Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, it's senior day for the football team. Women's basketball beats up Clemson, and men's basketball looks for a bounce back win. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay. Welcome to episode 276 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001 and hope y'all had a fantastic week there, hope y'all are recovered from what we all went through last Saturday. Whether resting your voice, resting your body, your liver, your heart, your nerves, blood pressure, whatever. I. It was a lot. I was joking around with some friends. I was like, I feel like I. Like my soul is just drained. Like, you're so happy, right? But just, like, gave it all in that game. Left it all in the bleachers on Williams Bryce Stadium. You know, I'm an athlete no different than Debo Williams. Left it all on the field. One and O mentality. Just gave it all from the tailgate lot to the spirals to the bleachers. Absolutely left it all out there on the field here. But, yeah, I hope you all had a great week and are gearing up for another good weekend here. With Thanksgiving right around the corner here, I had a really, really cool opportunity that fell into my lap. I was asked to go and cover an event that Kyle Kennard was actually putting on in the spirit of Thanksgiving. It was a Thanksgiving turkey and other food giveaway that he did with a local branch of the Boys and Girls Club, so was out at a elementary school in Blythewood and watched Kyle and his family show up and hand out dozens of turkeys and again, other food to help those in need. So really, really cool. Got the pleasure of actually speaking with Kyle briefly. Super nice guy. Can confirm that he is massive and built like a DN that you would expect to be. But he said that giving back is something that he's always enjoyed, but especially with the Gamecock community. They have really embraced him and treated him so well on and off the field that he felt that he had to do something to give back to the community. So it was really cool to see that. I put a summary reel on my Instagram if you want to see what it looked like and see that answer as well. And then also Sterling Lucas showed up. So I fanboyed a little bit there, asked him, like, is this something that comes up organically getting involved in the community or something that you talk about? He said, it's a little bit of both. Where when you have influences like demo, like Derek Moore in the building. It sort of builds that where you say, hey, like, we're all about being good men here, good people, not just football players, but we want to be involved in the community. That it sort of breeds doing some events like this. And, you know, asked him some important questions, like what's his staple on Thanksgiving, Something that you have to have on the table. His answer was Mac and cheese. I do agree with that, but nonetheless, really cool event. Check it on my Instagram. I also might have a article up coming up soon on the college huddle about that as well. But enough about me, enough about that. Let's talk about Gamecock sports here. Only a couple things to review this week and then I'll jump into football. Women's basketball.
[00:04:20] Kind of feel like it flew under the radar a little bit, but it was a rivalry matchup here as the ladies went up to the Upstate and played Clemson and they ended up winning in dominant fashion to the score of 77 to 45.
[00:04:37] You wouldn't believe it by the score, but this game was not always that way as Clemson actually led by one point after the first quarter. Kind of sat there and we're like, all right, that's kind of a slow start. And it's something that they talked about on the broadcast where this team, in this very young season has gotten off to a few slow starts. I think teams are able to defend the Gamecocks a little differently. And if the shots don't start falling in that first quarter, it can kind of change the momentum a little bit. But everyone settled down and they got on a very big run to end that half and then never looked back there. Some player highlights for y'all here. Tahina Powpow, she led the way with 13 points. Ashlyn Watkins, double double with 10 and 11 off the bench. And then also off the bench was Joyce Edwards with eight points and six boards. So a very nice showing all around there. The ladies next game is out west. Sunday afternoon. They are playing against ucla. So that'll be a fun matchup there.
