Scott Davis: The fight for the future

Scott Davis has followed the South Carolina football program for more than 40 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective each Monday during the season. Scott also writes a weekly newsletter that’s emailed each Friday; sign up here to receive it.

Amidst all the scuffling, pushing, shoving, jersey-pulling and the overall air of scrappiness that pervaded the football field at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville on Saturday night, the South Carolina Gamecocks were engaged in a much larger, much more important fight than the one against the Vanderbilt Commodores.

It was a fight for the future of the South Carolina football program.

By winning in Music City on Saturday, the Gamecocks could secure their second straight year of bowl eligibility in as many seasons under the still-young Shane Beamer regime. And while many traditionally successful college football programs view yearly bowl eligibility as but a starting point, for these Gamecocks it would be another notable step in the right direction if they could manage to keep playing on into the postseason.

Six wins mattered. I woke up Saturday morning knowing it mattered. And I couldn’t wait for the game to finally end on Saturday night with South Carolina still leading as triple zeros hit the scoreboard, because I wanted that sixth victory perhaps more than I’ve ever wanted a sixth victory in my decades as a Gamecock fan.

Six wins would mean 15 extra practices for a team that needs them. It would mean another game for the Gamecock players who were in their final years of eligibility. It would mean the fans might have a championship of sorts to celebrate during the winter.

Most crucially, it would mean there would be continued forward progress for a previously spiraling program, the climbing of yet another rung on the ladder, the laying of another brick in the foundation for a team and a fanbase that seemed to be in ruins after the final two seasons under former coach Will Muschamp produced a 6-16 freefall that left fans with little reason to hope for better days.

If you’re an Alabama fan, clinching bowl eligibility means little.

But if you’re a fan of this school at this time under this coaching staff, six wins means we’re all still on the pathway to a better future – the very same path we believed we were on when we started the 2022 season.

With three very difficult games upcoming after the one in Nashville, the future was at stake on Saturday night. That’s all. Just the future.

After a hard-fought 38-27 victory over the Commodores, Beamer acknowledged the players and coaches could feel a cloud of “doom and gloom” permeating the atmosphere around the program, and encouraged fans to “find some joy” with another win now in the books.

As someone who definitely felt a little gloomy and a little doomy following South Carolina’s deflating 23-10 upset loss to Missouri in front of a sold-out Williams-Brice Stadium crowd who was ready to shower the team in celebration, I am taking him up on the challenge.

I’m finding some joy in this win.

I’m finding some joy in six victories, bowl-game berths and in hope itself.

Yes, I acknowledge it all: I acknowledge that this program isn’t sprinting back to glory, like Tennessee appears to be. I acknowledge that this team can still frustrate its fans with flat performances that seem to drop out of the sky, and with inconsistent play, and with a strange fondness for being penalized. I acknowledge that both the offense and the defense can appear utterly different from week to week.

I acknowledge it all.

But I can find joy, too.

I can find a great deal of joy.

Can we take a moment and remember the way we felt on Saturday, December 5, 2020, just after the Gamecocks put the finishing touches on a dreadful 2-8, firing-of-the-coach-during-the-season campaign that ended in Lexington with a 41-18 loss to Kentucky?

Had someone shown up on my doorstep that night and said, “I can promise you, right now, that you will go to a bowl game in the next two seasons. Will you find joy in this?”

I would have answered, “Much joy.”

And so I do find joy in this win.

After nine games of the 2022 season, the future we hoped we were building when fall practice began back in August is still attainable.

And it may still await us yet.

The “Joy-Producing Consecutive Seasons of Bowl Eligibility” Game Balls of the Week

No matter what happens in these final three games, the Gamecocks’ win in Nashville on Saturday allowed the South Carolina program to secure itself a positive storyline and an off-season narrative that encompasses momentum, steady progress and a forward march into the future. That much is undeniable. Even if us fans occasionally find ourselves saying things to each other like “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” and other bromides that are designed to make us stay focused on joy. That’s why our first Game Ball is joyfully hurled in the direction of…

Two Straight Holiday Seasons That Involve the Gamecocks Playing in a Bowl Game – At some point in the last five years, I realized that after a lifetime of complaining about the absurdly large number of meaningless bowl games during December and January, I had made peace with college football’s strange, singular way of ending each season with a series of exhibitions that hold no real purpose.

