October 7, 2008
Press Conference Notebook: Why Not Us
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David Cloninger
GamecockCentral.com Staff Writer
<SCRIPT language=javascript>document.write("<div id=contentcontainer style='font-size: " + currentsize + "pt;'>");</SCRIPT>Talk about it in
The Insiders Forum
'Why Not Us?' is still South Carolina coach
Steve Spurrier's motto, even though the question hasn't yet been answered.
"I still believe 'Why Not Us,'" Spurrier said during his Tuesday press conference, previewing Saturday's game at Kentucky (4-1, 0-1 SEC). "Like I said, it's very early. Ifs and buts, we can't if and but.
"We wish we weren't 4-2, but that's not the worst record in the country. It's not the best. And we had our chances a couple of games and we won a game we could have lost. We've won a couple we could have lost. Nah, we're not quite there yet. No question about that. And don't profess to be there yet."
Ever since Spurrier took the job in November 2004 and uttered the line, made famous by the Boston Red Sox that same season, it's become a catchphrase in Columbia. T-shirts, bumper stickers, yard signs, the works were sold with each bearing the phrase.
The Gamecocks (4-2, 1-2) have had three straight bowl-eligible seasons under Spurrier and Spurrier is the ninth-winningest coach in USC history (25). He should pass No. 8 (Sol Metzger, 26) and perhaps No. 7 (Warren Giese, 28) this year.
USC has also had a non-losing record for the past four seasons. If the Gamecocks finish .500 or better this year, it'll be the second-longest such streak in school history, following the period from 1928-34, when USC had seven straight winning seasons under coach Billy Laval.
Still, 'Why Not Us' was followed by Spurrier saying USC had the facilities, the fans, the talent. It's getting there, but it's still not there, going into Year Four Under the Visor.
"Well, 'there' is the top of the Eastern Division," Spurrier said. "That's where we hope to be, and certainly, statistically, we're much better than we've ever been around here. Especially on defense. We lost two close games and we're not going to have a decent year until we win those. We won a close one last week and we're going to play a lot of close ones. So we're not there winning the close ones yet.
"We're there competitive-wise, we don't go to the ballpark worrying somebody's going to blow out South Carolina anymore. We're just concerned with making a play or two to win the game. That's where we are competitive-wise. I certainly think we can improve there. Where we want to be is winning an SEC someday."
With three straight wins and a renewed confidence, USC gets a chance to get back on that track on Saturday. The Gamecocks may already be too far gone to realistically challenge for the SEC, but the chance, however slight, is still there.
"We've got to keep it going," defensive end
Clifton Geathers said. "Got to keep on going. We're on a goal to get to the SEC championship."
COMMITMENT LEVEL: Getting to the point of challenging for constant SEC titles will take a concerted commitment level, as Spurrier has preached since he took the job. On Tuesday, he again stressed the Gamecocks are still working on getting to that height.
Not that the team is ripped with dissension and laziness -- it's just that some players are still having trouble getting their acts together.
"W have 85 on scholarship and about 20, 25 walk-on players who do a super job also, very good job," Spurrier said. "They all have a little different level of commitment.
"You wish that all of them were 100 percent. We do have a lot of 100 percent guys. We have some 95 percenters, some 90, and then out of 85, you have about your eight 50-60 percent guys. You have to … you either weed them out or let them know that's not going to work here. We're still working on it, still working on got to weed them out somehow, let them transfer, go somewhere else or get with the program."
Spurrier used his hands to illustrate where the commitment level needed to be, stretching his arms above his head. The lowest point was just south of his chin.
"Walk-on kids, they don't miss anything. They're the 100 percent guys," Spurrier said. "Some of the lazy scholarship guys, you're right, the commitment level's just not what you need. You hope to change it and a lot of them will change over time, but if they don't after a while, you've just got to file them or put them on the scout team and when renewal time comes up, sometimes you just have to say, 'We don't have room for you now, you can't get with our program.' If they can't get with your program, then you have a reason to not renew them. Pretty simple. Guy won't go to workouts, won't do this. He doesn't have any reason to complain if he's not renewed."
BIG HITS: After Geathers and
Chris Culliver each caused turnovers last week, leading to a combined 81 return yards and a touchdown, Spurrier credited the defense's increased emphasis on turnovers. The hard knocks that have helped out – including
Akeem Auguste's headhunting hit that turned a completion into a dropped pass – were also rewarded.
"I know (defensive coordinator
Ellis Johnson) and the defensive coaches emphasize turnovers, and we really haven't gotten that many until last week," Spurrier said. "I guess Culliver hit the guy on about the 5-yard line, and E. Cook scooped it up. And then Clifton Geathers, the quarterback had the ball in one way, I don't know if he was getting ready to throw it or not, but Clifton was able to knock it out, and (
Nathan Pepper) picked it up and scored."
Pepper's touchdown, the first in three tries where something horrible didn't happen to the player afterward, was a bright spot. Spurrier pointed out that against Kentucky last year,
Eric Norwood turned the tide with two fumble returns for touchdowns, but the Gamecocks also had a Pepper-y play.
"
Weslye Saunders catches that little pass, runs down there," Spurrier said. "He didn't really let up, but he could sense the guy was behind him. His coach Ray (Rychleski) said he should've just covered it up and sprinted into the end zone. I said, 'Well, of course he should have.'