[00:05:43] And then sticking on the hardwood here, the men, they're actually getting ready to tip off as I record here. So sort of a opposite here where normally I feel like that happens for the ladies, but going to be sending good vibes to the men as they take on Mercer. Looking for a bounce back, win, get that winning feeling back and get the momentum back on their side. Then the game. The guys, excuse me, they have a big game on Monday, which I will preview next episode against Xavier. So in this very early part of the season here, South Carolina getting tested against some good basketball teams, Indiana, then Xavier. So you kind of look at it as, all right, this team is still finding its way a little bit. It has the pieces to be a solid team. I just think they need to find their footing and gel a little bit. But maybe we're looking at something where, hey, like, we get through this month of basketball, and this team is already pretty battle tested. So that way, when we get into conference play and we're talking about potential postseason, maybe you have a better resume and you can say, hey, like, we played some good teams here and it helped us down the stretch, so we'll see how that goes. But again, I will preview all that next episode. But now moving to the rest of the episode here and looking on the gridiron, talking about football team here, talking about a few things here. There's a few things I wanted to touch on here. First off, I wanted to touch on the rankings. South Carolina moved up to 18 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, which I felt like is decently fair. I think it's interesting that the committee kept Mizzou at 23, so maybe I would have thought that the Gamecocks could have moved up maybe 17 or 16, something like that. But nonetheless, here, a very respectable ranking there. And I think it just speaks to how well the Gamecocks are playing right now. And it really does put us in a tail, tantalizingly close position where it's something that nobody thought we would be talking about at really any point before the Oklahoma game, you know, but to be talking about what needs to break South Carolina's way, what type of chaos do we need to see to potentially talk about being right there on the bubble? And it's crazy to think about. And I don't think that there's South Carolina fans who are seriously sitting there on the edge of their seat saying, like, okay, like, we are going to make the playoff and I'm going to be upset if we don't. I think it's this thing where most South Carolina fans are like, wow, this is fun that we could even have this conversation. But we're looking at a really good year where expectations were pretty low going into this thing, and look at us now.
[00:08:43] And so nonetheless, there's going to be a lot that changes between now and the final rankings. I might give my thoughts on what I think the committee is up to. Pros, cons. I've. I feel like I'm slowly being radicalized Here about what? I don't know. But I've been reading extra and listening to extra content just about the rankings and things like that. I just, I think the committee is just looking at a lot of these things backwards here, but nonetheless, it's all. It all doesn't really matter until we have the conference championships, right? So, like, these conversations are fun and it's why I love college football so much. But it doesn't really matter because we don't know who the auto bids are yet. Once we have that settled, then really the debate heats up. But there's a few games that South Carolina should keep an eye on. A and M, Ole Miss, a couple of these two loss, SEC teams if they catch a third loss, and then maybe you look at some of the Big 12 matchups, if that breaks our way, maybe a team like Arizona State wins. I don't know, man. I don't know. Could you imagine, could you imagine South Carolina being 17th or 16th in the country going into the Palmetto Bowl? My God, be crazy. Be absolutely crazy. But nonetheless, here. I'm going to get into the Wofford matchup in a minute here. But now that we do have a break from SEC action, it does feel like we can catch our breath a little bit here. And I think it's important to take a look and just see what all this team has done this year. You know, I mean, football season, it goes so fast. I feel like Ferris Bueller here. Right? So you got to look around once in a while.
[00:10:28] We look forward to this time of year. It's really three months. It goes by in the blink of an eye. So wanted to just call out a couple of things that I for one am very proud of for this football team here. Sitting at five and three in the SEC. That is the best record since 2017 in conference play in seven years.
[00:10:49] That's the best record that we have had. It's been a very long time since we can say a winning record in the sec. And a good one at that. Fact.
[00:10:58] Last episode I mentioned it. But again, this is the first time ever in program history to have beaten three AP ranked opponents in a row.
[00:11:11] This is also the first time that South Carolina will have the Mayor's cup and the Bonham Trophy. Bonham Trophy, of course, the most coveted trophy in all the sports.
[00:11:22] We play Texas A and M and get that trophy. It's the first time that we hold both of those in Columbia, South Carolina at the same time.
[00:11:30] South Carolina also won three games on the road this year, which was Sort of a roadblock for Shane Beamer. Up until this year, he only had two road game victories in the previous three seasons.
[00:11:46] And through 48 games, Shane Beamer sits just one win behind where Steve Spurrier was at that mark through his Carolina tenure.
[00:11:55] And if I'm not mistaken, when we look at 50 games. So when we get through these next two, I think, and don't quote me on this one here, but I think if Beamer wins both, he will actually have surpassed Spurrier through that part in his tenure at South Carolina.
[00:12:18] So all of this to say is take a second and enjoy what this season has turned into and still what it can be.
[00:12:31] And, you know, through Shane Beamer's tenure, there have been moments. And, you know, I started this podcast when he took the job. I figured it was a new chapter in South Carolina program, football program. I'm going to do a new chapter in my own, if you will. So I've been following these games and talking about these games at length since then, right? I mean, of course, I was following the team before then, but y'all know what I mean here. But there have been a few moments that I've called out that are like, okay, this is momentum for the program here. You know, like getting to the bowl game in year one, beating UNC in that bowl game, that felt like, all right, that's big for the program. Like, all kidding aside, right?
