![]() ![]() As the Gamecocks’ head coach, Beamer would have to deal with both monsters. After clashing with Clemson on the recruiting trail in his previous jobs, Beamer understood the challenge of fighting what Swinney had constructed. So he knew exactly what Kirby Smart was building in Athens. Beamer had been at Oklahoma as the special teams coordinator, but before that he had spent two seasons on Georgia’s staff. When Beamer was hired to replace Muschamp, South Carolina had gone 2-8 against an all-SEC schedule the previous season. What felt certain a little more than six years earlier suddenly seemed almost impossible to fathom. Meanwhile, Dabo Swinney’s Tigers seemed as if they’d rule the rivalry indefinitely. Muschamp got extended after beating Michigan in an Outback Bowl, but that only raised the price for South Carolina to fire him in 2020. Clemson kept winning - including two national titles - and dominated in-state recruiting. Clemson went on to win the next six meetings. Before that stretch, Clemson led the series with a 65-37-4 record.īut at that moment, winning against Clemson felt as certain as the sun rising over the water at Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head.Ĭlemson retook the Palmetto State rivalry a few months later when freshman Deshaun Watson led the Tigers to a 35-17 win at Williams-Brice Stadium while playing on a torn ACL. Make no mistake: Five consecutive South Carolina wins against Clemson was extraordinary. One of Spurrier’s great rhetorical gifts is making the extraordinary sound routine when it serves the purpose of needling a rival. I’d like, just once in my life, for our opposing fans to be thinking “Man, I haaaate seeing that South Carolina offense trot onto the field.” In fact, I want opposing fans to be wildly queasy when they think about our offense, and maybe even start vomiting uncontrollably.“The game went about like all of them went,” Spurrier deadpanned as he let the fans relive a 31-17 win against a Tigers team that went 11-2 and won the Orange Bowl. I’d feel better if I saw the Gamecocks explode into an undiscovered solar system offensively – just once in my life. Ultimately, South Carolina’s “three seasons of 3,000 passing yards in the 21st Century” number was largely in line with what its conference peers have been producing.īut enough with the facts. Alabama had just three at that point, as did LSU. The most recent statistics I could find for 3,000-yard seasons was back in 2018, and more 3,000-yard seasons have happened since then, but as you’ll find here ( 3,000-yard passers in 2018? Every SEC team’s history and chances), few of South Carolina’s SEC brethren have stockpiled a host of 3,000-yard passing years.Īs of 2018, Auburn had just two 3,000-yard passing years in its storied history. But feelings aren’t facts.Īnd the facts tell us that throwing for 3,000 yards in a single season remains a high hurdle. Even under the allegedly pass-wild Spurrier, the Gamecocks were a fairly balanced offensive unit that never resembled those free-for-all offenses you see in the Big 12. Wins are wins, man.īut if we could choose…well, we’d choose to follow a team that went 12-0 and also eviscerated defenses with a high-octane passing offense that was so fearsome it inspired some ridiculous nickname like “Air Supply” or “Bomb Squad.” What can I tell you? The American people like to watch footballs being thrown and caught with reckless abandon.Īs I’ve written many times, being a fan is a feeling more than it is a rational act, and the truth is, it just hasn’t felt like the South Carolina program has been at the forefront of offensive imagination over the years in terms of its passing attack and quarterback play. We really don’t care if South Carolina goes 12-0 by running up the middle on every down, compiling 150 yards of total offense, and winning every game 10-7, with at least some of those points coming off a recovered fumble. That number seemed surprisingly low to me, particularly when I considered that the Gamecocks were coached by Steve Spurrier for more than a decade, and when I recalled that the likes of Ole Miss’ Chad Kelly, of all people, actually threw for FOUR THOUSAND yards in a single season a few years back. ![]() Three thousand wasn’t Mission Impossible, was it?īut as the story reveals, a South Carolina quarterback has only thrown for 3,000 yards just three times since 2000 (for the record, it happened in 2010 with Stephen Garcia, in 2014 with Dylan Thompson and in 2018 with Jake Bentley). Look, 3,000 yards will always be an impressive feat for a college QB, but this isn’t 1973 anymore, and it’s happening more and more in the pass-happy 21st Century. While we’re here, Rattler has already thrown for 3,000 yards once in his career (albeit while wearing an Oklahoma Sooners uniform). ![]() The Gamecocks return some offensive weapons this year, added still more in the offseason, and the unit has had a year to figure out offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield’s complex system. ![]()
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