Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Game Cox, the football team prepares for their biggest game of the year. Coming off a bye week, I give my pre game analysis and crows to the game and also my six pack of picks. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:58] Okay. Welcome to episode 264 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And I hope you all had a good week out there. Gamecocks. Hope everyone is happy and healthy and ready for a good jam packed weekend of sports. You got playoff baseball, you got NFL, you got college football. It is very, very exciting right now to be sports fan. Got a fun episode for y'all here. Really focusing in on what's going on with the football team here. But before I jump into that, I do want to take a quick second and say that, you know, while all of us are happy to be listening to sports stuff and watching our team and celebrating them, there are so, so many people in our region, in the southeast, in the Carolinas specifically, who are struggling, to say the least right now, still suffering from the horrible devastation that was Hurricane Helene. So quick mentions of ways that all of us can help donating to the American Red Cross or other more specific charities like Samaritan's purse. But then there are also lots of businesses throughout the Carolinas, from the low country to North Carolina and beyond that are accepting donations. So if you know of somewhere that is accepting anything, if you have the means to go get a couple of extra things to drop them off, it would go a long, long way. Because we are all in this together. And especially now being in the region, it's the least we can do.
[00:02:48] But something that can serve as a happy distraction during tough times is sports, and that is what we will focus on here for the next few minutes. So starting with a week in review, not much going on from Carolina sports in the midweek here, but women's volleyball on Wednesday did unfortunately take the loss to Texas 30 and Friday, although obviously there's no scores to report just yet. Got a couple big soccer matchups to keep an eye on. You have men's and women in action going against Kentucky.
[00:03:24] Vanderbilt respectfully there. So nice Friday night under the lights matchups to keep an eye on in Gamecock soccer here. But without further ado, time to turn our attention to Gamecock football. Big, big weekend here and no better way to start cocktober than the Gamecocks hosting the number twelve Ole Miss Rebels. Now, before the season started in my season preview, but you just talked to any Gamecock fan. This game was already circled as probably the biggest game of the year, and now that it is here, it certainly feels like this is it. And when you look at the rest of the schedule, like last game of the year against that team in the upstate, that always is one of, if not the biggest games of the year, but the rankings and just how the SEC is shaping out, like, it feels like this could be it. And pun intended on this one. This game has juice.
[00:04:32] And, and you know what? Speaking of the drink, which, you know, by the way, a lot of times is unhealthy and sugary and not good for you, not good to promote that by that guy.
[00:04:44] I am not here to talk about any, quote, revenge game or anything like that. Now. I'm not talking about that. I'm not. I'm just simply not. If the Gamecocks were two and two or worse, this game could be about that. You could have a hate fueled matchup targeted at one person on that team.
[00:05:09] But the Gamecocks are three in one and they are hosting a top 15 team at home and staring at a golden opportunity to kick down the door of the SEC and by extension, the college football world.
[00:05:26] Yes, there is a storyline with that guy, and what he did for the Gamecocks last year was weird and sketchy and all that jazz. It's in the past.
[00:05:38] If you really want to rub it in his face and if you really want to stick it to him, you send him and his team packing with an l and basically crush their playoff hopes. So, yes, it's a storyline. I get it. There's going to be some folks who want to boo one person and want to talk about one person on this team.
[00:06:02] But the Gamecocks are sitting at a position where they can do a lot more right now. And frankly, this team needs to worry about other things other than one person to try and make an impact in this matchup.
[00:06:15] Now, the Gamecocks are, of course, coming off a bye week, which really did come at that fantastic time as the team looks to get healthy. If you listen to Shane Beemers press conference and then if you heard him at the Carolina calls, it seems positive in terms of Linares, Jared Brown and Rocket, they were listed in the most recent injury report as probable. That was an upgrade from questionable, but I don't know, maybe there's a little gamesmanship going on here. But speaking of the bye week, Shane Beamer has tended to use the off week really well and his teams have come out ready to play. After the break, I went back and took a look.
[00:07:01] Shane Beamer is two and one in games coming off a bye week, and that sole loss was that crazy end gut punch game to Florida last year, which really, if that team had any kind of depth to it, you probably would have won. But the fact is, they came out and for three and a half quarters, were the better team that day. So this team should come into this matchup healthy and better prepared and better coached and prepped and all that jazz for the challenge that lies ahead, because we really do need to be at full strength for this one. I mean, respectfully, all due respect, this is not Akron, right? This is a big challenge. You need to be prepared. You need to be healthy. You need to be ready to go.
[00:07:54] As it stands right now, the Gamecocks are nine point underdogs in this matchup. So what are the Gamecocks getting in Ole Miss to make them nine point underdogs? Currently, the Rebels are sitting at four and one after losing to Kentucky last week, a loss that really made a lot of people look up and say, oh, wow. I mean, first off, it made our win against Kentucky look much, much better, but it was really their out of conference schedule up until last week, talking about Ole Miss here was. It was just an absolute joke. So they really got hit in the mouth against Kentucky. And, you know, I won't lie.
