What We Learned, Part II

Week 7 USC 24, Kentucky 17 Aguilar Going to this game, I learned that there is a town in Kentucky that has a giant Lord of the Rings-esque wall surrounding it to keep floodwaters out during the spring. Seriously, look up Pineville, Ky. Pineville seems like a fitting metaphor for Carolina's consecutive single touchdown victories over supposedly overmatched opponents. The Gamecocks and coach Steve Spurrier staved off a flood of criticism by constructing two wins that were should-have-could-have-been losses for their opponents. A blocked field goal that bounced into Captain Munnerlyn's hands at the end of the first half was the only thing that separated USC from overtime against the Wildcats. It was going to be another one of those years for Carolina football.

Baumann What we learned: That maybe Chris Smelley isn't quite all that he seemed. I remember a night in September of my sophomore year, during an 18-0 home loss to UGA, when I stood in the stands chanting for a highly regarded freshman quarterback to replace the embattled veteran starter. Most Gamecock fans can relate. The difference? I was chanting "We Want Smelley!" But after the first of a few late-season appearances where the Accsmellerator looked absolutely awful, I started to change my mind. I had this image in my mind of Stephen Garcia being a happy-footed chucker - a latter-day Brett Favre, without the Super Bowl ring - and if I had had my way, I would have stuck with Smelley. Garcia coming out of the bullpen to beat Kentucky led me to start talking myself out of all that.

Week 8 LSU 24, USC 17 Aguilar A Chinese proverb authored by Paul Johnson of Georgia Tech goes: "Paul Johnson say, 'Running game very important to success.'" LSU proved that it was nothing but smoke and mirrors this year against Ole Miss and Arkansas, both teams that Carolina beat. However, when your offensive line gives up six sacks to a team that previously only had nine total in five games and your leading rusher averages 2.3 yards per carry, you are just a bunch of smoke. LSU ran through Carolina on offense, 46 carries for 186 yards, and on defense, see previous statistics. A late comeback proved too little too late, and the one thing that I knew was: It was going to be another one of those years for Carolina football.

Baumann What we learned: That Carolina can play with the big boys. This game always seemed a little weird to me. I couldn't figure out exactly why for a few days, but then I realized the truth: It was a normal game. There were no weird plays to speak of. Mike Davis didn't fumble at the goal line. Nor did Ryan Succop run for a first down after the punt block team got to him early. When you watch USC long enough, you begin to expect the unexpected, but in this case, nothing bizarre happened. What did happen was that the Gamecocks, with their erratic freshman quarterback and anemic running game, were able to hang with the defending national champions. That doesn't happen every day.

Week 9 USC 27, Tennessee 6 Aguilar If you had told me at the beginning of this year that the Gamecocks would effectively end Phil Fulmer's career, I probably would have laughed at you. However, the Gamecocks did not allow the Vols to score a touchdown and scored three themselves for a big victory. USC solidified another non-losing regular season and got bowl eligible for the fifth year in a row. However, when your team carries the ball 44 times for 101 yards, your quarterbacks combine for exactly 50% completion percentage and you're excited about the offensive explosion, there's no denying that it's going to be one of those years for Carolina football.

Baumann What we learned: That USC doesn't always play up or down to its competition. Carolina has a reputation, or at least it should, for scaring the bejeezus out of powerhouse teams but then going on to make games close that shouldn't be. Tennessee was as bad this year as it's ever been. USC should have blown them out of the water, and they did, though it could have been more convincing to be sure. Mostly, I'm glad that after all the trash I talked in my column the week before, the Gamecocks went out and actually won. Aguilar wasn't so lucky with the Clemson game, but c'est la guerre.

Week 10 USC 34, Arkansas 21 Aguilar A price cannot be put on winning your final home game of your senior year. Such was the glory that I reveled in, and I learned that all the heartbreak was worth it. What did USC fans learn about the team? Well, after the Gamecocks went 6-1 in the middle stretch of their season, USC fans learned that their football team was no joke. Although a single-touchdown victory over Arkansas isn't typically impressive, the Razorbacks were improving exponentially each week under new coach Bobby Petrino. The Gamecocks had played well enough to give Carolina fans hope for the final two games of the season. Up next were the Florida Gators, who, since losing to Ole Miss, had outscored opponents 243-57. With the Gators rolling the way they were, it appeared like it was going to be one of those games for Carolina football.

