Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, South Carolina's playoff picture, a preview for the biggest Palmetto bowl in modern history and Thanksgiving hoops coverage. Okay, here we.
[00:00:55] Okay. Welcome to episode 278 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And first and foremost, happy Thanksgiving, Gamecock Nation. Hope y'all had a lovely holiday out there. Nice holiday. You don't have to be with a big group if you were the more the merrier. But if not, you kept it low key. It's a day to just feast, relax, eating, drinking, napping, watching football, hanging out with friends, family, who cares? Just a day to lounge around, maybe do some online shopping that next day, whatever it may be. But hope you all had a lovely time here. A little bit of a unique situation here with recording the pod. Because of the holiday. I am on the road. I feel like college game day, late kick, Josh, just on a much, much, much smaller scale here. If the acoustics sound a little funny or maybe you hear some folks jostling in the background, cooking and banging pots and pans, that's, you know, tis the season, I guess. Whatever there. So got a fun episode for y'all here. Primarily focused on football because of the holiday and things like that. The coverage for hoops is a little different, but nonetheless I will jump right into things here and then we'll talk a lot about football rankings preview. All that jazz here, but some quick notes about men's basketball here. You'll remember they were at the Fort Myers tip off earlier in the week they played Xavier. Hard fought game, came up just short, 75 to 66. Seemed like the defense maybe stepped up a little bit, but a couple of silly turnovers, couple of mental errors. Still just not quite as sharp as we saw last year. But starting to think that although it is early in the year, we have to start looking at this team differently. It has its own identity. They will gel together. It's been a tough early season schedule for these guys, so I got to hope that they can get this thing going sooner than later. And then I also have to hope that some of these early season tests will pay off down the line. But as a result of the first games, the men will be playing Virginia Tech Tech Wednesday night. So actually getting ready to tip off as I am recording night before Thanksgiving. If you go out or if you're hanging out drinking, that's your thing a lot of people do that night before Thanksgiving, go watch Some Gamecock hoops. That's probably what I'm going to be doing. Then on the women's side of things here, women had a little bit of a break in the early part of the week. They have a Thanksgiving showdown playing on Thanksgiving. Who needs the NFL when you have Gamecock women's basketball, am I right? But they are taking on the 15th ranked Iowa State Cyclones as the ladies look, get, look to get back on track after, of course, suffering their first loss of the year and their first loss in over a year to UCLA last weekend. So this game as we're talking about it now, and when y'all are listening to this, it'll be a reflection of that. But as I sit here before they play, it's a question and a matter of how does this team respond? How does Don rally the troops? How do some of these veterans on the team, you know, looking at a Raven, Chloe Tahina, you know, how do they rally and how do they respond to a loss? Because it's a lot of their first experience, you know, and it's just you have to be able to bounce back from that and get this thing rolling. Because even when we saw some past losses from the recent teams, they were maybe in the SEC tournament or maybe really late in the year or, you know, in the Elite Eight or Final Four, whatever that may be. So you have an early regular season loss, you have a veteran team, but you are still trying to find your own identity in your own right and figure out your own style of play. And across women's college basketball, there are some good teams and there were some coaching shuffling, and you're always going to get everyone's best shot, regardless of the record. At least right now, South Carolina is going to get the best shot of the opponent. So I'm really anxious to see how the ladies bounce back. Hopefully, as you all listening to this, you're like, yeah, Tim, of course they came out here and rolled in. I hope that that's the case too. But Thanksgiving, NFL football and Gamecock women's basketball, that is a lot of fun there. So that concludes the hoops portion of the show here, which brings us to the talk of the town, the talk of Gamecock nation. And that's Gamecock football. I was on the edge of my seat Tuesday night as I think every Gamecock fan was waiting the College Football Playoff show. And it ended with our Gamecocks being a top 15 team, which just feels so incredible to say. I mean, what's it been, 10, 11 years since we can say that 11 years, right. Maybe more. And to just see the progression of this team and to just have this collective excitement and this waiting on this and to see us jump up in the rankings and be recognized for how well the team is doing is fantastic. So you have the Gamecock sitting at 15. The chaos that ensued across the SEC in college football last weekend shook out. You have Ole Miss in Alabama right above us. Clemson is sitting at 12. We'll get, we'll get to there in a minute here. But you're sitting at 15 and you are, yes, a three loss SEC team, but you are on a five game win streak. You're one of the hottest teams in the country, if not the hottest team right now. And I put it out there on social media that I don't know if it's just my feed because of the algorithms and whatnot or if it's really real. And I think it is real. But more and more people nationally are talking about the Gamecocks and you have people who are recognizing what is going on in Colombia.
