Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] This episode of Cox talking gamecocks is brought to you by the Mason Jar, New York City. The Mason Jar is the official gamecock bar for the New York City area. Fans and alumni of USC can come by the Jar for some great barbecue, cold drinks, and of course to watch the gamecocks in any sport, all while surrounded by South Carolina memorabilia. If you want to get a slice of game Day in Columbia, all while in the Big Apple, head to The Mason Jar on east 30th street. All right, here we go.
[00:01:13] Welcome to episode one eightyAt of Cox Talking gamecocks. Brought to you by The Mason Jar, New York City. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 18 one to 2001. Hope you all had a lovely week Gamecock Nation and are looking forward to a fun and active and football filled weekend this weekend. Now, seriously, hope y'all had a lovely week out there. You know, I've been interacting with a lot of gamecock fans on social media and everything like that. It's been a really interesting week in Gamecock Nation following everything that transpired last weekend, Saturday. So before I get into the episode here, I wanted to kind of get on my soapbox a little bit here. I wanted to just close the loop, to use a little corporate jargon here. Just want to close the loop on last weekend. Then we're going to officially turn the page here. But here's the thing, we still got six games left, right? We have a whole half a season left. And 90% of the time you're jumping up and down saying, this is exciting. We have a whole half a season left. We wait so long for this and we get to enjoy a whole other half. It's the home stretch. Who are we made out of? What are we made out of, rather? Right? And it hasn't quite been that because what happened last Saturday, it was a bit demoralizing. It was I used the word disappointing on the episode, but I think demoralizing is a good one and I think it took a lot of energy out of people. And if you can't get that done in that situation, then what the heck do we have to look forward to the rest of the way? And all of those thoughts are fine to have, I had a lot of them. But we can't get so concerned with what might happen in a month from now. I think there was a lot of shock and looking at the record and saying, how are we going to get to six games? I was talking about that last episode, right? And I think if we concern ourselves with too much with the path to six, at least right now, then you just might not enjoy the games as much as maybe we should. So we got six games left.
[00:03:47] I don't think any one of them are impossible. Now, of course we need to see certain improvements from the team, particularly from the defense. But I'm going to try my best and try being the operative word here. I'm going to try my best to really take it one game at a time. I'm going to enjoy each and every game that comes. We're going to move on from it, process it as we normally do. But I am not going to get down this rabbit hole of if a game doesn't go our way in October, then what the heck is going on in November, right? In a couple of weeks I will reassess. But for these next two, three games, I'm going to take it at face value as it comes, enjoy and root for Carolina. That's just how I'm going to process this. I think we should all try and enjoy football season. It's here. There's still a lot of game left, right? There's still a lot of football to be played. That's my point.
[00:04:48] We can be a little down right now, but maybe, just maybe, this team has a couple of surprises left for us, and that's what I'm going to hope for, game by game.
[00:04:58] I'm sure in three or four weeks my tone will change, but let's see. Hopefully not. Hopefully not. So before I jump into the football preview here, do have a lot to review from this week. Was sort of a busy week here. Starting with on Wednesday, men's soccer tied Georgia Southern one to one. And then the women's volleyball team, nice win. They beat Alabama three to one. The women's soccer team, they're playing Thursday night. As I'm recording, they're playing Texas A and M, so best of luck to them. But we got a whole lot of news out of the basketball teams. That's right. Basketball season is right around the corner. I cannot believe it. The men's basketball team, they attended the SEC basketball tip off. It's basically the media days for basketball. Lamont definitely made note and called out the media more or less that we were picked last. We were picked last by the media to finish 14th in the SEC. And he had a great little speech. He broke out standard deviations saying how these preseason predictions just don't matter. But he said, at least you picked us last because now I have bulletin board material. If you pick us second to last, what good is that use? But he did mention that last year the team had a combined 100 something. It was like 180 or so combined starts from the team.
