Scott Davis: Hang on tight, this ride’s headed to the top

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 (sign up here) and a column during football season that’s published each Monday on GamecockCentral.com.

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I’m not ready to come down.

You’re not, either.

Right now, we’re high in the clouds, the view’s perfect and we can see five states from up here. Most of us didn’t think we’d be here, especially not at this lofty height. But here we are in the sky.

Again.

31-6, on the road in Lexington, Kentucky, against longtime nemesis Mark Stoops and the Wildcats? After a sputtering start at home against Old Dominion the previous week seemed to confirm many of the fears with which we’d entered the season?

Yes and yes. It’s OK to admit you didn’t see a beatdown of this magnitude coming. No one did. Most of us weren’t even expecting a hard-fought win, much less an evisceration.

But as the Gamecocks have done so many times since Shane Beamer took the reins of the football program before the 2021 season, the team electrified and unexpectedly delighted their fans right at the moment when many of us were wondering if the fun was officially over. Under Beamer, just as the darkness is building behind our eyes and we feel our limbs going numb, South Carolina delivers a shot of adrenaline directly to the heart.

Now we’re alert, awake, fully caffeinated and ready to run. A week ago, some of us wondered if even a minor bowl bid would be possible for South Carolina in 2024. Today, we’re prepping for College GameDay’s arrival to the Horseshoe for this Saturday’s showdown with LSU. Is your head spinning like mine is? Is your heart in your throat?

You’d think we’d be used to this by now, but who can ever get used to sunshine and rain, joy and pain, everything everywhere all at once?

This stuff stopped making sense two years ago. But it’s never stopped being entertaining and interesting.

I wrote about the program’s wild and woolly penchant for both mining the depths and soaring into the stratosphere during the Beamer Era in my newsletter leading into the Kentucky game this week. This isn’t exactly our little secret – it’s even something ESPN’s Kirk Herbrstreit compared to a roller coaster ride in a broadcast last year.

And as we know, roller coaster rides are punctuated by ups and downs.

But here’s the thing about roller coasters: As soon as they’re over, you always keep getting back in line to hop aboard them again. You forget there were moments along the way when your stomach was churning and your legs started to cramp and you just wanted a hug from your mom. All you remember is the rush. If you ride them enough, they turn you into an adrenaline junkie, craving that sweet high as the train creeps towards the pinnacle and the whole wide world comes into view.

Right now, after South Carolina’s defense thoroughly and emphatically emasculated Kentucky for four quarters, we’re all feeling like thrill-seekers and speed freaks. We’re Cruise in “Top Gun,” Gosling in “Drive,” all of the first astronauts in “The Right Stuff.” We are flying.

True, the Gamecock offense still seems like a work in progress (at best) after two weeks. And if South Carolina is to transform this season into something more than a cheap thrill, that offense will probably need to fully come alive at some point or another.

But for now, we’re enjoying the ride. Like it has so many times before, the Shane Beamer Experience – that reliable theme park attraction we can’t seem to get enough of – is lifting us towards the clouds. We can feel those butterflies rising in our stomachs and our insides seizing up.

We’re going up again.

Maybe this time we’ll stop the ride long enough to build ourselves a penthouse, move in for good and stay up here. After all, how can you beat this view?

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The Shane Beamer Experience Game Balls of the Week

True, true – sometimes the roller coaster leaves you feeling wobbly and weak at the knees, but you’ve gotta admit the ride’s exciting, right? Obviously, the ultimate goal is to get the South Carolina program at a place where it is moving steadily forward in the direction of championship contention and annual bowl appearances, rather than taking steps backwards followed by great leaps forward.

But in a weird way, I’m starting to enjoy the dramatic and theatrical quality that Gamecock football has attained during Beamer’s time at the controls. There’s no other way to say it: South Carolina football is interesting under Shane Beamer, and if you’ve followed this occasionally star-crossed program at its dullest and most lifeless moments, you know how important it can be for the team to seize the imagination of its fan base. We are, once again, seized. That’s why our first Experience Ball goes to…

Beamer’s Postgame Pride – As the fourth quarter wound on and it became apparent that South Carolina was indeed going to defeat the University of Kentucky in Lexington, I told my wife, “Coach Beamer’s about to tell us all that he can’t believe we ever doubted these guys.” And sure enough, during his on-field conversation with ABC sideline reporter Molly McGrath, a smiling and head-shaking Beamer said there had been “a lot of lazy narratives” surrounding South Carolina after the team barely escaped with a home win over Old Dominion. We’ve been through this journey so many times at this point that we now know what to expect from the coach after one of these show-stopping, season-turning wins. It’s become abundantly clear that he uses any doubt that seeps into the program from the outside as motivation and fuel to get his team focused. Hey, I’m all for it. Whatever it takes. In fact, let’s toss a Ball to…

Lazy Narratives – Isn’t this LSU team ready to finally play well after two sluggish weeks to start the season? Is South Carolina really ready for the main stage of ESPN’s College GameDay? (Somebody make sure Coach Beamer sees these Lazy Narratives – I want the Gamecocks to be frothing at the mouth by noon on Saturday).