[00:07:34] And all of that is advantageous for us because the fact of the matter is sitting at 15 at 8 and 3 on a win streak with legitimate wins. Like this is not an Indiana or whatever. You have wins against Texas A and M, Missouri, Vandy. Right. All these, all these teams were ranked in the AP at the time. Some of them were ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings. That win against Oklahoma looks hell of a good right now.
[00:08:06] I could go on and say, you know, while the win against Kentucky is maybe not impressive as we thought it would be earlier in the year, they're having a tough year, but that's on the road and that still is a Kentucky team that beat Ole Miss. Ole Miss is a team that the committee still thinks is a top 15 team. You went up to Lexington and kicked their ass.
[00:08:27] All of this is to say that the Gamecocks are on the radar and that what once was a narrow path to the playoff is now that much wider.
[00:08:40] And yes, there's going to need some convincing and you might need a little bit of help, but the Gamecocks have a legitimate chance to make the first College Football Playoff as an at large bid. It's real. I'm not saying that it's a foregone conclusion and I'm going to get into the game here in a minute. Even with a win, you might need some help. You probably do need some help. Right? But we are in the conversation and as like it's just trying to think of like the phrasing here, like it's not a loser mentality to just say that. That is incredible.
[00:09:23] It's not a loser mentality to sit here and say, in August, Las Vegas had our win total at five and a half. We had our own fans and our own beat writers wondering, will this team make a bowl game? And here we are as the 15th ranked team in the entire country where national pundits are saying that South Carolina deserves a fair chance at the playoff and even more people are saying if the Gamecocks make it in, this is a dangerous team. A team that is playing their best ball at the end of the year. A team that is led by defense, a fantastic running back and a dynamic quarterback who is developing incredibly well right before our very eyes.
[00:10:11] It is just such a special, special time. And Shane Beamer talked about that the Palmetto bowl with playoff stakes for both teams and top 25 matchups for both teams, is going to happen more regularly and that us fans better get used to us. And I say hell yeah to that because I think that we are on the right track and I think that this game will regularly have massive implications for playoff hopes. I mean, we saw it in 22 where the Gamecocks were the plucky underdog that dashed the playoff hopes of Clemson. But now when you have the expanded playoff, I certainly think a team like South Carolina, which needs, needs to continue to recruit well, needs to continue to retain key talent, keep those good coaches in house. I definitely think that when you talk about a 12 or maybe even an expanded to a 14 or 16, South Carolina can be in that conversation regularly. And anytime you are, it's going to come down a lot of times to your rivalry game at the end of the year. So it's just a fantastic moment for us fans, for anyone who was just a die hard and anyone who has been through the ups and downs of Gamecock football, of the Shane Beamer era, of the 2024 season where you barely beat Old Dominion and you thought that we're in it for a long season yet again, to be sitting here at 8 and 3, ranked 15th in the country is just incredible.
[00:11:52] But none of it matters. Well, no, I'll disagree with that. I'll disagree with that. I just, I'm going to contradict myself here.
[00:11:58] None of it matters, right? Like the playoff talk and the hypotheticals and wanting the pundits to talk about us, it all boils down to doing one thing, and that's winning this Saturday in the biggest Palmetto bowl in modern history.
[00:12:18] Again, you have 15th ranked South Carolina taking on the 12th ranked Clemson Tigers up in the Upstate I freaking hate this team.