Baumann What we learned: That the coaching tree that links Spurrier to Texas Tech's Mike Leach is not pure happenstance. Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops learned at Spurrier's knee as offensive coordinator at Florida, then turned around and hired Leach to run the Sooner offense in 1999. So just when it looked like Spurrier had lost his mojo, he came out platooning Smelley and Garcia for the duration of USC's beatdown of Arkansas and had the offense lining up in that crazy spread set with offensive tackles split wide. It didn't really work all that well, as USC only outgained a weak Arkansas offense by 42 yards, but Spurrier got an A for effort. This game was also the quiet beginning of the wheels falling off USC's quarterback situation. For most of the season, either Smelley or Garcia was playing well enough to get by, but against Arkansas, the two combined for only 13-for-30 passing, and Garcia started heaving the ball over receivers' heads, a theme that continued against Florida. I should have seen the writing on the wall, but at that point, Carolina was 7-3 and ready to put the fear of God into Florida.

Week 11 Florida 56, USC 6 Aguilar 56-6. What was there to learn about this game? I learned that Florida is that much better at everything than USC. I'm talking about from football, to the way it treats its students, to the minor sports (it seemed like they were announcing an SEC championship in between every quarter in some sport other than football), even down to the fact that I walked by Jimmy Buffet on the field - seriously, I did. Steve Spurrier's done a great job here at Carolina, and contrary to what most Gamecock fans think right now, he's the third-best coach in Gamecock history by winning percentage. That in mind, the Ol' Ball Coach has a long way to go to catch up with his former team and the man that is making reptiles everywhere forget about S.O.S. After this performance, it was clear that it was going to be one of those years for Carolina football.

Baumann I have had two separate dreams about this game. I'm not lying to you. The first was the night before the game. I dreamt that I was Chris Smelley and I had lobbed and scrambled USC to a 14-6 halftime lead before I woke up. The second came Thanksgiving night. In this dream, the game got so out of hand that Spurrier and Urban Meyer came in to play quarterback for their respective teams in the second half. My favorite movie in the world is "Independence Day." About 15 minutes in, President Tom Whitmore (Bill Pullman) utters the famous line "Isn't it amazing how quickly everyone can turn against you?" That encapsulates the Florida game. I didn't learn much. USC's offensive ineptitude was thrown into stark relief, and while the defense did its best, early turnovers led to a tremendous defeat, despite Eric Norwood's career day. Also, on the ill-fated kickoff return fumble, why were Dion Lecorn and Chris Hail back deep? Kenny McKinley has experience as both a quarterback and a kickoff returner - he would have gotten the ball to Hail (or Captain Munnerlyn, a faster and more elusive deep man) far more easily than Lecorn did. These are the things I lose sleep over. Literally.

Week 12 Clemson 31, USC 14 Aguilar I learned a lot more about Gamecock fans than I did about the football team after this game was all said and done. It hurts to be right sometimes, but I predicted this team to be 7-5 at best during two-a-days. I want success for the Gamecocks as much as the next guy, but the bitter vitriol that I've seen spewed in public forums by so-called civil human beings is embarrassing. USC fans are quite delusional about what they deserve, and it's fine time someone says it. It's going to be difficult for any coach to attract a lot of top-tier talent to Columbia. It's going to be even harder when that talent and those potential coaches see how classy USC fans would thank them for their hard work and effort.

Baumann What we learned: How fortunate I am to live in New Jersey. My travel schedule for Thanksgiving mandated that my girlfriend and I undertake the 11-hour drive from my home in Voorhees, N.J., to Columbia on Saturday afternoon. So from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday I was in the car. Chris Smelley's three first-half interceptions occurred while I was somewhere in Maryland, and I was blissfully ignorant of the whole thing until halftime, when I called a friend for a score update. I consider myself lucky not to have watched a second of what was, by all accounts, a gangrenous amputated stump of a football game.

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