[00:06:35] This year it's over 400. So you have literally like a quadruple the amount of experience on this team, this roster than it did last year. So personally, I'm excited to see a progression from the team this year. It's going to be fun to see how some of these new guys come in and the growth from year one to year two, all that jazz. So really excited for Lamont and the squad there on the other side of the coin, women's basketball. They also attended their media days this week. It was great to see dawn out there. She was also watching Asia Wilson win MVP in the WNBA finals. There we go. So big week for her. And then the team was also ranked number six in the preseason AP poll. And I mean, considering where the team finished last year and the talent that we lost, that probably feels about right. But it's really exciting because they're going to hit the court, they're going to do their thing. Dawn's going to have this team ready to go and it will be exciting to see how much we can move up in those rankings. So, very busy week from a lot of sports, and it's about that time where we're going to start covering all three major ones. It's going to be a lot, but very exciting time. And then a quick announcement from the football team, the Texas A and M game. So that's next Saturday, that was announced to be a noon kickoff. That game is in Texas, so that is 11:00 a.m. Local time. I'm actually going to be at a wedding that weekend and I'm in the wedding, so I got to do a lot of stuff earlier in the day. But with it being noon, I actually think I can sneak in most, if not all of this game in. So that timing kind of works out well, selfishly for me, if you guys are a little upset about the noon game, sorry, I'm happy with that one. But I will, of course preview that before the game.
[00:08:39] But now turning my focus, our focus to the task at hand, that is the gamecocks taking on Missouri for another edition of the Mayor's Cup. The Gamecocks are taking on Missoul at 330 Eastern Saturday afternoon. This game is in Missouri, aka the fake Columbia. And I've said it once, I'll say it again, missouri is just annoying. They are my top annoying team. Like I have genuine hate for the Tennessee program, for the Georgia program, for the Clemson program. I don't hate Missou, they're just annoying. They're like a GNAT that just bothers you. And they're just me and they're just a fake SEC team and they think they're all great and they're hot crap, but they're not. I just had to rant about that. They are my top annoying team in the SEC. And the fact that we play for a trophy, yeah, I know I shouldn't get worked up about a trophy that I personally do not get to hold and touch and play for, but I want that freaking trophy. I've wanted it for a couple of years now. And it's time. I want the Mayor's Cup to be back in Columbia, South Carolina, which was the first Columbia in the SEC, where it rightfully deserves to be.
[00:10:03] End of rant.
[00:10:05] As it stands right now, the gamecocks are currently seven point underdogs going into this game. And I think regardless of where the Gamecocks sit record wise and all that jazz, this is a big game.
[00:10:19] It is. This is an Eastern Division rival which has given South Carolina fits over the years. They've won a couple in a row over South Carolina. So for me, really, even before the season started, I had this game circled as a huge one for Shane Beamer to break yet another streak early in his tenure. Right. Was able to knock off a couple streaks last year. Saw it as an opportunity for him to do so again this season. Now, when you do add where the Gamecocks are sitting with their record, this game is big because you need to see a response from this South Carolina team, right? Like, can Shane Beamer rally the guys? Can Clayton White clean things up on the back end of the defense and can the offense continue to evolve and get better?
[00:11:15] If this team shows fight and tenacity, then it shows that the belief has not left the locker room and to me, that's the top thing that you need. It's incredibly important.
[00:11:31] Shane Beamer, he does not have a great record really at all so far against Eastern Division opponents not named Vanderbilt, but he has gone on the road and knocked off a ranked Eastern team before and he's going to look to do it again.
[00:11:50] So what are the Gamecocks looking at in Mizzou? Mizzou is having a much better year than I and I'm guessing a lot of other people thought they were going to have. They're, in fact, having a very good year. Credit where credits do the Tigers are currently ranked 20th in the country, currently sit at six and one, two and one in the SEC and they are coming off a big road win at Kentucky.
