Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, I give my post game analysis and thoughts after the Gamecocks suffer a heartbreaking loss to LSU and also give a weekend recap from around the other fall sports. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:59] Okay. Welcome to episode 260 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And anything that y'all are feeling today, whenever you're listening to this, just know that I am feeling it, too.
[00:01:24] Misery loves company. And just know that you have a friend in me. That if you're Madden, I, too, am mad. If you're sad, I, too, am sad. This has been a tough, tough 24, 48 hours after Saturday afternoon. And there's just no other way to put it that, you know, it just was a tough break for the Gamecocks and a heartbreaker. And all of us, anyone who follows this team knows that this was a brutal way for this to be snatched from us. You know, I was watching the game with some friends who didn't even go to USC, and they were really pulling for us, and they just felt so bad at the end and had other friends reach out to me. And you're just seeing it all over the place. That gamecock nation is getting a lot of love from around the country, around the sport, rather. But I don't know. You know, we're. We're in it together. And just know that you got a friend in me that's somewhere out there. Your boy Tim is also going through it. Now, I also do want to apologize if my voice is a little raspy, but I did not want to wait to record this. I had to get this out as soon as I could. And, you know, let's let some of the emotions settle down. But otherwise, really wanted to encapsulate how I'm feeling right now. So I am going to jump into a recap for the game. If you want to kind of skip around. I don't blame you. Who wants to relive that? But before I get into that, there are some scores from around USC athletics to go over this weekend.
[00:03:14] Starting on Friday, the women's volleyball team beat Stetson three to one, and all also beat FiU three to one. So nice Friday there. Saturday, women's cross country came in second in the Furman invitational. And then on Sunday, women's volleyball unfortunately took the l to wake Forest three to one. So a mixed bag, but pretty good from the other sports there this weekend. But with that, that clears the way to discuss the football game that happened in Columbia Saturday afternoon. And I don't need to get into all the buildup that was around this game, but I'm gonna. And it was a special week, really, but a special day and weekend in Columbia. I mean, seeing the Pat McAfee show being on our field, you had Josh Pate in town, the gameday crew doing everything there. All eyes were on Columbia. And I talked about this last episode, but it's just different this time compared to when they were on campus in 2014, just because the landscape of social media and everything like that has evolved so much. So there just were more eyes and ears pointed towards Columbia. And then the scenes of from Saturday were absolutely insane. And I'm getting goosebumps now thinking of it, but just the pictures and the videos of how packed Gamecock park was, and to see the images of the students lined up at four in the morning, 330 in the morning. I saw some videos from packed to get into Gamecock park just to be in that front row at game day. And it just sets the standard, a new standard for the game day atmosphere, really. And I'm talking about the show, the entire national show. I think Gamecocks set the bar for what that atmosphere needs to be like, frankly, and our fan base deserved it. Our fan base deserves to be shouted out, deserves to have some of that spotlight there. And once the game was kicked off, the fans did everything that they possibly could to help sway the game once they were inside. Williams, Bryce. So you have to at least give some love to our fans, because, man, it was an electric atmosphere. You know, there was all this talk about students got to stay the whole game, everything like that. I wasn't necessarily buying the whole narrative for big games that people left, but if there was any debate, that was put to bed because that place was rocking for four quarters, not an empty seat in the house, especially in the student section, it was just absolutely unreal.
[00:06:13] But, you know, we know how the game ends and we know what the score was. I don't need to rehash it from that standpoint. And I don't know, y'all. I mean, we've been through some tough losses as Gamecock fans, and in recent memory, too, we've had some really rough losses.
[00:06:37] I think this one might take the cake, though. And I'm not a big blame the refs guy in general, but I think this game, it feels warranted. I mean, you even have multiple journalists calling out the suspect calls. Regular fans from around the sport who saw the game on social media are saying, like, the rest were in LSU pocket like all this jazz. But I just think when you see major journalists, like a guy like Brad Crawford or even Herb stream making mention of it at the end of the game, that's when you can feel a little bit that there were some things that were not decided by either team. Like either the guys who were in uniform ultimately, like having major impacts in major moments of that game. Right. So, you know, it doesn't make it feel any better because it doesn't change the score and it just is what it is at this point.
