Thursday, January 24, 2013

Making History, One Win at a Time

From contributor, Richard Viola

Those who follow college football today, can see that certain schools are beginning to make some waves...

Since South Carolina joined the SEC in 1992, there have been some streaks of good and, sadly, much more of the not so good. There have been great coaches and some well, not so great. (We will leave the name calling up to the reader).  But one thing is for certain...

The last coaching change was the best one in school history.

When Head football coach Steve Spurrier came to South Carolina, it came as a thunderous shock that had every college football fan turning their heads. The first few seasons that "The Head Ball Coach" coached the squad, the teams went an average 7-6 and 5-3 in the SEC.

Then came 2010. Coming into the 2010 season, there was talk that this talented-laden squad was going to be the team that would finally make it to an SEC Championship Game.

Those people were right. That season was what set the standard of winning. It seemed as if the football players had seen that they could compete with the top tier teams. That year, South Carolina would wind up beating the number one team in the nation (Alabama) which became a turning point for the program. Add to that, the Gamecocks beat Flordia in the swamp and Clemson in their house.

The next two seasons were just as special, going 11-2 and 6-2 in the SEC on both seasons. Even though South Carolina did not compete for the SEC Championship the past two seasons, there have been numerous records broken at Williams-Brice Stadium and the school. It has all started with great recruiting.

The trend started at the end of 2009 going into 2010. South Carolina landed a super-star that will forever be remembered throughout Gamecock football lore. Who, you ask? Anyone who has ever kept up with football should know the answer to this. Marcus Lattimore was sought after by numerous schools but instead of leaving his home state, he decided to come and play at South Carolina. This is what started the trend for South Carolina. Superstar players staying in state. 

The new challenge that we all ask is, where do those Gamecocks go from here? As long as the Clowney's and Lattimore's continue to roll into the programs, then we will continue to compete for the SEC and National Championships. Even if that never happens, we will continue to scream at the top of our lungs and continue to support those great Gamecocks.