Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, a recap in celebration of the football team's victory over Tennessee. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:52] Okay.
[00:00:53] Welcome to episode 416 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And y', all, what a game. I mean, I am riding high right now, sitting here on a Sunday, just absolutely on cloud nine. And when this episode drops and y' all are listening to it on Monday or Tuesday, I can guarantee you, I, like the rest of our fan base, will be riding high because holy smokes, what a game, what a win. What a moment for our school, for our fan base, for our program.
[00:01:38] And all of a sudden you look and the Gamecocks have back to back wins. We have a winning record and we've taken down multiple ranked teams and Tennessee ranked 11th. Like, might as well been a top 10 team going into this thing. Like, this is a bonafide like feather in the cap of Shane Beamer and this whole staff, because that's a good team in Tennessee. Like their offense, you know, maybe not what we're used to in years past from Tennessee, but that is a ferocious defense, a very, very good rushing attack, and the Gamecocks really, despite themselves through large swaths of the game, come out on top. And just what a moment. The walk off field goal, incredible. And just the crazy swing of emotions to go from, you know, oh, my gosh. I mean, I'm. I'm kind of working my way backwards here, but just incredible, incredible. It's just so fun to see the jubilation throughout Gamecock Nation, really on social media and just in group chats and everything.
[00:02:52] And, you know, we've gone through our fair share of crap earlier in this season and then the entirety of last season, and the football gods don't always necessarily care what you deserve, but I think we deserved this one.
[00:03:08] I really do. I mean, and shout out to Lenores, I mean, a guy that has grown and really gone through the ringer and the fire, and he deserves that. And what a moment for him. I mean, the entire college football world is talking about what he did at the end of that game, and rightfully so.
[00:03:28] That's. It's the type of game, like that Clemson game, the third and 18 run, where you're going to remember who you were with and what you were doing during this game, but in that moment and you're going to remember how you felt when Lenores flung over his back to score that touchdown.
[00:03:50] Unbelievable. Unbelievable. So, all right, got that started with.
[00:03:58] Let's go back start of the game. Gamecocks come out firing. Boom, boom, two scores. Absolutely loved the game plan early from Kendall Briles. It was exactly what I said. Shout out kudos to me in the Crows to the game. Quick passing rpo, like getting the ball out of Lenora's hands quickly. Don't let the pass rush get home. And they did that beautifully.
[00:04:24] And then of course, Tennessee was going to answer, like, you know, I, I hated that freaking montage that ESPN put up of the blown leads from South Carolina. Like, that qualifies as a hate crime in my book. But it was not a moment where it's like, oh, here we go again. Like, well, you're 14 nothing in the first quarter. Like, you know, yes. But against a team like Tennessee, they are going to score.
[00:04:52] So what I didn't like though was that they were able to score three times. They outscored us, outscored us 21 to 3 in that second quarter. And the late score going into the half was a bit of a gut punch because you were able to get that lead with the field goal, right? You'd be able to put together a nice drive, cover a large swath of the field, only for them to take the lead going to the half and getting the ball. So going into the second half, the question was, can you slow down their rushing attack? Because that's what they were doing. They were just carving you up, you know, chunk plays on the ground. And then McIntyre, their quarterback, was doing just enough with the ball. And, you know, he didn't have many bonehead mistakes like I thought he was going to until, you know, the very last play, but he played fine. And yeah, you got, you got bailed out a couple times with, with some flags, but, you know, that's the way of the world. I mean, we've been on the other side of that where you are, you are penalized greatly. And Tennessee had some really timely penalties that hurt them, but benefited South Carolina. So you go into the half, you're down four, you're within striking distance. I kiddingly said to my buddy that I was with, like, maybe that's what this team needs. Like, maybe we need to be down at the half to have a little bit of a different mojo in these moments, right, where you don't have that lead. And, you know, I think that's actually what the team needed because shout out to Clayton White and this whole defensive staff, in all seriousness, like, whatever they did at the half just Getting the guys to come out and stand 10 toes down and to only give up a field goal the entire second half.
[00:06:37] You know, I came into the, you know, I sat down, sat back down to start that third quarter and thinking to myself, this drive, this very first drive by Tennessee is going to prove critical.
[00:06:53] If they come out and it looks like what they did in the second quarter and they run it down our throats and they score, we might be in for a tough night.
