Scott Davis: Gamecocks need greed during this Thanksgiving season

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

Following is this week’s Scott Davis newsletter. To receive it each Friday, sign up here.

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We’re supposed to be grateful for what we have at this time of year.

And friends, I am. I truly am.

I’m thankful for my health. I’m thankful for my family. I’m thankful to have a roof over my head. I’m thankful for you. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

And now that we’ve got that gratitude stuff out of that way, can we talk about what we want? What we need? What we deserve?

South Carolina football has already surpassed all of our wildest hopes, dreams and expectations in 2024. We’ve already gotten a lot more than any of us believed we would – this was supposed to be the year we’d struggle to go bowling against an impossible schedule, remember?

Yet 11 games in, not only are we definitely going bowling, but the Gamecocks are also threatening to keep playing football for a long while. In every respect, this team has been a joy to watch, to root for and to savor, and I for one am thankful to have experienced this giddy season.

So I ask you: Is it wrong to want even more?

It’s not.

As the season of gratitude swells to its peak, I want the Gamecocks to get greedy. I want them to take what’s rightfully theirs, by force. I want them to steal back ownership of the rivalry with Clemson, to make life very difficult on all of the analysts and commissioners and computers who will decide the makeup of the College Football Playoff.

November’s drawing to a close, and there is much for which we can be thankful.

But right now, it’s not gratitude that we need more of, but greed.

My Thanksgiving wish for South Carolina football is that we live by the immortal words of the great 1980s philosopher, Gordon Gekko.

The iron is hot. Let’s strike.

Because right now, greed is good.

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Never Enough

Several years ago, when one of Will Muschamp’s teams unexpectedly won eight games leading into rivalry week, I wrote a Gamecock Central column entitled “Eight is Enough.”

I argued that no matter what happened the rest of the way, the season was an unqualified success and should be treated as such. Eight wins! Who could have imagined? Let’s celebrate and feel good regardless, I urged.

Part of the column’s impetus came from my near certainty that South Carolina was getting ready to lose to its old archrival (which the Gamecocks did quite handily). Part of it, we must acknowledge, came from the fact that I liked the tidiness of the headline “Eight is Enough.” And part of it was that I did and still believe that we shouldn’t let any one loss prevent us from hailing the achievements that have already come.

Eight wins is a good season, then and now, especially in the SEC.

But looking back on it now, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting summation of the Muschamp years than this – the idea that we should never allow our expectations to soar too high or our dreams to get too big. It felt like we’d constructed an imaginary ceiling for what was possible at South Carolina, that we were afraid to let ourselves hope for much more than eight wins and a decent bowl game. Wasn’t that about as good as it was going to get?

Those days feel long gone now.

Like Muschamp, Shane Beamer won eight games in his second season at South Carolina, but for reasons that are difficult to articulate, it simply felt different than it did during the Muschamp Era. It felt like the start of something, the beginning rather than the climax of the journey. It felt like we’d only just scratched the surface of what might be possible under this coach at this time.

That’s why last season’s dip to 5-7 felt so jarring – this was supposed to be a steady rise to the top for our program.

Now that the Gamecocks stand on the precipice of the College Football Playoff after a thrilling five-game winning streak that has electrified the fan base in ways unmatched since Steve Spurrier roamed the sidelines, the narrative of the steady rise is taking root again.

It feels like there is more to be done, more to hope for, more to take. It once again feels like this is the beginning of something, not the summit.

It feels like there will be time for gratitude when the journey is over.

But the journey isn’t over.

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Eat, Drink and Be Merry

There’s a flipside to the traditional Thanksgiving celebrations of appreciation and gratefulness.

For a day devoted to sober-minded reflections on gratitude, Thanksgiving also features the year’s most unhinged celebration of gluttony. It’s hard to reconcile the two things, but hey, that’s what makes America a great country – we can do everything all at once here.

We gorge while we do gratitude. We feast while we pray. We love our family and friends, and we stockpile carbs like grizzlies getting ready to hibernate for the winter.

Turkey and gravy and mashed potatoes and dressing aren’t enough. No, we also fill the plate with mac and cheese and green bean casserole and cranberry sauce and rolls and apps. Then instead of swearing off food for the next month, we pile a plate with pumpkin pie and pecan pie and cookies.

This isn’t just the season of thankfulness.

It’s the season for excess, too.

While we may be thankful for eight wins – and we absolutely are – we also shouldn’t feel sheepish about unloosening the belt buckle and unbuttoning our jeans so that we can go back for seconds and thirds and even fourths. Let’s keep eating until all the food’s gone.

Every great Thanksgiving eater knows that when that turkey and gravy starts settling down on your stomach like a brick sinking to the bottom of the ocean, that’s when you’ve really got to dig down dep.

That’s when you take a long breath, wipe the sweat from your brow and push more dressing in your mouth, then reach for another helping of mac and cheese. That’s the moment when champions are truly made.

And this is that moment for this football team. This is the time to get greedy.

Dinner’s ready, I’m hungry, and the hour is just right for a feast.

Tell me what you’re thankful for by writing me at [email protected].

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