[00:12:28] Every time I think I've seen it all with just the cringe behavior and the bad sound bites, I see something else and I'm just like these people.
[00:12:40] It's just a weird fan base and they think they are just the greatest thing since sliced bread. They can do no wrong. It's just not the case. It's just not the case. And this year you have a fantastic matchup against a good South Carolina team that is looking to stay as hot as ever.
[00:13:03] And yes, like I said a second ago, if we're talking playoffs you might need a little bit of help. You know, South Carolina fans want to have their eyes on maybe the Syracuse game, the Iron Bowl, Vandy Tennessee. These are some games that if there are some upsets it might behoove the Gamecocks greatly the Egg Bowl.
[00:13:26] But again it doesn't matter unless the result is there Saturday. So you have to just win in this one. Clemson is a team that as we look at them and say okay, what are the Gamecocks getting? You know they had high expectations going into the year. Obviously they had the slow start and got beat up week one against Georgia. They seem to find their footing, you know, in, you know, early mid part of the season and you know they have found themselves with a good record and are sitting at the 12th ranked team. But you know when you look at it at they sit as not nine and two from the, from the way I stand, it seems that anytime they've played a team with a pulse, they've struggled.
[00:14:13] Georgia, Louisville, right, they've struggled against some teams. They struggled against Pitt who's been on a downslide. They struggled a little bit against Virginia Tech who's having a down year. They struggled in the first half if I'm not mistaken, against Virginia.
[00:14:30] The Gamecocks are definitely more battle tested going into this one. And again, if you want to have any of those hopes of being included in the big dance, it starts with just winning. Just win baby. Let the chips fall where they may. But you handle your business and leave no doubt and make the committee have the hard conversations.
[00:14:55] So let me give you all my crows to the game here. Last crow to the game for the regular season. It's really sad.
[00:15:01] It is nice knowing that kind of no matter what there is at least one more game after this and it should be a good one regardless if it's playoff or bowl game. But nonetheless here for the Palmetto bowl for the whole team. It's bring that road dog mentality.
[00:15:19] Lost in all the shuffle about how South Carolina has performed against ranked teams and things like that, you kind of forget that South Carolina has performed well on the road this year. Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, the aforementioned Kentucky.
[00:15:35] So whatever the formula was to get this team ready to go and play in hostile environments, you got to get ready for this one. The game is at noon, which I think benefits the road team as much as it can. You just wake up and you go, I don't know if you can expect a sleepy crowd in this one because of the stakes. Clemson is of course trying to get to the playoff in their own right, but then they might need some help for the ACC Championship. They also are sitting there saying, just win.
[00:16:04] So be able to bring that road dog mentality, block out a lot of the noise and just focus on you.
[00:16:11] Now on the offensive side of the ball, my first crow to the game here is continue the downfield passing attack. We've seen that more in the last couple of games. The last two games. Thinking of a guy like Dale Von Campbell, Nick harbor, that has been incorporated more and more into this game. Jared Brown, I believe, should be healthy in this one, which helps that if you do that, it keeps the Clemson defense honest. They're of course going to have eyes on Lenorris to scramble, and they're of course going to have eyes on Rocket.
[00:16:45] You're going to continue to play through those guys, right? But if you can keep them honest and force them to not load the box by having that over the top thread of a Harbor or a Campbell or a Brown, it can only help things, especially later on in the game here. My second quote of the game on offense here, it's distribute the rock. Okay? I've talked a lot about almost the opposite of just playing the hits, and I think you do need to play the hits. Josh Simon's status seems to be a little bit of a mystery. I think he's going to play. We have to hope and manifest that he's going to play. And so of course you want to feed your playmakers, Josh Simon, Rocket, et cetera, et cetera. But Lenoris is coming off a game, a couple of games actually, where he's distributed to different guys. You know, you look at the Mizzou game, you had Campbell get more involved. Hunt got that big catch last week. You saw it against a lot of different guys. So if you're able to do that and get these other guys involved more again, it's going to keep the defense Honest. And I'm not saying you have to force it to some of these guys, right? Of course, like, take what's there, get the ball into your playmaker's hands. That's how you're going to move the chains. But if you can incorporate a guy like maybe Gage Larva, Dane a little bit more, you know, continue to feed Campbell, he's not a top target when you look at the whole year. So just keeping those guys involved here on the defensive side of the ball. My first quote of the game is make Club Nick one dimensional. He's a guy that does have wheels. He can run. He put that on display and basically saved the game for them. Against Pitt, South Carolina has faced running quarterbacks like a Milroe, like a Pavia, and they have been able to largely contain them, especially when we talk about Pavia.