[00:13:18] And then when we looked in 2022, the Tennessee and Clemson games, right? Like, just bursting onto the stage at the end of the year, beating your rival, ending that streak, like all those things, you're like, wow. Like, that shows that there's some progress being made here. But those are just like a couple of moments. Those are individual games. So for this season to have consistent results and a lot of them on big stages, you know, there's been good games of ours that we have won that have been on the national stage, thanks in part largely to the new TV deals with the sec. But. And then even ones where maybe you came up just short, like lsu, like, those are still national stages where you're showcasing the program and the passion of our fans, right?
[00:14:12] But you're still getting results this year, consistently.
[00:14:18] That's the type of season that can propel you forward as a program. It doesn't just attract recruits, it attracts donors, it attracts portal. It attracts the athletic department, attracts the sec. It attracts everything. And then it also is the type of thing where you can say, well, now we can keep some really good talent in house on the coaching staff. Or if we do make a change now, we really have the pick of the litter here.
[00:14:49] You can really tell people like, yeah, we are on the right track at South Carolina here. It wasn't just two games in an otherwise average year. You know, it wasn't an awesome bowl game. Right. That proves that we can coach well.
[00:15:06] It shows that what we're building here, what Shane Beamer is building here, is on the right track. He's recruiting well. He has the right people in and around the building and I think he has good support from the university and from folks like the Garnet Trust and hopefully that only continues to build. So it's a very, very special time. Just take a second and enjoy it because last year we certainly didn't get this. It was a lot of fun last year, but it was a tough one for a lot of it. And then going into this year, you know, there weren't a ton of people thinking that South Carolina was going to be 18th ranked in the country at the end of November.
[00:15:46] So enjoy it. It's a lot of fun.
[00:15:49] But anyway, onto this weekend here, onto the task at hand here. South Carolina taking on Wofford for the last home game of the year. See, that's what I'm talking about. It's sad.
[00:15:59] 4pm kickoff, but senior Day is starting before then. If you're listening to this and have plans to go into the game, Shane Beamer has really, really called for folks to be in their seats for that ceremony. I believe it starts right around 3:30.
[00:16:16] And with that I just want to give a shout out to the seniors here. I don't have a list of everyone who's going to be walking in that ceremony. I think it's 36 players between like senior year, fifth year and then the sixth year because of the COVID year. But it's 36 people. I don't know if all of them are going to be partaking in that because some have eligibility remaining. Sometimes you even will get a junior who tells Beamer like, hey, I'm going to make that jump to the NFL and you can see them walk. But I don't know who's going to be all involved in this. So I wish I had a list. But this senior class is special. This was the class of seniors.
[00:17:04] They were young freshmen or sophomores, whatever it was that they were there. When Beamer took the job, they took a leap of faith in either holding their commitments with him or committing to him or not transferring.
[00:17:19] There's guys who developed really well and stuck around after Last year after a tough year where they could have gone elsewhere. I remember an episode in last offseason where I was talking about rumors of you had three, four, five key guys who were rumored to be leaving, but they stuck around, right? A guy like Tonka Hemingway, od Fortune.
[00:17:42] And you talk about leaders who came into the program, maybe with not a ton of expectations, but really grew into amazing players. A guy like Debo Williams, someone like Kai Kroger, who, it's crazy. He's just been a staple of the program since he came on. He was a true freshman punter.
[00:18:05] He's grown into a fantastic special teams asset for us. Think of all the fun that he's given us, the passes and things like that.
[00:18:14] You know, you got guys like Rocket who were only here for a year but made a big impact.
[00:18:24] You know, I remember when Boogie Huntley signed to South Carolina being excited about his potential, you know, so it's big, big class that has done a lot. I feel like I did nowhere near justice of calling out some of these guys, but take a minute, send your thanks to them in whatever, which way you can and if you are able to attend the game, get there early, support them. But this has been a fantastic group of seniors and I say that every year because it's true. But this group in particular, I think is special because of when you look at the success that the team is having this year.
