Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, the football team heads to lsu, updates about future schedules, and a tight end leaves the program. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:54] Okay.
[00:00:55] Welcome to episode three, 345 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And I missed y', all, man.
[00:01:10] Hope everyone's bye week was good. Felt funny, you know, sitting on a Sunday morning, early afternoon, normally when I'm like, all right, like, let's. Let's get some thoughts out here about South Carolina and things like that and not doing it. You know, it was certainly an eventful week around the college football world, My goodness. So it was a pretty good weekend to just be a spectator, but kind of gives you that itch to get out there. You know, you saw some upsets happen. You're like, let's make that happen, huh? Why not us? Makes you want to get at it. But, yeah, we're back now. Back now and ready for a big, big weekend ahead. I will, of course, dive into that in just a moment or two here, but for first, do a little bit of a week in review for y'. All. Really just have one score to recap for you. There will be a lot to go over from this weekend, but on Wednesday, swimming and diving was in action against Georgia with the women winning 157 to 141 and the men losing 218 to 76. So either way, to hell with Georgia. Way to give them hell, guys. And then women's soccer, they are actually taking on Texas in a big match up here while I am recording this. So as is customary, we are sending good vibes over the airwaves, and hopefully, when you're listening to this and looking back on social media, you see a Gamecock W.
[00:02:35] But shifting gears now to the football team, before I get into things, there are a couple of big pieces of news here that dropped this week. So never a dull moment around Gamecock football, as we know. Oh, too well. So some scheduling news here.
[00:02:51] So the home and home series against Miami has actually been canceled. So that was set to happen next year playing in Williams Bryce, I believe it was. And then the following year playing in Miami, if I'm correct there. But, yeah, that series has been canceled. And I think the writing was on the wall with this one. With the SEC moving to nine games and then requiring everyone play another power four team, but South Carolina already playing Clemson every year, there really is just not the incentive to play those out of conference games that you don't have to. It's just the facts. And I know everyone wants those big time matchups. It's fun. But when you're trying to stack wins and you're trying to build a resume and your winning percentage is always going to be a part of that, you have to take it a little easy where you can. I think Donati said if everyone was playing the same exact schedule and it's like the NFL, then yeah, we would do this. But the fact of the matter is it's not all created equal. And so unfortunately it is a byproduct. And I would expect future series like against Virginia Tech, NC State, UNC to unfortunately also go by the wayside. So stay tuned for more on that. But yeah, no more home and home series with Miami. And then also a bit of surprising news here. Tight end Michael Smith is no longer with the team. He announced he is going to maintain his red shirt and will enter the transfer portal at the end of the year. And we've seen it one or two times mid season when something like that happens at South Carolina, Shane Beamer says, okay, I hear you, but you're off the team. So he has been dismissed from the team.
[00:04:47] This is a tough one.
[00:04:48] You know, Mike Smith last year as a freshman was turning some heads, had a couple of big catches. I believe he had a touchdown or two even I think one was actually against Missouri in that crazy game. But nonetheless was a guy who I for one was surprised he wasn't featured more in this offense to this point in the year. I know he was battling injuries in the spring, but certainly someone who even with, with that I thought, okay, is going to fight here, going to develop here, and then can be a feature tight end for us moving forward in the future. But I think it was a playing time thing. It was a depth chart thing.
[00:05:29] Shane Beamer said he loves the kid. He, you know, wished this wasn't the case, you know, and he's usually not so direct with that type of language when it talks when it comes to stuff like this.
[00:05:40] But unfortunately that is the case. And so Mike Smith, see you later.
[00:05:45] Depending on where you go, I'll root for you, I suppose. But yeah, that's an interesting bit of news coming out of the bi week here. But what has the main attention of Gamecock football fans, of course, is this weekend's game coming off that bye week against lsu. So of course Gamecocks are taking on the Tigers in Baton Rouge. I don't know why I said it like that at 7:45 Eastern. Another, another late night game for the Gamecocks here. I mean I've, I've at least seen on social media. I'm not alone in this, so I don't feel like a total grandpa.
[00:06:25] This, that shit's late, man. And it's just funny, like 7:45 is like, has become the new noon kickoff. You're just like, ugh, like we have another one of these. It's like, I'll take seven, I'll take 7:30. But 7:45 kicking off probably about 8:00'. Clock. Freaking late, man.
[00:06:44] Nonetheless, I digress.
[00:06:47] This game has been circled by many of our fans for basically all the same reason. And I'm not going to touch on this after this one sentence here, but what happened last year has haunted South Carolina fans for a year.
[00:07:04] And when that game ended and the season ended the way it was, like one of the first things people said was we get another crack at it in their place to avenge that game.
[00:07:15] Different team on both sides, different circumstances all the way around. But that is the main reason why all of our fan base pretty much has been looking forward to this game. I don't think many folks thought we'd have the record that we would. The team is a different team. We have to keep that in mind.
[00:07:36] Different players at key positions. But nonetheless, that's the big storyline for the fans at least going into this one here. Carolina is currently sitting as a nine and a half point underdog.