"But he just lumbered in there, and their guy poked it out, and it was their ball on the 20-yard line. So hopefully we've learned to sprint through the end zone. Although, was it two weeks ago,
Brian Maddox didn't really sprint through, and raised the ball at about the 3-yard line. So maybe he got the message that's not the way we want to play around here, because he didn't play last week. But maybe this week he'll be back in there."
TURNOVER BATTLE: Ole Miss' three turnovers last week pushed USC to No. 100 nationally in turnover margin, peaking this week at –5. Vanderbilt remained No. 1 nationally at +9.
Coincidentally, the Commodores remain statistically the worst offensive team in the SEC and the tenth-lowest defensive unit. Yet, they're undefeated.
"But the team with fewer turnovers, it seems like that statistic is almost the most important now," Spurrier said. "It used to be the team that has the most rushing yards always wins the game. But I believe it's come down to the turnovers, I really do."
PALMETTO POWER: Kentucky coach
Rich Brooks has habitually scoured South Carolina for football talent, as evidenced by the nine Palmetto State natives on his roster.
Antwane Glenn (Pacolet/Broome High School),
Calvin Harrison (Columbia/Richland Northeast),
Ventrell Jenkins (Columbia/Columbia),
Matt Lentz (Simpsonville/Greenville),
Gene McCaskill (Chester/Chester),
Cartier Rice (Duncan/Byrnes), Donte Rumph (St. Matthews/Calhoun County),
Antonio Thomas (Cowpens/Broome) and
Taylor Wyndham (Swansea/Swansea) all hail from the state.
"Atlanta's another city that they hit pretty hard," Spurrier said. "They've gone pretty much all through the south and probably up north some also."
In addition, Wildcats running backs coach
Larry Brinson coached four years at Clemson; defensive line coach
Rick Petri coached defensive ends for three years at USC; and offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach/head-coach-in-waiting
Joker Phillips coached at USC for one year.
NERVOUS?: Spurrier was asked about his history against Kentucky, a glittering 15-0 record. It was a pertinent query, considering Vanderbilt showed up at Williams-Brice Stadium last year and beat Spurrier for the first time.
Spurrier said history wasn't a factor, that the players would win or lose the game. Then he brought out another of his famous tales about a time he was extremely nervous about playing Kentucky.
"In fact, you talk about a nervous bunch of guys, we're playing Kentucky, to win the first-ever SEC championship, officially, in Florida history, in 1991, and it's the last conference championship that was decided at a home field," Spurrier said. "Because now, they have the championship game in Atlanta, of course. So anyway, I think we were 35-point favorites. They came down there (0-5) in the conference and we were 6-0. We only played seven back then. So we raced out to a 28-7 halftime lead and our defensive guys, I guess, started thinking about the party that night or whatever.
"But they had a quarterback, Pookie Jones, and he just ran up and down the field. Next thing I know, it's 28-26, and there's seven minutes left in the game. They kicked off and we got a hands to the facemask, right at the end of the play or something, and we had first-and-25. And we couldn't stop them. We couldn't stop them and there were seven minutes left. Shane Matthews was the quarterback and we hit a couple of little passes and it was like third-and-6 and Errict Rhett came out of the backfield and they had a little line stunt, had a guy coming right at Shane Matthews. And Errict could have run a right or a left or hooked up. And Shane threw it, fortunately, he hooked up, hit him, and he carried the ball about 2 yards for the first down. And after that, we ran the clock down to a minute and scored to win 35-26 at the end of the game.
"But that was a nervous time right there against Kentucky. So that's that story."
AND ON THE SILLY SIDE: Spurrier was asked if he paid any attention to sports talk radio or the Internet. He said no and wasn't aware that he was an idiot one week and a genius the next, according to some message boards.
"I turn it to the country music station and then my CDs, mostly," Spurrier said. "I know I'm not a genius. And I know why it works and why it doesn't work. I know it's looked ugly, it's looked ugly, I'm just thankful it's not as ugly as maybe these other schools right now. There's a lot of ugly offenses out there."
Asked later on about his favorite country CD, Spurrier listed Kenny Chesney as one of the most recent artists he's heard.
"Oh, I had Kenny Chesney on the other night," Spurrier said. "So I called him, somebody told me he picked us to win (Chesney was a guest on "ESPN Gameday" last week in Nashville, Tenn., and picked the Gamecocks over Ole Miss). Good to have somebody that picks you occasionally.
"I had one of his own recently, but I got a whole bunch of them. (Chris) Matlock, our equipment manager, gets them free, so he passes them out all the time to Jamie (Speronis) and I think Charles Waddell … you get any?"
Waddell, on the side of the room, shook his head.
"We got some down there for you," Spurrier said.
BIG 12 VS. SEC: The Big 12 and SEC have a combined 11 of the Top 20 teams in this week's The Associated Press poll. Spurrier was asked about some comparisons that have the Big 12 challenging the SEC for conference supremacy.
"Big 12's got a bunch of undefeated teams, don't they?," Spurrier replied. "But they haven't played each other yet. So once they start playing each other, there's a good chance everybody will have one loss maybe this year.
"Maybe Oklahoma can run the table. They appear to be the best team to me. They've clobbered everybody. They got Texas this week and there's a lot of good teams in the Big 12 this year, it appears."
INJURIES: The only significant ding-up was to tight end Jared Cook, who has a sprained ankle but should be fine for the game. Third-string quarterback Tommy Beecher strained his back during a recent weightlifting session, so if he can't travel to Kentucky,
Zac Brindise could perhaps get to go.