[00:12:18] Now, similar to South Carolina, they are led by a talented quarterback in Brady Cook and they live through the pass more, right. They prefer to pass. When you look at the stats, that's kind of where they live. And that is just bad news, Bears. That is bad news bears for a South Carolina secondary that has been struggling. They have two very solid wide receivers and Luther Burden who is having an incredible year, and Theo Wiese was a big pickup for them as well. So it's a challenge. It is a challenge to get your hands around their passing attack. Now, defensively, they're pretty stout. That was the story about them last year where they had this big turnaround. Defensively, it's eased up a little bit this year, but they are still pretty stout. Defensively, they have talent on that side of the ball. They have a good scheme as well. They've tended to keep their opponents in the lower point totals, generally speaking. So, again, credit where credits do, they are annoying, but they have a solid team this year. But the one thing that's interesting with them this year and I feel like kind of in general, the one thing that's consistent is that they tend to play teams close most of their games against legit power. Five teams this year have been tight. They're really not blowing a lot of people out. And again, it feels like that is pretty consistent for these drinkwitz teams that we have seen over the years. They execute well.
[00:13:57] They have their scheme that they know well. They throw in some wrinkles, they game plan well. But it's usually not a team that stomps out people, right.
[00:14:09] So what are my crows to the game here for any new listeners? I don't do my keys to the game that's tired. We have our rooster crow, so I have my crows to the game. So overall for the team, the big crow here is don't let Florida beat you twice. Right. We say that a lot in football. Don't let a team beat you twice. I'm not saying know if this game doesn't go our way, I'm not saying that's what happened. Like, oh, you let Florida beat you twice.
[00:14:37] But the team has to show fight. If they can show that they have moved past that and they're in this game, they're fighting hard. All right, you brought the challenge to them. You moved past the Florida game there, right. Like, they can't come out of the tunnel dejected or less motivated because if that happens, this game could go sideways early. If they fight, keep it a game at halftime. Beyond that, I think naturally guys will lock in even more and want to seize the moment, right. Make sure you're in the fight. Make sure you're motivated to take advantage of it when it comes.
[00:15:14] Now, looking at the defense here, my first crow is tackle, which apparently is a novel concept, but the poor tackling it came to bite us in the ass against Florida. It needs to be a point of emphasis going into this game. I'm very hopeful and I'm sure it was a point of emphasis this week. It's crow to the game.
[00:15:36] Second crow. Limit the damage through the air going into this game. South Carolina is giving up 321 yards through the air per game. That's one of the worst in the entire country of all FBS teams. It has been the achilles heel to this entire team, really, when you look at it, and whatever reason, opposing teams have been very easily able to scheme against us and exploit it.
[00:16:06] Mizzou already has a very good passing offense, so I don't expect us to stop it, but it needs to be tighter than it's been. It just has to be.
[00:16:17] Now my third crow to the game on defense here is play four quarters.
[00:16:25] We have seen this defense hold up well at times they have. They've played good halves. They've tightened up the screws after a bad start. They've had a good third quarter this, that it's just we haven't seen that for a full complete game from this defense, really, in any game so far, there's been at least one bad quarter or you've done well for the first three and then you fall apart. The good for the first half, not a good second play. Four quarters. We have the talent. I think that is a symptom of not having the depth. I think guys are just gassed. I know these guys are in the prime of their youth, top tier college athletes. If you're playing every snap of the game, you're going to get tired, you're getting hit, you're getting up the ground. It's hard. So I think that is a symptom of that.
[00:17:20] We got to find a way to keep guys fresh. Got to find a way to finish, got to find a way to play four quarters on defense. Just have to on the offensive side of the ball here. My first Crow score, 31 or more points.
[00:17:34] Mizzou's only loss came when LSU put up 49 against them. They needed a last minute kick to save them when Kansas State scored 27.
[00:17:47] So if this offense can get over 30 points, I think it pretty much ensures you that you're going to be in the fight. And Mizzou's defense has not been tested like that often. So 31 or more kind of feels like the magic number if you want to have this be a close game down the stretch. Now, Missouri's defense has been good enough to really not allow teams to get to that mark, but if this offense can continue to roll and get there, I think it could put Mizzou on their heels a bit. Could be advantageous for us.