[00:08:37] Does part of me wish that maybe Ole Miss had won that game and come into town, maybe still feeling a little cocky and things like that? Yeah, I do. I mean, maybe that's. The Gamecock fan in me just feels like having two consecutive losses for a team like Ole Miss, that it just makes the challenge even that much harder because they know now that their margin of error is less. But again, that maybe that's just the Gamecock fan in me. You know, not trying to get too excited here, but hopefully Beemer and company used whatever they saw on tape in that game to find ways to exploit it even more. But aside from that, you know, everyone knows the story about Ole Miss, right? They. They play with good tempo. Offense is the name of the game. With Lane Kiffin, he's really getting the most out of Jackson Dart has elevated his game at quarterback. And when you look at their numbers this year, like, some of their guys just have, like, stupid stats, but I really also just think it's inflated because they haven't played anybody until last week. You know, I talked last week about SEC rankings and things like that. Where do the Gamecocks stand, especially defensively? Like, Ole Miss was towards the top but they hadn't played anybody until last week, and then I believe they gave up. It was 20 points or so to Kentucky and that was just way, way above their average because they played a team with a pulse.
[00:10:09] And the big thing with Ole Miss going into this year was that they had beefed up the lines of scrimmage. You know, they always have had good skill positions and they always had this good offense and things like that. But coming into this year, Lane Kiffin used the portal well and beefed up offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage. Guy like Walter Nolan comes in defensive tackle, they got a new edge rusher. They got guys from Washington to come in and be on their offensive line. So that was the new look Ole miss, because they wanted to come in and be prepared for the big time SEC matchups. So it's sort of an interesting position with Ole Miss where they have that good looking roster. They come into the year with a lot of expectations and through four weeks they looked every bit the part. But then again, once they come into real life in the SEC, they had all sorts of trouble.
[00:11:04] And that can be the key when stopping these teams that have an offense like that that really relies on the big play and plays with a lot of pace where, you know, if you can get them close, if you can play them close or better yet, have that second half lead. A lot of times they just don't have it in their bag to play that style. You know, you disrupt them enough where they just sometimes just can't get it going. And so that's the challenge for South Carolina here. And it does make me wonder, like, what's going on inside that building in Oxford this week, right?
[00:11:47] Do we see an improvement from Ole Miss?
[00:11:51] Almost like, you know, you see teams from week one to week two, right? Like in the whole season, there's that old saying that you improved the most from week one to week two. Well, maybe that was just like a preseason for Ole Miss and then they played Kentucky and now they're going to be like, okay, we got to improve XYZ. Now it's time to kick it into high gear. Like, do we see that?
[00:12:13] Or is this team and in this staff, are they scrambling a bit? And maybe some guys have shaken confidence and maybe they just do, in fact, have holes remaining in their roster that they thought they filled. But when you're playing Furman and middle Tennessee and Wake Forest, you just weren't able to see it.
[00:12:37] Technically, this game against South Carolina will be their second road game, but their first was wake and they won by 30 points. So in actuality, let's be honest here. This is their first road game. This is their first true test on the road. So you could look at this matchup and say, okay, ole miss is coming off a loss. They have to hit the road against arrested team that's looking for validation of a highly ranked win. And right around the corner, Ole Miss is peaking around some of these other matchups that they have that they know they have to win to try and get into the playoff.
[00:13:16] I think they play LSU next week. Got Tennessee, I believe, maybe Georgia. So maybe there is a little bit of that as well. Maybe this game comes in right at the right time.
[00:13:29] You could also say that this team had a wake up call last week and is coming into Williams Bryce looking to get back on track. But you know what? This is football. There are a lot of variables and that's why you don't play the game on paper. You got to spot the ball and you got to play. So what are my crows to the game for this matchup here? Starting with the whole team, I want everyone to say this with me. Okay? Where this is the mantra, okay, we're putting it out there like the secret.
[00:14:02] Be the least penalized team one more time.
[00:14:06] Be the least penalized team.
[00:14:10] Hopefully this was worked on in some capacity in the bye week. Because when you're trying to pull off an upset like this, as we've seen before, you can't give the other team extra chances or do yourself any disfavors. You can't give them anything.
[00:14:29] Just even if it's the same amount of penalties, just don't be the most right, be the least penalized team. Especially those procedural or that's a mouthful. Penalties, the procedure, penalties, offsides, false starts, illegal formations, things like that. Like the things that you really can control.
[00:14:54] Don't do that now. Defense, starting with my first crow here, tackle in space. Okay? Ole Miss is going to try and get their best matchups. They want to break the explosive plays. There will be one on one opportunities at every level of defense. The tackling has to be crisp and it has to be on point to try and limit them breaking those plays.
