Scott Davis: The season that never took flight

Scott has followed South Carolina athletics for over 40 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective. He writes a weekly newsletter (sign up here) year-round and a column during football season that’s published each Monday on GamecockCentral.

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You ever been stuck at an airport during a flight delay?

It’s one of the worst things that can happen to you as a human being. First, you’re mildly annoyed. Then you’re bored. And then those uncontrollable thoughts start to creep in: Wait a minute, what if I never get home? What if this is it? What if I’m stuck in this godforsaken waiting area for the rest of my life? What if I have to eat refrigerated tuna sandwiches and Cheez-Its from the airport magazine rack forever?

It starts with an innocent-sounding announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, the crew operating your flight is running juuuuuuuust a bit behind. We’ll have you in the air in a few moments!”

A few moments go by. You are not in the air. You’re not even lining up to get in the air.

Then you drift into that interminable “Death By 30-Minute Increments” Vortex, where the airline keeps pushing back the departure time by 30 minutes, then when the 30 minutes elapses, they push it back another 30, then they do it again, and again, and again. Before you know what’s happened, an entire afternoon has drifted by and suddenly you’re being handed a voucher to stay at an airport Hampton Inn for the night, with promises to get you on the first flight out in the morning.

But you’re ready to fly now. You already stood in the security line. You already dealt with grumpy airline employees while checking your baggage. You already ate a mediocre cheeseburger at a chain restaurant. All you want to do in the world is go home. And you can’t.

In many ways, this season of South Carolina football has felt like one of those long airport afternoons. The plane just never got off the ground.

We kept waiting for something – anything – to happen that might spark us to grab our carry-on bag and go stand in line to get ready for takeoff, but it never came. The departure time kept getting pushed back…and pushed back…and pushed back again.

And now, the Gamecocks are 2-6 with four games to play, and if they lose any one of those four, we’ll be handed a voucher and a smiling assurance that we’ll get out on the first flight next season.

But what about this season?

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South Carolina fans were so ready to soar above the clouds in 2023. This was, by far, the most-anticipated, most-discussed, most-hyped season since the Spurrier heyday. We wanted to fly this season, not at some vague and possibly mythical departure date in the future.

We did everything we were supposed to do.

We overwhelmed Charlotte for that season opener against North Carolina. We bought tickets by the tens of thousands for this year’s home games at Williams-Brice Stadium. We talked and chattered and obsessed over this football team starting in January and continuing all the way into September.

By the second half of that first game in Bank of America Stadium, though, it started to slowly dawn on many of us that we wouldn’t be taking off anytime soon. It didn’t matter how ready we were to get up in the air.

We were stuck on the ground and might be staying that way for a while.

Week after week, we’ve remained there.

South Carolina – as they’ve done for much of this troubled season – fought and scrapped and hung around on Saturday in College Station before ultimately succumbing 30-17 to a heavily favored Texas A&M. They played with effort and honor and dignity. And for the fourth week in a row, they headed back to the locker room without a victory.

Coming into this game, the team’s margin for error to salvage this season was razor-thin. It is now nonexistent.

The math is now so simple even I can understand it: If the Gamecocks lose again, they aren’t going to a postseason bowl game. And this season will, therefore, be officially slotted into the “Wildly Disappointing” category, with no hope of reclassification.

It’s not what any of us expected back during those giddy first few days of September. But the clock is ticking. There’s not much daylight left. Our opportunities to get in the air are dwindling.

And it’s beginning to become clear that this waiting room might be our home for the foreseeable future.

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The Taylor Swift Game Balls of the Week

We named the weekly Game Balls after Taylor Swift last week because she’s had a better 2023 than South Carolina football has, and since nothing about that statement has changed after a week, we’re keeping it that way. Let’s toss out a few Game Balls to…

Taylor Swift – She released a new version of her greatest album, “1989,” this week and her concert film “Taylor Swift: The Eras” officially became the highest-grossing concert film of all time. You can’t take away the Game Balls from her – not right now.

Nyck Harbor – South Carolina freshman receiver Harbor entered the season as one of the highest-ranked recruits the Gamecocks had signed in recent years. Saturday, he finally got multiple opportunities to make an impact, and he responded with six catches. Here’s hoping it’s the beginning of a fruitful career in garnet and black for him.

Ice Cream as a Healing Solution – After the game, I found myself driving towards my neighborhood Cold Stone Creamery as though in daze. I’m not entirely sure I even remember driving there. Before I could stop myself, I’d ordered scoops of both of Cold Stone’s two fall seasonal flavors, Caramel Apple and Pumpkin Bread Batter. This is one of those football seasons where you have to pull out all the stops just to survive.

Hanging Around – It’s better than getting blown out. Right?

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South Carolina-Texas A&M Deflated Balls

South Carolina lost on Saturday to fall to 2-6. In other words…yes, there are a few Deflated Balls to pass out. Let’s get this over with.

Intentional Grounding – On a week when the Gamecocks’ season started to remind me of being stuck on the ground and unable to fly, it was only fitting that South Carolina was flagged for intentional grounding on three different occasions. Those kinds of penalties might as well be turnovers. Just deadly.

Jealousy – Watching footage of the ecstatic Kansas locker room after the Jayhawks stunned previously undefeated Oklahoma, I realized I was absolutely seething with jealousy. My body was aflame with envy. Obviously, that’s not a place you want to find yourself as a fan. In both of Shane Beamer’s first two seasons at South Carolina, we got to enjoy similar locker room celebrations after the Gamecocks upset one of the college football elites. I miss everything about those scenes – the dancing, the uproarious speech from the coach, the hugs, the smiles, and all the ensuing memes and videos that start popping up on social media. It’s hard to believe it hasn’t even been a full year since we watched those two shocking wins to close the 2022 season, because it feels like that happened in 1977.

Injuries Becoming the Defining Storyline of the 2023 South Carolina Football Season – What else can you say at this point? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like this. It is literally the very first thing I’ll think of when I look back on this season in the future.

Playing Texas A&M, Apparently for the Rest of Our Lives – Can anyone tell me why this is happening?

Me, for Not Really Feeling Any Better After a Hard-Fought Loss Than I Did Last Week after an Ugly Beating – These losses are all starting to run together for me now. They all feel lousy. Close losses, devastating nailbiters, blowouts, sloppy meltdowns, hard-fought slugfests: I haven’t enjoyed any of them. Of course, I always want the Gamecocks to give everything they have on the field, and they definitely did that Saturday against Texas A&M. I appreciate that this team hasn’t surrendered, and I hope they keep fighting until the season finally ends. But when you’re 2-6, it’s hard to find even a shred of solace in a loss – even one where the team’s effort was high.

Because at the end of the day, when you’re 2-6…you’re 2-6.

At a certain point, it starts ceasing to matter how you got here. All you know is that you’re stuck on the ground, and you aren’t getting in the air anytime soon.

In a season that Gamecock fans had circled and awaited and looked towards for months, we’re still in the waiting room and wondering when we’ll get to board the plane.

We were ready to reach for the stars.

But this flight never got in the air.

Tell me how you’re feeling as South Carolina heads for the stretch run by writing me at [email protected].

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