[00:07:02] But for the defense to go out there, to not allow that to happen and to just really bottle up Tennessee and when it mattered to stand 10 toes down and that pass breakup, you know, like coming out there to stop them on third down, I think it was Kilgore. Just incredible. Like it's this. Those individual efforts and those little plays stack up to keeping you in the game, right? Because the middle of the game, the middle quarters, the offense was sputtering. I mean, we have to talk about that.
[00:07:38] It seems like some of the game plan got away from Briles, really. And Lenore has talked about it in the post game where he boiled it down to execution and just said, you know, they had some good calls, but Tennessee had the. Had the right coverages and things like that, and the team just didn't execute. So it's on everybody in that offensive staff because it was a slog. It really was for pretty much that whole second quarter. But then that entire third quarter into the fourth as well, the offense just couldn't really get anything sustained. And it became this field position battle and it became this battle of wills where both defenses were just standing on business. And it was, whose offense here is going to make the play? And you get into the fourth quarter and when it's that one score game, our offense was the one to answer the bell. But it was, it was the collective effort and the true, all three phases helping each other. Late in that game where the defense, although, yep, there was that field goal, you know, to. To push Tennessee up. The touchdown offense was able to get the ball back thanks to the defense with that fourth down, fourth down stop. And then Lenores goes and does his thing and he's absolutely superman to tie the ball game. And then you absolutely will remember where you were also for that play with Dylan Stewart.
[00:09:10] And there's a saying that I kind of half kiddingly say now because it was the high school football coach where I went to high school, he also was the gym teacher. Shout out Chuck Johnson.
[00:09:23] He said great players make great plays when it matters.
[00:09:28] And that's exactly what happened in the fourth quarter for South Carolina. Our star players showed up.
[00:09:35] Norris did exactly what he had to do in that moment to will himself and the offense to a score. And, and that was a, that was a team effort, right, to. To get down deep into the red zone. You have that third and goal situation. Matt Fuller had a good run just in that, in that first. The first down in that series to get. To get us close. And then Lenores does the rest of the. That's an incredible moment.
[00:10:02] But then when it's late in the game and it's a situation where as happy as we were to tie the game late, offense woke up and finally did that. It was absolutely this strange turnabout about face where it's a full, almost full two minutes and Tennessee can go down the field and try and win the game on their own.
[00:10:25] And really on, you know, knocking on the door, you know, they're. They're moving. Dylan Stewart showed up with his best play of the night and created the sole turnover for Tennessee and forced that fumble. And there's just levels that elite players can reach and when they get there, you can tell.
[00:10:51] And that's what, exactly what happened with Dylan Stewart. He's such a naturally gifted player and he works hard and his, like, normal mode of operating, if that makes sense, like his, like, play in and play out level is high, is above average, right? Like, well above average. But when he taps into, okay, I gotta go change the game here. This is a huge moment.
[00:11:18] He's elite and Clowney was the same way. Like, game on the line. He's going to, he's going to do it for you. And that's what elite players do. And that's exactly what happened in the moment where we needed to score the touchdown and Lenores tapped into that. But it was really exemplified in that play where Stewie caused the fumble.
[00:11:38] Caused the fumble.
[00:11:40] The entire defensive line was there. Like, picture that, right? Like Anthony Addison, I believe it was him, was also right there at McIntyre. I think he might have gotten the ball out had Stewie not gotten there. But nonetheless, less. You have two guys crushing in on McIntyre in a critical juncture in the game, but then go back and watch that fumble. The entire defensive line was there to recover it. Like, all those guys were balling in that moment and they all won their battles and they were all right there to do what you had to do, which was cause chaos, cause the fumble, recover it, and then put your team position to win.
[00:12:18] It was this incredible sequence of the two guys on your team that you look to and that, you know, harbor does get talked about in this where, like, the three. The three big core pieces, but it's Lenores and Stewart, right? It's the two most important positions on either side of the field, right?
[00:12:39] The two guys that are, you know, really so hyped up.
[00:12:42] And for them to go back to back like that in critical junctures late in the game to set up the win is special. And that doesn't always happen.
[00:12:54] I think I heard that it was. Lenores is the first quarterback at South Carolina to beat both Florida and Tennessee when they're both ranked in the top 20. I think was. Was what I heard something along those lines, which is just fantastic.