[00:15:20] My second crow on the defensive side here is disrupt the timing of dart, Jackson Dart. That is when you face a team that plays with tempo and has such good skill positions, players.
[00:15:33] One equalizer is disrupting the quarterback. And this is a crow where the fans can help out as well. Right? Raucous environment. Can you get the timing out of sync? Maybe get a bad snap or two, the defensive front for South Carolina has to get pressure on him. He is good enough to make the throws under duress, but if that pressure is regularly there, he'll be prone to more mistakes. And if we can get him on the ground a few times, even, he'll never feel comfortable. And if he can't get in a groove, it will be that much harder for the offense as a whole to get moving.
[00:16:12] My third crow to the game here is don't break. Okay?
[00:16:16] Make no mistake about it, Ole Miss is going to make plays, right? They're going to get their yards, they're going to get theirs. It's going to happen. There will be plays where they get the chunks or even drives where they move it well. And I'm thinking that you could see that maybe early, right where they're in those scripted plays, the Gamecocks defense can bend, but it can't break.
[00:16:40] If these guys can keep Ole miss out of the end zone, if they're in the red zone a couple of times, or keep them to field goals, right, stopping them from getting in the red zone, then that can take the momentum away from them and really can be the difference late in the game.
[00:16:58] Now, on offense, my offensive crows to the game are assuming everyone is healthy. Okay, I'm not getting into. We're just going to keep it simple. Okay.
[00:17:07] It's actually weird, though, because like, it's crazy. Like that first half of the LSU game was the last time we saw this group fully healthy, and that just feels like forever ago. It's crazy.
[00:17:22] That's the last time we saw Lenoris on the field. It's been weeks. It's crazy. So my first crow to the game here is own the time of possession. Okay? It's simple math that if you keep Ole miss off the field offensively, that is right, they will have less chances to do damage. This is where a healthy rocket Sanders would be the difference maker in my mind.
[00:17:45] My second crow to the game is feature Juju McDowell. Okay? Good things happen when Juju touches the ball. You've talked to a Gamecock fan, you've talked to 1000. We'll all say the same thing about that, right? Let's get him the ball often. Let's get him in space, make him one guy miss, and then he takes off. This defensive line for Ole Miss is big, and running between the tackles will be a challenge. It's been a challenge for the Gamecocks, period, let alone against a defensive line like this. But we need, we need to be stubborn in that, right. You can't abandon that. But let's also get Juju involved not only in that, but a guy who can stretch the field horizontally and in the throwing game.
[00:18:30] My third crow to the game here is avoid the big turnover. Okay? Turnovers have been a problem through these first four games for the Gamecocks, and it's the first game action in a little bit for these starters together. It has to be emphasized to take care of the ball. For Lenoris, throwing it away is okay. Don't leave yourself open for the big hit when the ball is susceptible to hitting the ground. Right. Play fast, play loose, but protect the ball.
[00:19:01] So overall, for this game, right, this game is about seizing the moment.
[00:19:06] It's not often that you stand at the opportunity to do something great, but here we are with the Gamecocks on the edge of it once again.
[00:19:15] This game is not about one person. This game is about the chance for the Gamecocks team to do something great and yet again, shock the world. This team is rested. This team has been at home for the last couple of weeks. Ole Miss has not played in an environment like the one they are about to go into this season. Our defense has been disruptive and violent all year and they need to do it again.
[00:19:40] This is a moment where the staff can stand ten toes down and say, okay, Lane Kiffin, we see you, but you have to get through us.
[00:19:50] Offensively, we've seen what it looks like when things are clicking. Wide receivers are showing out better than many thought. A healthy rocket. Sanders, looking like an all SEC type of caliber player. Offensive line is going to need to hold up, but they themselves have had time to rest and improve.
[00:20:09] Lenoris needs to do his thing and the whole team will follow. Everyone buckle up. Wear garnet wherever you are. Be loud, wherever you are and let's go. Cox.
[00:20:23] Is it Saturday yet? Wake me up when it is. My God. But all right, let me give you all my six pack of picks and then I'll get you out of here. Starting with the ACC. Two picks from the ACC this week. I'm going SMU versus Louisville. Give me the cards. Minus six and a half. Miami versus Cal. This game is the game day game. Primetime game they're calling it. Game starts at 10:30 p.m. eastern and it's a conference game. Unbelievable. Miami versus Cal. I'm going Cal. Call me crazy. Plus ten and a half. It's a long trip for Miami. Big twelve. Baylor versus Iowa State. Iowa State -13 big ten. Rutgers versus Nebraska. Under 40 and a half old school game. SEC going Auburn versus Georgia Georgia -22 I think they are ticked off after last week and Auburn is just in shambles. Group of five, Utah State versus Boise State over 65 and a half. And 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.