[00:07:44] But it's not like our team went out there and laid an egg, right? Like there were right, they were right there, fought their asses off and you had a couple B's calls at the end that just totally robbed it from you and it just sucks. But regardless, like, of some of those later suspect penalties, like, you can't have that many pen penalties and expect to win the game and, like, winning late, like being up late and being on the wrong side and the way that it went, it just really hurts and it's just something that really, you know, as you're trying to level up your program, this kind of stuff can't happen. Right? Like, you need to play incredibly well, you need to play disciplined and you got to be able to close the door when you have these opportunities that. That come to you. Really.
[00:08:38] But, yeah, I mean, like, as I've had time to reflect here, there's really three seminal moments in the game that I'm going to talk about and these are like big moments in the game. I'm not trying to, you know, Galaxy brain this year, but there's three moments that I just think it all boils down to.
[00:08:58] The first was when Lenoris got hurt and, you know, he was playing well up until that point and he was growing and developing really before our eyes. And when Robbie had to come in, it just changed the momentum drastically. But prior to Lenoris getting hurt, we were able to move the offense. Like, yes. Was it perfect? No, but he was showing his athleticism. He was generally taking care of the ball and, you know, I just felt that that was a momentum shift where it was this. Oh, my gosh, like that was kind of when the, the shoe was going to drop, right? So that was number one because if he stays in the game, I think we look totally different. The whole playbook is there. I think you have momentum on your side. You can do a lot more things. Lenoris was able to find the soft spots in that defense. The two, the two headed monster of him and Rocket running were just simply too much for LSU. And when he went down, it was just a moment of, how are we going to dig ourselves out of this?
[00:10:14] The second moment was the phantom offensive pass interference call.
[00:10:20] Had that not been called, the Gamecocks can really work the clock down and effectively put the game on ice, right? They took a risk. They trusted Robbie's arm. You went for it. And this is the call that I think they need to bring to somebody. And I heard that Ray Ray Tanner and Sheen Beamer brought some calls to the league office just to get some explanations. This is it. And even on tv, they couldn't figure it out. They called it on Maisie O'Bennett, but he didn't do anything. And then they were looking at, maybe it was harbor, but harbor didn't really. He was just blocking and he was way away from the play.
[00:10:59] And so all of a sudden you go from this moment of, we just had this big first down, we can really work the clock down here. And if not, we can pin LSU deep to then being pushed back and then fumbling it and losing any sense of momentum.
[00:11:18] The third was the unnecessary roughness penalty that erased the Nick Eman wary pick six. This would have sealed the game, right? Like, that, won the game. And when that happened, I was like, okay, ball don't lie. Like, this is a moment where we got screwed by a bullshit pass interference call. This is the gods figuring it out for us, right? This is karma. But no, that penalty was so soft that this was the other one where you're just like, they're taking it away from us. They are gifting the game to LSU at that point.
[00:11:58] I understand that they look at quarterbacks differently and you have to be smart when you're around the quarterback in that situation.
[00:12:10] Looking at the replay, Nuss Meyer definitely flopped. Okay? Like, yeah, you got shoved to the ground by a big, strong d lineman, but he acted like he got shot. Like, that was just not the case.
[00:12:21] Does Kennard need to be smart there? Yes. You can't just shove the quarterback to the ground. But there was an interception and a play that was running right by him. So what did he do? This is football. You hit the other team. The guy who's going to chase down the man with the ball, he effectively was blocking for Nick.
[00:12:47] You can't call that there. That was just a bad, bad call. Like, yes, Kennard should not have really put himself in that situation. Got to be smarter there. But at the same time, that was a soft call. And in that moment, you just can't do that. Just absolutely can't.
