was pretty good, but Ohio State put up 52 on them. Not comparing us to Iowa State, but Rutgers put up 49 on them. So they had some difficulty with the power conference teams. Defensively, frankly, they're a team that's fighting to get out of the basement, out of the Mac. Right. And on paper, this should be a good game for South Carolina to get right, for lack of a better term. Right? Get back in the win column, rather, here. But, you know, this is college football, you know, and sometimes these teams that do things a little differently and they look good on paper as a matchup wise, can be tough. And, you know, you shouldn't sit here and think Akron will be a breeze. You have to focus on the task at hand here. I certainly think and hope for a game where it's in the bag early. I think we all deserve that, frankly, after last weekend, you know, it'd be fun to have a stress free game, but you never know. Right? Like this is Gamecock football and you just never know. A lot of us thought that week won. So that's the thing. You can't take these things for granted. You got to be ready for the task at hand here. So let me jump into my crows to the game here, my. The crow to the whole team. Excuse me. Bring the same energy that you brought the last two games. Okay. And what I mean by that is you saw the level of effort and intensity and execution step up against Kentucky and LSU, especially on the offensive side of the ball when compared to week one. So the effort that the team has brought these last two games is the same effort that you need to bring against Akron. And that's what the good teams do. Okay? Like, look at what Tennessee did to Kent State. Granted, Kent State is awful, but Akron isn't great either. But these teams that act like the Mac team is the SEC opponent, those are the well coached teams. That is a good culture. You should not play down to Akron. And I understand there was a lot of emotions last week.
[00:14:53] These guys have to realize that it's another opportunity to go out there and prove to the world that hey, that was not a fluke, that we should have beaten the 16th ranked team. We are a good team and we're going to prove it by beating the snot out of Akron. That needs to be the mentality here on the offensive side of the ball. My first crow to the game is running back. Other than Rocket, Sanders needs to have at least 60 yards on the ground.
[00:15:22] The Rocket has taken off. He is RB one and he looks great. This is a game that you shouldn't need to rely on him, okay? Let him get his touches, let him get his work in right. Continue to stay in that groove and stay in that rhythm, especially with a bi week around the corner. But this would be a great game for someone like Oscar Attaway, Geron Hallo, even Matthew Fuller to get some touches, get them going. Because once we get into the stretch of the SEC play, we're going to need someone with confidence back there to pick up the slack when Rocket has to sit for a while, whatever it may be, right, catch his breath and things like that.
[00:16:05] My second crowd to the game here, keeping it simple, protect the quarterback, okay? I don't care who is back there. Our quarterback can't be taking unnecessary hits against a team like Akron, period. Especially if Robbie Ashford has to go. You need to keep him upright because he needs to stay healthy and well throughout this whole game and heading into next week after that, too.
[00:16:32] On defense, my first crow to the game here is don't allow their leading rusher to have more than 75 yards. I know that's really specific and I could have been more aggressive with that. Number two, I was actually lowering it as I was mentally preparing for this, for this episode here. But if you are going to point at a weakness in this defense, it's been the ability to stop the run consistently.
[00:16:59] This is a game where you should be able to do that, frankly. I mean, this is a game where South Carolina should, should, being the emphasized word, be able to do anything that it wants. But that's why football isn't played on paper. But basically, I think this defense needs to go out there and shut down their run game to really get that feeling, get those reps in and understanding how to do so and get that belief that you can clean. White needs to see that, Robertson needs to see that. Everyone needs to know that, hey, we know we can get after the pass rusher and we know our guys in the secondary can create some turnovers and they're playing pretty good. Well, pretty good as well. We need to be able to stop the run. So let's see a complete game here. Second crow expect the unexpected.
[00:17:49] I'll be totally honest with you all. When when Shane Beamer said they put two quarterbacks out there in Akron, I have no idea what the hell he's talking about. I don't even know what that would look like. Do you put one out wide? Do they go next to each other? I have no idea. Don't care to watch any Akron highlights to learn about it. I'll see that Saturday night, but you have to be ready for that. And Akron is a team that has nothing to lose and Joe Moorhead has a history of really good offenses. So you have to be able to defend anything and they're going to try to do anything to catch us off guard.
[00:18:27] We've already seen a Mac team beat an SEC team this year, so the guys just have to be ready, both sides of the ball.
[00:18:35] So overall, for the game here, like I talked about in my season preview, it feels like this game comes at a perfect time. And I mean, boy, did we not know what was ahead of us then, especially for last week. So coming off back to back SEC games, an emotional roller coaster as well. This week they get to stay home. They get to enjoy that first night game in front of a great crowd that's really itching to show some love here. This should be a game where South Carolina can have things under control at some point in the third quarter so they can let guys lower on the depth chart, get reps. I think the offense as a whole is much more jailed than it was week one. This defense is playing extremely well and so really the only thing we can worry about is the mental state of the team after such a hard loss last week. Okay, like, do they come out with vengeance on the mind and just come out like a bat out of hell or are they still thinking about that LSU loss? Are they going to continue to play fast and loose and aggressive or are they going to be timid because they're worried about penalties?
[00:19:51] This is where Shane Beamer has to get his team ready to play in what hopefully turns out to be a fun night in Williams Bryce.
[00:20:00] But all right, let me give y'all my six pack of picks and then I will get y'all out of here. I'm really excited for this weekend. I really am. I mean, you love a great SEC matchup, but I think we all deserve a fun game. Really, like, I'm looking forward to it. Night game. The lights are going to be going. We all can enjoy our day. And hopefully, really, hopefully, it is a fun one. Knock on wood. Fingers crossed. But my six pack of picks here. Here we go. In the ACC.
[00:20:27] I like Rutgers versus Virginia Tech and give me the over 45 in the big twelve. This is where I have two picks this week. Utah plus two and a half versus Oklahoma State. Go look at that quarterback matchup. The combined age is like 1000. It's, it's honestly, it's an older combined age than if Caleb Williams played Anthony Richardson. Two guys in the NFL wild.
[00:20:50] Tcu minus three versus smu. I don't know. I just like it. Big ten. Northwestern versus Washington. I'm going Washington minus ten and a half at home. Sec, great game. Great game at night as well. You can maybe go two games at once with ours. Tennessee versus Oklahoma. I'm going vols minus seven.
[00:21:14] Just feels like they got this thing rolling a little bit. Oklahoma, I'm not exactly sold on. I'm going with the favorites in that one. And then my group of five team, I'm going toledo -20 excuse me, not -25 Toledo minus two and a half. There we go versus western Kentucky.
[00:21:32] But with that, y'all. That wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media Twitter 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.
