Spurrier's first press conference proves prophetic
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When words mean something, they stand the test of time, remembered years after they were spoken.
Take, for example, what Stephen Orr Spurrier said on Nov. 23, 2004, as he was introduced as the 32nd football coach of the University of South Carolina.
"I'd like to borrow a phrase from the Boston Red Sox," Spurrier said, referencing the newly crowned world champions of professional baseball. "Why not us? Why not the University of South Carolina Gamecocks?
"Why can't we get to the top of the SEC?"
Over the past week, as USC prepared to play Florida for the SEC Eastern Division championship, those words were repeated for inspiration, because that's what Spurrier meant for them to be close to six years ago.
The message was clear: If the Red Sox, those pained New Englanders, could overcome 86 years of anguish and the burdensome specter of the "Curse of the Bambino" to win the World Series, then, by God, the Fighting Gamecocks could triumph over a history of self-defeatism and losing and the infamous "Chicken Curse" to reign over the nation's premier football conference.
Now, even though Spurrier likely had no idea, those words possibly have a different meaning — one of prophecy.
To win the World Series, remember, the Red Sox had to first eliminate their hated archrivals — the New York Yankees, the team Boston sold one George Herman "Babe" Ruth to in 1919 and watched win 26 world championships as they stood empty-handed. And, the Sox had to do so in improbable fashion, becoming the first team to rally from a 3-0 series deficit in history.
It remains to be seen if the Gamecocks will win the SEC, but they'll have the chance to do so, because here in the Swamp, they beat their Yankees, and they did it in the most improbable fashion possible.
Coming into Saturday night, Florida had won 208 games, 10 SEC East championships, eight SEC titles and three national championships in the past 20 years.
South Carolina had won 105 games and no titles of any sort in the same time span.
It didn't look like that on the field, though. USC totally dominated the Gators en route to the first division title in school history, and it did so in a manner that left every one of the 90,885 heads in attendance shaking in shocked disbelief, be it jubilant or despondent astonishment.
The first 14 seconds of the game and Andre Debose's 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown removed, USC outscored UF 36-7 over the final 59:46 of the game. It completely out-classed the Gators on offense. It stifled UF defensively. It out-coached a staff that has won two national titles in the past four seasons.
And, it did all of this in a building in which it was 0-12 all-time against a team it had only defeated once since World War II.
Pretty darn improbable, huh? But, then again, maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was fate. After their monumental defeat of the Yankees, many Red Sox players and fans said they felt it was destiny they had to go through such a hated enemy to make history. USC felt the same sentiment after this one.
"We beat Georgia. We beat Tennessee. We knew there was just Florida left," defensive tackle Travian Robertson said. "We knew coming down to it, it was going to be Florida."
It came down to Florida. It came down to Spurrier returning to the kingdom he built. It came down to USC needing to do something monumental and transcendent, to finally reach the summit of the mountain it has striven to reach for years.
It did just that, delivering Spurrier, perched atop the shoulders of his offensive linemen and striking a pose reminiscent of Gen. George Washington crossing the Delaware River on Christmas Eve 1776, to the block "F" at midfield a winner in Gainesville once again. It was a magical night for USC, but not one it wants to make the be-all and end-all of its season.
"We're still not the SEC champs," Spurrier said. "We've won our division, and we'll try to play our best in Atlanta."
When Spurrier was hired, many said he'd regret taking the job, he'd never get to Atlanta and he'd never be able to win a SEC title at South Carolina — not even in "400 years," as one media member claimed. The same media member also said of Spurrier at USC, "He's driving a Volkswagen against those Jaguars."
The Gamecocks will likely fly to Atlanta, but they should buy as many of those old 1960s VW vans as necessary, pile in and head down I-26.
Why? Because there's another thing about words — when they're proven wrong, you're supposed to make those who spoke them eat them.