[00:13:06] And so really, when you look back at these, any one of these moments, if they go differently and they go our way, I think we win the ballgame. I mean, obviously you win the ballgame with the pick six. I certainly think you in the ballgame if you don't get that PI call, and I think you win the game if Lenore stays healthy because it just opens everything up. And I think we would have been able to actually score more and build some distance away from LSU.
[00:13:32] The horse collar tackle that erase the other pick six, that one, yes, you certainly can put on the list. But when it happened, you know, in the game, but like that one, it was a tough call, but it was right there was on the name plate like that. It's just, it's just unfortunate because he certainly wasn't doing that on purpose. Kennard, he wasn't like he was chasing him down, right. It was just how his arm was and the angle of that.
[00:14:05] And there's just not much more you can say about this game. Like, it was absolutely as gut wrenching as it comes. I mean, you had moments where you felt you were on top of the world and they were showing, graphics were saying it could be the first three and oh starts in 2012, and to be crushed like that in the final minute is just that. It's crushing, soul crushing. So I'm going to quickly go through what I liked and didn't like. If you can tell, I'm just thrilled to be talking about this game. But we're going to go through this because, you know, I think it's important to still talk about it. And you can't just like sports when only you win. You can't talk about sports only when you win. Like, this is something that we're all going to remember this game. And maybe there's a chance that this game can still have some good.
[00:14:54] Maybe there's a chance that despite it being a loss, it proved to the team, to the players, to everyone who's associated with this program that you can hang with some of these big name teams that are ranked and all this jazz.
[00:15:12] So, yeah, let me jump in this here. So from the offense, what I liked, I loved Rocket Sanders. I mean, that long run was a thing of beauty. He is who we hoped he would be. He is RB one. He's looking better and better each game, and I think he's feeling more confident. Absolutely love to see it.
[00:15:31] And then before he got hurt, I really, I really liked what we saw from the Norris. I mean, he needs to clear up the turnovers, but those are growing pains. You know, he is a red shirt freshman. I talked about it in the offseason that there are going to be bumps in the road with his development because he is so young. But I felt the way he was playing was confident and I felt again that if he doesn't go down, we probably still win the ballgame.
[00:16:00] Now, what I didn't like was the sequence of plays immediately before Lenoris got hurt.
[00:16:08] Being aggressive paid off after the LSU touchdown. You got the down the field pass, right? You got the team into field goal position, but then the aggressiveness turned into being greedy in my mind and that led to the sack and that led to Lenoris getting hurt.
[00:16:28] I know that Beamer leans on the aggressive side with these types of things, but in that moment after you got into basically field goal range, right on the edge of it, running something more conservative there, like a draw or just a run up the middle, get a couple more yards, get it in the middle of the field. Feels like the better move there than risking it and dropping back for the pass because really what do you have to gain?
[00:16:57] You have a young quarterback who took the sack, ended up getting hurt because of it, but regardless, took the sack and essentially knocked you out of field goal range.
[00:17:07] I didn't love the play calling once Ashford came in to play the rest of the game.
[00:17:12] I understand there's a gap compared to him and Lenoris, but you can't abandon everything. And if you really don't trust him to run the normal offense, like to a certain degree, right, like it's time to give someone else a look at QB two, then, like, if you don't have that faith in Robbie to come in and throw the ball and do some of these things, and you're just going to ask him to run every time. Like you need to, you need to look at someone else. And this is not to be a knock on Robbie. Like, do I think there's maybe a talent gap between him and Lenoris? Like, yes, that's why he's the backup.
[00:17:51] But he's thrust into that situation. Like made some mistakes for sure, but I think on the whole, in that situation with them limiting some of the things he was asked to do, like, I think he did a fine job on the defense. What I liked, especially early, I thought the password was great, that front seven was on fire to start the game. LSU for sure was getting away with holds. They were having a tough time stopping Carolina. I think it was technically just the two sacks, a few tackles for loss, but I felt that Nuss Meyer was hurried a lot. I think you saw that, especially on that two point conversion. And this, they were able to impact him, and that's what this defense has been able to do. This front seven, they've been able to impact them, if not get them on the ground.
