The University of South Carolina football team took another step forward in 2017. And while the team’s 8-4 record probably isn’t as impressive as it looks given the sad state of affairs in Knoxville and Gaineseville – it’s hard to argue that the program isn’t slowly but surely moving in the right direction.
Second-year head coach Will Muschamp has had plenty of praise heaped upon him for the job he’s done since coming to Columbia, and some of that praise is probably well-deserved.
Muschamp clearly wasn’t South Carolina’s first choice for its coaching vacancy in 2015, but as we’ve previously noted he staved off a potential recruiting disaster during his first few months on the job and has gradually reoriented the trajectory of the program – at least when it comes to wins and losses on the field.
Obviously much work remains to be done if South Carolina hopes to return to national prominence, though. The Gamecock offense – which was supposed to be the team’s strength this year – totally underwhelmed. South Carolina finished the season ranked No. 107 out of 129 FBS teams in total offense, No. 107 in rushing offense, No. 98 in scoring offense and No. 79 in passing offense.
Those outcomes are simply unacceptable, and frankly they should compel Muschamp to pursue other options at the offensive coordinator position.
But the truly “offensive” performance this season came from South Carolina’s fans …
We’ve written previously on the legendary coarseness of the Gamecock faithful, but the bad behavior at Williams-Brice Stadium this season was the worst we’ve ever seen – punctuated by an embarrassing meltdown during South Carolina’s latest blowout loss to its arch-rivals, the Clemson Tigers.
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(Via Travis Bell Photography)
Gamecock fans repeatedly hurled objects – including full beer cans and water bottles – at Clemson players during last weekend’s Palmetto Bowl, which the Tigers won for the fourth year in a row.
At one point things got so bad that Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney – whom this news site has consistently harangued – received a fifteen-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for complaining to officials about the projectiles being lobbed from the stands.
“It’s just disappointing to see that and it’s dangerous,” Swinney said after the game. “The refs have to do something about that.”
For once, we agree with Swinney …
South Carolina should have been penalized. And fans throwing bottles and beer cans should have been removed from the stadium. There’s just no place for that sort of behavior. And it is dangerous.
We get that this loss was deeply frustrating for Gamecock fans.
South Carolina had just climbed back into the national rankings after a three-year absence. Their team was playing in front of a sellout crowd at home (at night) – with a national television audience looking on. As the strains of Richard Strauss‘ Also sprach Zarathustra (a.k.a. “2001”) reverberated through the stadium, the stage was set for a potentially program-defining upset.
Then the Gamecocks laid another egg …
Of course frustration with the team’s on-field collapse wasn’t the sole motivation for what reporter Marcel Louis-Jacques correctly referred to as “one of the more objectively shameful performances from a fan base this season.” South Carolina fans began hurling projectiles at Clemson players during pregame warmups, and continued to hurl them throughout the first half of the game despite repeated warnings from the stadium’s public address announcer.
Have we seen worse behavior from fans in the past? Sure. Are Clemson fans innocent in this rivalry’s storied history? No. But this was bad. And even worse, hardly any Gamecock fans seemed willing to call their peers out for such a shameful display of poor sportsmanship …
Bottom line? South Carolina may very well be on the road back to national prominence under Muschamp. His team is young (70 percent of the team’s roster is comprised of freshmen and sophomores) and we believe a few tweaks to the offensive coaching staff could pay huge dividends. Also with the exception of Georgia, the SEC East is weaker than it has ever been – meaning if the Gamecocks can find a way to beat Kentucky they might be looking at guaranteed nine-win seasons for the foreseeable future.
But with all due respect to Gamecock Nation, it’s time to grow up and start showing a little bit of class …
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