[00:13:14] And Stuart, everything he's been through this year, like, worked his butt off to get healthy. Then he has that weird start and he, like, on the pitch count and then. And then he gets the suspension and he's just dealt with these weird things. And he's had some adversity on the home front, right? Like, on the personal side of things, getting suspended.
[00:13:36] And for him to. To show out there was phenomenal.
[00:13:41] And him in the Florida game, too, was a huge reason why the defense had such a good showing there. So you have to give Clayton White and the entire staff their flowers, because it's a lot like that 22 game where Tennessee came into South Carolina and Cam Smith famously said, drop yo nuts. Like, this was a drop yo nuts moment for this defense in this second half where they came out and, yeah, they got their butts kicked in the second quarter, getting outscored 21 to 3, and they just said, enough.
[00:14:12] And you bottled up their run game. For the most part, you limited the explosives, and when push came to shove, you won the biggest battle of the night, and you caused the turnover to get. To get the ball back to your offense and then shout out to the offense because, you know, you had to move up a little bit. You know, you wanted to get into better range and. And the two play calls were tricky. I mean, you're inches away from that shot in the end zone working. And, you know, when Lenora dropped back and was, like, standing in the pocket, I'm saying myself, what the heck is this? Like, why aren't you just running the ball and, you know, making it easy on yourself? When it almost worked, I was like, damn, like that. We went for the jugular there, and we've talked at times of not going for the jugular and briles, you know, put it on the line in that moment and it almost paid off. But then shout out to Lenores for scrambling and making it easier on Orson for that kick. And you can't say enough good things about Malik. Orson, I mean, comes in really as an unknown more or less in this year. I mean, we talked about the kicking competition and you didn't know who it was going to be. Beamer brings in the kid that was like a grad transfer who wasn't playing college football. You're like, wow, like, this might not. This might be a serious problem here.
[00:15:34] Kicking game was shaky in the beginning and Orson comes in and has been very steady since. And he fucking drilled it. Like that was good. From 55, right down the middle, too. I'm nervous that's going to be a squeaker or like, what are we going to do if we go to overtime? And 8. No, no problem at all. He drills at his time expires. And you get, and you get the. The storm. The storm. Chasing the crowd, storming. It was a storm.
[00:16:04] Just such an amazing game. I mean, it was really.
[00:16:08] It's funny because when you think of it offensively, it was like four drives, right? You had. You had the two in the beginning, the field goal in the second, and the last one in the fourth where Lenora scored like four drives that, hey, they did. They did enough and you got it done.
[00:16:31] And in that middle of the game, like, there's still stuff to work on there, but complimentary football.
[00:16:38] You had a fully healthy defense for the first time in a while, at least that defensive front, and I think it showed.
[00:16:45] And they had the offenses back in those middle quarters early that third. The. The second half. Excuse me, when early in the game, it was the offense that allowed us to have that breathing room in the beginning while the defense figured things out. And then you bring in the. The special teams of it all with Orson and you got yourself a top. A top 11 win.
[00:17:09] And you know, this year in the SEC and this year in college football, there is a lot of parody. And every week teams are going down and the stars align for South Carolina in this one. Coming off of the buy, getting healthy with a little momentum in our corner after that Florida game and you're at home and that place was rocking. I mean, I'm big time fomo, like, incredibly jealous of everyone who was there, but they were a weapon, as Shane Beamer said. And I think it did make a difference late in that game. And wow, just a true. Where were you type of game here, Mazio? With. With a really good game. DJ Black with. With. With a good game. Mo Brown with that incredible.
[00:17:55] That fourth down or whatever it was. Third down and to convert on that long. It's just.
[00:18:01] It was. It was really a team effort. And you can go back and watch the highlights and just think about the game, and there's these moments from different players that it all accumulated into what we saw. And.
[00:18:11] Yeah, man. Wow. What a win. What a game. Some stuff to clean up. And the Bakari stuff, if you lose, that's a. That's a headline, right? But in the win, he was. He was harnessing DJ Swag, right? But, wow, incredible win. Soak this one up, y'. All. Let's enjoy it. The Gamecocks have momentum. And you look at the rest of the schedule here like, hey, like, if this team continues to level up and play complimentary football, we are a tough team to beat. And look out for the Gamecocks here 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.