[00:18:45] Edmund getting in there, Canard looked good. Boogie Huntley was in the mix, playing well. You had all these different guys playing well and just really causing chaos. And then he also had to like causing turnovers because despite the b's that came around them, you still did it. And so the defense, from a lot of different points of view, did what they were asked to do and really what they could. Of course, you end up giving up, what, 36 points?
[00:19:15] That's not okay. But they did a lot of good things that just unfortunately were negated or, you know, minimized because of penalties. And it's just a shame. It's just a shame, really. Now, what I didn't like in the defense, I felt that the move to the three three five like that should have been. We should have put the kibosh on that earlier.
[00:19:40] It was just getting gashed, and I think Clayton White seemed stubborn in it. Once he moved to it. It was probably to try and get ahead of LSU needing to throw a little bit more. They were, they were coming from behind, but it was just, it took away from that aggressive mentality. I kind of felt that overall. I mean, yes, it's different with Ashford being in, but they said it on the broadcast that it felt like South Carolina was maybe playing not to lose in that, in that third quarter or so. Right. And moving to the three three five, I, you know, we all liked that formation. We all felt that that was a turning point for this defense going back to last season, but I think LSU was able to expose it. So I would have liked to see it, you know, go back to the four down earlier than it was.
[00:20:33] I also just really didn't like what we saw from the, from the rush defense. It was just porous. Guys were able to gash us, especially at the end, just, you know, that was a little disappointing. But again, overall, for this game, there's just no way to say it other than it was brutal. It was a brutal one, you know, however, if we are going to find a spin zone from this game to make ourselves feel a little bit better, there were some of those circumstances that were out of our control that impacted the game. Right.
[00:21:05] Phantom calls, soft calls, disproportionate calls, whatever you want to say. So, like, there is some of that also, I think the takeaway from this is that we have a solid team. You know, this team was right on the edge of defeating a top 25 team and a good coached, talented team. This team manhandled Kentucky a couple weeks ago who just went toe to toe and I think lost by, what, one point to Georgia.
[00:21:35] And this game was not a sloppy slug fest that I think some people thought it was going to be. It was a high scoring game. So your gamecocks have now shown that they can score on these SEC well coached defenses now, two games in a row.
[00:21:55] Defensively, they were looking good. Like, yeah, there are some things to clean up for sure, but we have a solid team. I think you should feel good about our team. There's a few things that we need to work on, but overall, I think we're solid. And if we take a step back, when you look at the schedule, when we were talking about that at the start of the year, the goal was really to win one of these SEC games before the bye week, like in these first four games. Can you find a way to win one of those SEC games? And so you did that so you could consider that mission accomplished. Right now, the team is two and one heading into a much easier matchup this week.
[00:22:36] Things are still trending well. They're trending in a positive direction. I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but this was not the type of game that you're just like, you throw your hands up and you're like, what the heck? Like, who are we? Like, we just got crushed. Like, we're bad. All this jazz. Like, I don't think you can say a lot of that after this game. Like, there are things you can point to that you didn't like, maybe some situational play calling, you know, maybe change of philosophy here and there, but we were winning for 95% of this game.
[00:23:17] And so to surrender that, yeah, that means you're not one of those top teams quite yet. This defense can probably do that, but you were still winning for 95% of this game against the team that was ranked 16th at the time.
[00:23:34] So I think that should serve as a confidence booster, and you just have to hope that things will be cleared up this week. And then next week with the bye week, hopefully Lenoris can heal well.
[00:23:49] But, yeah, I mean, this one's going to sting for a while, you know, but that. That's life, and that's life in the SEC. And you know, for a team like South Carolina, these things are not given, as we very much have learned. They are earned, and they are earned incredibly, incredibly hard. They are difficult to earn. So let's all process this however we can and hope that the team grows from it. And at some point later in the year, let's hope that they make it up to us somewhere. 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.
