It's 2014, and everything that can go wrong typically does for South Carolina.
Entering Saturday's meeting with Florida, the Gamecocks had lost four-straight SEC games, none by more than a touchdown. But South Carolina (5-5, 3-5 SEC) looked like a different team than we've seen all year against the Gators (5-4, 4-4 SEC), riding its defense and special teams to a 23-20 overtime victory.
"We seemed to be working hard all year and everything, doing it right, but why haven't some of these close games gone our way?" redshirt senior quarterback Dylan Thompson said. "I'm just so proud of our team and so thankful for this ... What our team did today was huge."
South Carolina looked to be in control in the first quarter, grabbing a 10-0 lead before anyone could blink. But that's when the Gamecock offense closed up shop for a while.
Florida scored 17-straight points and South Carolina looked poised to leave "The Swamp" with another bitterly disappointing loss. Then the fourth quarter, a time that's been so harsh to the Gamecocks recently, saw South Carolina completely flip the script.
In the last 15 minutes of action, the Gamecocks shut the Gators out by allowing just 34 yards of total offense, blocking both a field goal and a punt, forcing a fumble and executing a four-play 34-yard drive to tie the game at 17.
South Carolina rode that momentum to a defensive stop and a Dylan Thompson rushing touchdown that sealed the deal in overtime.
"Whenever there's time on the clock, there's always a chance," redshirt senior defensive tackle J.T. Surratt said. "The defense, we stepped up big, and everybody just came together, and we got it done."
Saturday's result won't have any measurable impact on the national college football narrative. South Carolina has long been out of the hunt for an SEC East title and, while the Gators had an outside shot, anyone paying attention knew Florida reaching the conference championship game was a pipe dream.
But there's no way to overstate the implications of the victory for South Carolina.
Barring a historic disaster next week against South Alabama, the Gamecocks will reach the six-win threshold that qualifies them for a bowl game. South Carolina hasn't won less than six games in any of Spurrier's previous nine years at the helm.
As for the Head Ball Coach himself, there's no bigger game on the schedule each year than the one against Florida.
Spurrier won a Heisman trophy as a player and a national title as a head coach in Gainesville. Following the Gamecocks' unprecedented run of fourth-quarter collapses, there was talk of Spurrier bolting from South Carolina after this season.
Saturday's win should put that rumor to bed.
But in the jubilation of the Head Ball Coach's win over his alma mater, his soft spot for the Gators was on display for all to see.
"I told coach (Will) Muschamp that we were on the other end of what he's on two weeks ago," Spurrier said. "I felt like we'd outplayed the other team, and low and behold they came back and beat us. So I feel for him, but it was a wonderful win for the Gamecocks."