[00:19:04] I think there are guys who have been in the program for a few years who decided to stay.
[00:19:11] Guy like TJ Sanders again, Tonka, Boogie, Debo, od Fortune, guys who have been staples and, you know, I think have attributed to a lot of the success that the team has seen here. But nonetheless, back to the game here. Watford is currently 5 and 6. This is actually their last game of the season. They will surely be letting it all hang out, trying to catch one, trying to catch lightning in the bottle there. They have gone away from their option offense that we're kind of known for. But Shane Beamer and the players have really commended how hard they play and are at least saying the right things as far as taking it seriously. But the truth is, you know, you have to take it seriously.
[00:20:01] All those great accolades and benchmarks that I talked about a few minutes ago, they would have a huge black eye on them. The Jay Leno black eye, if you have a trip up in the worst possible time.
[00:20:15] But I will say South Carolina has seemed to be able to continue to play with confidence and intensity and hopefully that isn't an issue come game time. Because this really is a game where hopefully the Gamecocks are in control and can lean on some reserve players to log a lot of snaps here. It's also one of those games too, where I feel like if someone is banged up or isn't 100% in that pregame, let them sit out. You know, kind of like what you did for the Akron game where, like, guys like maybe could have gone maybe weren't 100%, you held them out. This would be a great time really, in my mind, to get a healthy dose of Robbie Ashford or even someone like Dante Reno to see the field. I'd like to see Jawan Howell on the field a lot as well. It kind of feels like the Furman game this could shape up to like last year. Granted, that was a little earlier in the year, I believe, but, you know, that was a game where it wasn't necessarily a blowout early, but it was around the halftime. Gamecocks were up, you know, not like by a billion, but they were up. And Shane Beamer turned to Lenoris and let him play, I think the whole second half, or at least they good, good chunk of it. So something like that where you kind of get through the half, you feel like you're in control. It would take a complete collapse to go things sideways, put in the second, third, fourth stringers there. But my crows to the game here, kind of brief on this one. My whole team, it's just handle the emotions of senior day and then go play ball, right? Take it, enjoy it, but then play with intensity and dominate and send them off on the right way on offense. My first and only crow here is dominate the line of scrimmage. We have seen improved offensive line play over the last several games, but just go out and leave no doubt give whoever is in a quarterback a clean pocket and allow the backs to run all over them on defense. This isn't a crow, but this is just a goal, right? Like, it's not necessary to do this, but keep them out of the end zone. This defense has been so good this year and coming off maybe not their best performance against Mizzou. I would love to see this group, even with reserves in, dominate an inferior team. Other than that, I will say a crow to the game is Dylan Stewart needs to record at least one sack and one other tfl. He was kept very, very quiet against Mizzou, so I would love to see him flash off the screen in this one and feel super confident down these final two games here feeling as good as he possibly can.
[00:22:59] So Yeah, I mean overall for the game, I really do think this is one that Carolina should feel good about. Come about half time at some point in the third quarter, you feel like you're really in the driver's seat.
[00:23:11] Don't be surprised if Wofford tries some trickery to get a bolt of energy, but I would think that could only last for so long. We are the bigger, faster, stronger team with all of the momentum in the world. This is a great time to get the backup some work, put on a good showing for the seniors and for the fans in the last home game of the year. It's crazy, but nonetheless. Let me give you all my six pack of picks and then I will get y'all out of here. Interesting slate this week. A lot of teams kind of playing nobody in the ACC. Give me SMU minus nine and a half versus Virginia. Big 12 BYU versus Arizona State. I'm taking state minus three. Might also be the first person to for Arizona State, it's just State. I don't know. Big Ten, Iowa minus six first Maryland. Kind of an interesting one here. And then I've never really done this on the Crows or on the six pack. Excuse me, I'm going Indiana versus Ohio State. But we're doing the first half Indiana plus seven and a half. I think Indiana is going to come out rested. I believe they're coming off a buy and then they're going to be able to maybe get a player to a driver to. That shocks Ohio State. It's close at the half and then let the chips fall where they may after that. In the SEC I'm going Kentucky plus 20 and a half versus Texas.
[00:24:36] Texas has played the teams close. They either play teams close in the SEC or they lose like to Georgia. So I don't know. And then in the group of five, stick them a JMU. JMU -7 versus app state. 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.