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeefense – To the extent that any prognosticators, analysts and fans were optimistic about South Carolina’s chances in 2024, it was based on the athletic playmakers that had been assembled along the defense. And after two weeks, it is increasingly obvious that the Gamecock defense will give the team an opportunity to at least hang around and compete in every football game. South Carolina lived in Kentucky’s backfield all afternoon long, compiling five sacks and 11 tackles for loss, and holding the Wildcat offense to an anemic 183 total yards. UK’s quarterback Brock Vandagriff – a former five-star recruit who started his career at Georgia – suffered one of the most dreadful days by an SEC QB in recent memory, with a 3-for-10, 30-yard, one interception nightmare that will live in his mind and the minds of Big Blue Nation for years to come.

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Just Enough Offense – The Gamecocks certainly weren’t a high-octane offensive machine, either – they compiled just 252 total yards themselves. But running back Rocket Sanders broke off a few big runs to continue his ongoing efforts to resurrect the South Carolina rushing attack, and it was heartening to see a receiver – in this case, freshman Mazeo Bennett, who compiled three catches and a touchdown – stepping into a meaningful role.

Mark Stoops – After completely changing the course of the South Carolina-Kentucky series when he arrived to coach in Lexington, Mark Stoops had led the ‘Cats to seven wins in eight tries against the Gamecocks on that fateful day before the 2022 season when he gave an interview and mused about “stupid sunglasses and dancing.” Since then, UK is 0-3 against South Carolina. That interview is the gift that keeps on giving. I enjoyed the footage of yet another dance party in the Gamecock locker room following a Kentucky game, didn’t you?

GameDay’s Return to Columbia – It’s been a decade since ESPN brought the weekly road show to the Horseshoe, and if they’re coming, it can only mean that South Carolina football has some momentum. Occasionally, I’ll hear from fans who seem a little conflicted about GameDay’s arrival – there sometimes appears to be a vague belief amongst a few supporters that either the Gamecocks aren’t ready for the national stage or that the extra attention could cause the team to lose focus. But having the eyes of the nation turned towards the University of South Carolina can only be a net-positive for the program. Near the end of Beamer’s chat on the field with Molly McGrath after the game, he turned directly to the camera and – with delightful professional wrestler energy – shouted, “Williams-Brice Stadium needs to be freaking rocking Saturday!” It will be.

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Deflated Balls

It’s not my style to hand out too many Deflated Balls after I’ve watched my team win by 25 points on the road against a Mark Stoops-coached team, so I’ll simply toss a couple of Deflators to…

The Davis Décor Debacle – My wife does a wonderful job of keeping our home lively with seasonally appropriate décor throughout the year – ours is the kind of household where you can expect red, white and blue around the 4th and bunnies and carrots at Easter time. Typically, we feature a Gamecock football theme around the house during the month of September before shifting over to Halloween decorations by October 1. When we were hanging our Gamecock sign on the front door on Labor Day in the wake of South Carolina’s uneven performance against Old Dominion, I wondered aloud whether we should go directly to the Halloween stuff. Nope. Hold the ghosts.

My Superstitious Absurdities – During the break in the action during the third and fourth quarters, I went upstairs to change into more comfortable clothing and reached for a Gamecock T-shirt before pausing to consider that putting on the shirt before the game was officially over might “change the karma” and breathe sudden life into Kentucky. The very second I did this – I mean, the very second – I heard my wife screaming in ecstasy downstairs as Nick Emmanwori picked off a Kentucky pass and took it to the house to all but end the contest. It turns out that my shirt choices don’t actually affect the outcomes of football games after all. Who knew?

We’re only two games into a 12-game schedule, and already, this roller coaster ride has left us breathless. Adrenaline junkies like us like it this way. We always feel the need for speed. And speaking of what we need…

Williams-Brice Stadium needs to be freaking rocking Saturday.

It will be.

Tell me what your thoughts are after another thrilling, unexpected win by writing me at [email protected].

See what fans are saying about the Kentucky game on The Insiders Forum!