[00:07:49] The latest injury report that I saw, again, this very well could be different by the time you're listening to this, but I have it as questionable defensive backs Miles Norwood and Judge Collier. Based on what I heard in the press conferences this week, I think Judge is going to be pretty good to go. I think it's just, you know, he's still working off that injury.
[00:08:10] I would expect him to be probable if not off of it by the time game time goes. Also questionable defensive tackle Troy Pikes. That is something to watch. And then doubtful.
[00:08:20] This is the same case as it was I think going into Kentucky. Case and Henry and Nolan Hay are doubtful. And then Marquis Anderson is out really quick.
[00:08:30] I've seen some people be like, oh, we're down three linemen against lsu, we're going to get cooked. And it's like again, I'm pretty sure them three, certainly Henry and Hay, right, were injured going into that Kentucky game and did not play. And Kentucky was my opinion, the best performance we saw, at least from a run blocking standpoint.
[00:08:54] So if anything, if you have that continuity from the same five or six if someone got rotated in from Kentucky.
[00:09:02] That's the key. And this bye week, maybe while these guys weren't able to get healthy, you're able to get reps for some of those other guys, depth pieces, you know, maybe like a Newsome or a Sharp, who are going to play more. Newsom actually could play a lot. But I digress. I just. I saw that a lot on social media and it was driving me nuts. Like it, you know, respectfully to these guys, like they've been battling injuries, you know, like, this wasn't a shock to see some of these guys on this list. To me, I don't know. Nonetheless, this game is the first in several games for the Gamecocks that are being highly publicized for its difficulty. Particularly these next five in a row. Everyone's saying, oh, right now they're all top 11. This, that and whatever.
[00:09:50] As far as I'm concerned, this is nothing new for the Gamecocks. Right? It's a tough schedule. And every single year, and it feels like every year there's a stretch of three or four games at some point that when you're staring at it before you play them, you're like, holy crap, how the hell are we gonna get out of this one? But it seems to, you know, always come to pass, and one way or another, we're gonna get through it. And really, in my opinion, it's the next four games, it's lsu, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss, and then it's the bye week. So can you get through these four?
[00:10:28] Can you find a win or two in there, really? But right now, sitting at three and two with that four game stretch, it's really. Each game is an opportunity. And that's what's. And that's what Shane Beamer said this week. You know, he's like, if you are shying away from this, you're in the wrong school, you're at the wrong conference.
[00:10:50] And aside from that, like, this is a big opportunity for South Carolina.
[00:10:56] We've said it a thousand times through these first, what, five games now? Okay, you're just now entering the halfway point, so you've seen a little bit under half.
[00:11:07] This team has not quite put it together yet for all four quarters.
[00:11:12] And so to me, when I. When I say that, at least now sitting at this point in the season, I say, well, there's still so much left on the table for this team.
[00:11:22] There is still so much potential that you work on this stuff in the bye week. And even if things improve marginally this week and the week after and the week after that can make a big difference. You know, if we go into this game and you have three less penalties than you have throughout, you know, on average this year, you know, I think last year in this game, Beamer said this in the press conference, I think it was 14 penalties. We'll say two or three were very questionable, two were not penalties.
[00:11:59] So if you can be under 10, okay, that's a great improvement. If you can improve your yards per carry by one and a half or two, that's a big difference. That can pay dividends, you know, and then if you can do those little things right, and that's what you worked on in the bye week, that can make those big differences. And that's what I really hope to see here. And then there also is the opportunity for a Shane Beamer led team, which he has after the bye week in the past, to come out and really doubling down on the things that we've done well and, and mitigating some of these defects.
[00:12:39] And I'm going to get into some of it in my crows to the game. But you can look back at some of the games. It's not 100% right.
[00:12:46] But after the bye week, Shane's teams have tended to do well and they've done little things differently where it's like, okay, well, what if we just played a little bit faster a la that Tennessee game a couple years ago, right. So hopefully the coaching staff was able to get together and say, like, all right, the pro. The approach that we've had through these five games has only taken us so far.
[00:13:13] We need to think outside the box a little bit here and whether that's we're going to do a little bit more, you know, RPOs, we're going to move the pocket around a little bit. Maybe defensively you're going to do some more stunts and twists more than you have, things like that.
[00:13:29] And I really do think that marginally improving over the bye week can make a big difference in this game, but also moving forward, assuming you continue to do that week after week.
[00:13:41] But what are the Gamecocks looking at in the LSU Tigers here? So the Tigers are currently ranked 11th in the country, sitting at 4 and 1 overall and 1 and 1 in the SEC.