After all, shouldn’t we be encouraging more football rather than less football? And when you’re forced to stand around at holiday functions with people that you don’t particularly know very well, wouldn’t you rather be doing that with a meaningless college football game blaring in the background (even if that game is being held in Shreveport, Lousiana)? And if these bowl games are going to be held – and they are going to – don’t I want the South Carolina Gamecocks to be playing in them? I sure do. And now, for the second straight year, they will be. After 6-16 in 2019 and 2020, that means something to me.

Spencer Rattler – The Gamecock quarterback’s final numbers may not have been eye-popping (16-for-23 for 186 yards), but he threw for three touchdowns, slung the ball downfield with as much authority as he has while wearing a garnet and black uniform and in general looked comfortable and in command of the offense. It’s been an up-and-down ride for Rattler after he made news nationally by transferring to South Carolina back during the off-season, but in the end, his team will be playing in its second consecutive bowl game and his performance on Saturday night helped secure that opportunity.

Not Having to Endure Another Week of Controversy About Gamecock Offensive Players Who “Aren’t Getting Enough Touches” – The South Carolina offense featured production from a large number of players in the win against Vanderbilt, ultimately resulting in a 38-point explosion and 492 total yards. With star running back MarShawn Lloyd sidelined with an injury, the Gamecocks had little choice but to include almost everybody in the offensive game plan – a development that came at the perfect moment after the Missouri loss led to a week of news stories, social media eruptions and message board posts about Gamecock players who, apparently, “weren’t getting enough touches.” South Carolina tight end-turned-running back Jaheim Bell (a notable “not getting enough touches” guy) got all kinds of touches on the night to the tune of 16 carries, while Dakereon Joyner threw for 82 yards and a touchdown and Josh Vann added a TD grab. Touches galore!

Beamer Ball 2.0!!!! Again!!!! – The Beamer Ball cliché can’t stop, won’t stop in 2022. The Gamecocks came up with yet another electrifying special teams moment with a fake field goal that resulted in a completed pass to defensive lineman Tonka Hemingway, who rumbled for a first down. That kept alive a drive that concluded with a South Carolina touchdown. I can’t Beamer Ball 2.0 hard enough.

South Carolina-Vanderbilt Deflated Balls

Believe it or not, when I watch my football team give up 454 total yards, 226 rushing yards and 27 points to the Vanderbilt Commodores, I do have a few Deflated Balls to hand out…even if I’ve found some joy in the win. Let’s get this done.

South Carolina’s Suddenly Struggling Run Defense – Many fans were stunned to watch the Gamecock defense pushed around so thoroughly by a heretofore underwhelming Missouri, especially after the unit had led the way during the team’s two-game SEC winning streak over a couple of longtime tormentors. And unfortunately, the D didn’t exactly quell those concerns with its performance in Nashville on Saturday night. The Commodore offense – no one’s idea of a juggernaut or high-octane machine – moved the ball at will for much of the evening. Particularly discouraging was watching just how easily Vandy’s offense rushed the football at, around and through the Gamecock defense to the ugly tune of 5.5 yards per rush (with Vandy running back Ray Davis compiling 167 yards at a 8.1-yard-per-carry clip). The offenses of Florida, Tennessee and Clemson await you. Yikes.

Penalties Aplenty…Again, and Again, and Again – Yellow is this team’s favorite color. In the midst of a 2022 season that certainly seems like it has included an astonishing number of high-penalty games from South Carolina, the Gamecocks were flagged a staggering 12 times for 115 yards against Vanderbilt. Neither team delivered a particularly disciplined effort on Saturday, which leads us to…

Pushing, Shoving, Yapping and Scrapping – Am I crazy or did it seem like these two teams absolutely hated each other? Nearly every play seemed to end with someone somewhere holding the jersey of someone on the opposing team and yelling directly into their facemask. The first half concluded with the bulk of the players from both benches gathering near the tunnel to bounce around and scream things at each other. A few punches got thrown throughout the evening. With the Alabama-LSU and Clemson-Notre Dame games happening at the same time (not to mention the World Series), I occasionally felt like the only person in America watching South Carolina-Vanderbilt. But the two teams on the field sure seemed like they cared about the outcome.

As for me, I cared about the outcome, too – quite a bit, in fact, and maybe more than I realized I would.

Six wins means we are still playing during the holidays.

It means I’ll have something to distract me from endless Christmas functions that seem like they may last forever.

And it means that a brighter future is still in play for this program and this fan base.

That’s enough for me to find some joy. How about you?

Tell me how you’re feeling after South Carolina’s bowl-securing victory by writing me at [email protected].

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