[00:18:24] My second Crow to the game here is keep Juju involved. He's shown up in flashes where you see him get a couple of touches in one game and then you don't see him at all in another. I liked what we saw last week from him. So no matter who the RB one is, presumably Mario Juju brings a nice complement to that. So Dawaloggins and Montario Hardest, they need to keep him in the running back rotation. He's dangerous catching balls in the flat. I don't mind giving him a few runs up the middle. I think he's a great compliment and really just a solid RB two. Honestly.
[00:19:02] Now, I'm not going to say a third Crow because I think it goes without saying, but Spencer needs to keep balling. Right? Like this whole thing is predicated on Spencer Rattler continuing the pace he's been on this year. Right. He is the reason that we've been in the fight in these games, and he is the reason that we'll have a chance in every game down the stretch. Right? He's going to keep you in the game.
[00:19:30] So if he keeps doing his thing, stays aggressive yet smart, good decision making, we'll be in this game. So you need Spencer to rise to the occasion and continuing to do so and he's having a hell of a year.
[00:19:44] So overall for the game, again, you have to believe we just have to. There are upsets every week in college football. Road teams win all the time.
[00:19:59] Road teams win all the time in college football.
[00:20:03] Beamer has won on the road before. He has. He has, believe it or not.
[00:20:08] Kentucky. Clemson. ECU. Vanderbilt. Right. It might not be the prettiest splits in the world as far as how he does home in a way, but he has. And he has to find a way to do it again.
[00:20:23] The team and his staff again. You need to look at this game at face value.
[00:20:29] You can't look backwards and say, well, what if? And you can't look ahead and think, oh, my gosh, this all of a sudden is a big game.
[00:20:39] Missouri is good, no doubt. Columbia, Missouri, it is a tricky place to play. It's not the loudest, but it's tricky. Kai Kroger said that in our you know, they've beaten us when we've had the better team and have been at home. So why can't we flip the script? Why not?
[00:21:01] The offense is going to have to burden much of this lift and score early and often.
[00:21:07] And all we need from this defense are a couple of timely stops and some better technique. They don't have to pitch a shutout. Just manage mizzou's passing attack as best as we can. Make it tough for them to score. Let Spencer and Xavier, the rest of the guys bring it home for us.
[00:21:26] Let's absolutely go. Let's go. Cox also, I made it all this way and I totally forgot to bring up Shane Beamer's broken foot. Unbelievable. It's incredible. If you haven't heard, Shane Beamer was so frustrated after the Florida loss, he kicked a cooler after the game was over and broke his foot. I've never related more to a coach in my entire life. He is one of us. I think it's hilarious. The story has been blown way out of proportion. And if you think that coaches haven't punched and kicked stuff after a game, you're out of your mind and you just don't know competitive sports. It's just unfortunate that now he has to wear that mistake all the way around. I'm going to think of something to watch this game in unity with Shane Beamer. I'm not going to go and break my foot, but I might buy an ace bandage.
[00:22:18] Show some love. Show some love. But nevertheless, here, let me give y'all my six pack of picks and then I'll get you all out of here. Starting with the ACC.
[00:22:27] I'm going. Virginia versus UNC. UNC. -23, and a half. It's a big spread. UNC is rolling. Like we talk about having a hard schedule. They are having a very, very good year. Virginia stinks. I bet against them once and they screwed me. Let's make it happen. This time. Big Twelve. Oklahoma State versus West Virginia over 49 and a half. Three big twelve overs in a row. Let's make it happen. Big Ten michigan at Michigan State over 46. I kind of did a similar bet. Last week Michigan's favored by like 24 25 so I think they're going to score a lot michigan State will do just enough to get it over Pac twelve Washington state versus Oregon -20 I think it's a bounce back game for the Ducks SEC.
[00:23:18] Really interesting slate in the SEC. Kind of an interesting slate throughout the country. I'm going Tennessee plus nine and a half verse Alabama. I just didn't love any of the other spreads I wanted. To throw an underdog in on the card. I think Alabama is going to win this game, but obviously I feel like it's going to be close. Group of five. Give me north Texas versus Tulane. Under 63.
[00:23:44] They're just doing it. 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.