[00:13:54] They opened the season against Clemson and got that win. They beat Florida, lost to Ole Miss recently. And it's kind of funny because in a weird way, their season is mirroring South Carolina's where they're being led by a good Defense, they have a very good defense. Their offense has underperformed. They have a quarterback who at the start of the year was in talks for potential top pick in the draft, potential Heisman, and he hasn't played as well as he had last year. And so it's kind of funny with that mirror image, but it really is a tale of two units at LSU. You know, Nuss Meyer, probably not playing 100%, it seems like, but they always have great skill, position players that can make you pay. And just to highlight this disparity here, LSU's scoring offense ranks 81st in the country. Their defense ranks 6th. LSU's rushing offense efficiency is 103rd in the country. Their Russia defense is 23rd.
[00:15:00] Good news for South Carolina is those offensive numbers are not too dissimilar from South Carolina's. So, hey, matching them offensively at least. But what are my crows to the game here? So for the whole team, my Crow is play with your hair on fire. You know? You know, like, this team needs to bring the intensity for four quarters. And, you know, a lot of times throughout the course of this podcast, when it's a big game or especially a big game on the road, I'll say something like, stay calm in the moment. You know, like, don't let the moment get too big or whatever it may be. Like, let. Let the game come to you.
[00:15:38] You know what? Like, this is a big enough moment and a big enough game in an environment where you safely, safely and smartly, intelligently need to kind of throw caution to the wind. You're going to LSU. They're ranked 11th in the country. We're sitting at a 3 and 2 winning record. But still, maybe not where you want to be. Not maybe not where you want to be. Just say, fuck it. Excuse my French, but, like, just play with your hair on fire. You got nothing to lose.
[00:16:12] Just send it defensively. My first Crow, find out if NUSS Meyer is 100% or not. Okay, playing within the rules here. Of course, get to him early, knock him on the ground and see if you can affect him mentally, but more so physically if he has an ailing oblique, which it seems like he might be.
[00:16:35] Let's find out. Let's find out. Get him on the ground in the first couple of series and see if he can get up and throw again.
[00:16:43] My second Crow, win the turnover battle. You heard those stats that I just said. LSU has an offense that has just struggled to this point in the year. Now, the caveat here is they also are coming off a buy, which I hate.
[00:16:59] So they might have some different wrinkles too, but I don't know if they're going to drastically improve. Just like I said, the Gamecocks, you're talking about marginally improving, right? So if those struggles continue, we have to be ready to capitalize on the mistakes.
[00:17:14] Plus, with the way South Carolina, South Carolina's offense has been, you need to win the turnover battle to have a chance.
[00:17:23] Third Crow get off the field on third down.
[00:17:27] The Gamecocks are currently 118th in third down defense. I don't normally dive into rankings and stats quite this deep on this, on this show. You all know this, but when I saw that, I had to make note of it. And I've said this before, but if you're wanting to win on the road, this has to be better on offense. My first crow to the game here. Mix up the tempo. Okay, so like when we get any sort of big play, I would love to see us go fast and try to capitalize on, on the defense still getting set. Like even if it's just a good gain that doesn't necessarily move the sticks. If we play faster than we have been, I think it would be a really good way to cover up some of the gaps that we've seen to the to this point in the season. Offensively, my second Crow win first down.
[00:18:23] The offense has to find a way to be better on first down because first far too often, and I've said this before, the Gamecocks have been in second and third and long and it's killed us.
[00:18:34] This doesn't mean run it better and run block on first down.
[00:18:40] It means think creatively and think of something else to do on first down.
[00:18:46] Wide receiver, screens, quick slants, RPOs, you know, quarterback sneak, all these you can do differently than a run between the tackles.
[00:18:59] Third Crow have very few if any pre snap penalties.
[00:19:05] It's going to be difficult LSU at night, we all know, but those have been drive killers for us and it needs to be a point of emphasis.
[00:19:16] My fourth Crow, Lenoris, needs to put on his Superman cape.
[00:19:22] There's just no way about it.
[00:19:24] He needs to be Superman. He needs to make plays throwing the ball, he needs to make plays keeping drives alive with his feet. He needs to be an X factor and if he can do that, you know he can keep you in a game.
[00:19:38] And so if he gives you that opportunity to make it a fourth quarter game, you have to capitalize on it. But overall for the game, again, it's just an opportunity for South Carolina to really right the ship here. And the more this week has gone on, I don't know if it's just me being silly missing football from the bye week or what. I have felt a little bit better and better about it. And when you look at these next four games, if you want to play that game, with the exception of this game being at LSU at night, this might be the best chance you got to make a big upset win.
[00:20:12] It's going to be difficult, but this could be a game that's just grinding low scoring, and if you can make those couple of big plays, it could be all the difference. Even getting a big stop in the early second quarter can make a big difference. We have a great opportunity ahead of us Saturday night. Let's freaking go. All right, let me give you all my six pack of picks and then I will get y' all out of here. ACC I'm going NC State plus 22 and a half versus Notre Dame BYU minus two and a half versus Arizona in the Big 12, Big 10 Michigan plus two and a half versus Southern Cal in the SEC. I got two here, Tennessee minus 11 and a half versus Arkansas and then Florida versus A and M. I'm going over 47 and a half and then group of five give me Ulm versus Coastal over 45 and a half.
[00:21:11] 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.