[00:18:39] We've talked about this in the past where the Gamecocks practice against fantastic running quarterbacks in Robbie Ashford and Lenora Sellers. So if you can take away the running lanes for Kate Klubnick and force him to throw the ball, making him one dimensional should help us a lot. Anytime you can make someone one dimensional in football and take away that additional weapon, it helps you.
[00:19:04] And then my second quote of the game here is, don't let Mafa beat you. Phil Mafa, the running back at Clemson, he's having another fantastic year. Seems to be the guy that they just love to feed. You know, I think you want to be able to keep him from having that big backbreaker of a play. You know, try and do your best to limit him on the ground. Again, talking about trying to make the offense as one dimensional as you can, get them into obvious passing situations where that really plays into the strength of our defense.
[00:19:40] Our defense is coming off a very fine showing, minus a kind of a sleepy start. But you had different guys getting in on the action, getting those tackles for losses. We need to see that depth on display in that front seven in this game.
[00:19:57] So overall, for the game, I mean, it just. It again, it doesn't get any bigger than this, right? It just absolutely does not. The stakes could not be higher. South Carolina is looking to keep the magic going. And if you remember correctly, the last time South Carolina went up to the upstate, it was a thriller for the ages and things went the Gamecocks way. But my goodness, I mean, you couldn't ask for anything more, right? I mean, you really couldn't. Maybe with the exception of this game being at home, but you got to be able to put away the Noise. This whole team does.
[00:20:33] They've been able to rally around each other. This team has been able to step up in moments where past Gamecock teams might not have been able to. They've been able to keep the momentum going. You did everything you were supposed to do last week. The vibes should be good. I believe the only person right now that they said is going to be out is Vandravius Jacobs. Everybody else I think is questionable to probable. Again, you don't have that official report because it's not an SEC game, but you have to just go up there and just play our game, you know. The Gamecocks have been a hard team to beat, as evident by the five game win streak. It's a solid defense. We need to be able to continue hot starts on both sides of the ball.
[00:21:19] Lenorris has been getting better and better. Rocket has been getting better and better. You got to hope that a guy like Josh Simon is healthy.
[00:21:28] We're a good team. Tough team to beat. This should be a heavyweight match. Don't get discouraged. If it's a slow start, if it is a fast start, these, this team has to be able to lock in and hold that because that has been a struggle for them in the past.
[00:21:43] You got to believe that Clayton White is going to be able to make some adjustments at the half like he likes to do if things are a little tricky. I love our defensive backfield. They are fast, big, physical, violent.
[00:21:55] I love our front seven. Kyle Kennard has two sacks to go to break the sack record. He's going to be locked in. Dylan Stewart is coming off a fine game against Wofford. He should be locked in. Boogie Huntley, same deal. It's time.
[00:22:08] Go up there. It's a heavyweight fight. Give it our all and let the chips fall where they may. Let's absolutely go, but. All right, y'all, let me give y'all my six pack of picks and then I will get y'all out of here. Rivalry week can't. That's always a tongue twister for me. It's a holiday. I'm doing a holiday. Five pack, call it lazy. I'm sorry, but nonetheless in the ACC, Louisville -4 and then give me Syracuse +11. A lot of these are kind of, you know, hoping we get a little lucky there. Big 12, give me Colorado minus 16 and a half. Big 10, Nebraska plus four and a half and then SEC, give me Vandy. And Tennessee over 48 and a half. If you want that six pack, gimme Vandy. I think it's plus 10 and a half on that one as well. 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.
