THE OPENING MONOLOGUE: Football.
It’s game week.
The Gamecocks open the 2019 season against UNC in Charlotte on Saturday, and this season promises to be – if nothing else – interesting. The storylines packed into this year’s campaign are plentiful, and Will Muschamp and his staff will balance what should be his best team in Columbia against the nation’s most difficult schedule.
Let’s be clear: perhaps the slate of teams that South Carolina will see this season should play a huge role in terms of where to project the Gamecocks finishing this year from a wins and losses standpoint. This is a schedule that would give the nation’s elite teams fits. How many programs across the country could get through this one completely unscathed, and substantially so? Look around you’ll see a schedule full of potential stumbling blocks; a few at the peak of college football and many others also in the midst of their own improvement. There are not many schools on the roster one could point to as being substantially “worse” than the 2018 version.
Yet this season is also the time for South Carolina’s program to make a move. The losing streak against Kentucky must end. A signature win (i.e. an upset of a ranked opponent) would do wonders for this program, the fan base, and potentially, for the staff’s recruiting efforts.
It will undoubtedly be fun, and our staff here at GamecockCentral.com cannot wait to capture it for everyone as best we can.
With so many subplots this year, it’s difficult to tell how things will shake out. Perhaps Will Muschamp was prophetic when he mentioned – more than once - this phrase at his Tuesday press conference: Expect the unexpected.
Either way, let’s play some football.
TWO: A look back at the last battle between the Gamecocks and Tar Heels.
Four seasons ago, the Gamecock team that ended up going 3-9 was able to knock off a quality UNC team – one that reached the ACC title game - in the opener in Charlotte.
Perhaps the primary reason? That would be Skai Moore, who racked up 11 tackles on the night and tormented Tar Heels quarterback Marquise Williams with a pair of back-breaking interceptions.
I’ve been checking out some Gamecock broadcasts from the last several years in order to brush up on some recent history, and man, was Skai Moore a good player in this game and so many others. We’ll get to his two infamous picks of Williams momentarily, but first check out the type of plays that made him so good.
Here’s a tackle on a zone read play that illustrates his instincts.
Here’s an open-field stick of Williams.
Moore’s first red-zone pick came on picture-perfect zone coverage:
The second pick came after a succession of plays that saw star running back Elijah Hood sit on the bench, clearly frustrated. The Gamecocks forced a third down, and UNC put Hood back into the game as a blocker. Then Moore did it again.
THREE: Meeting with the president
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to meet with the university’s president, Bob Caslen. We sat for about a half hour and discussed a number of topics that mainly, in one way or another, pertained to athletics and his role as university president in fostering success.
GamecockCentral.com will be publishing a multi-part series next week with Caslen’s comments in full. For now, here are a few takeaways, although fair warning that I’ll reserve most of it for our full interview feature.
- Caslen had familiarity with Harris Pastides since both served on the NCAA’s Board of Directors and Board of Governors. Caslen said that he would always try to sit next to Pastides at the horseshoe-formatted table to pick his brain.
- Caslen is a former offensive center for Army, and one part of our conversation revolved around how the game and resources for players had evolved. He recalled that players would go to class on Saturday before home games – he took a physics test on the morning of a game against top-ranked Notre Dame. Players also didn’t do a lot of weight lifting or specialized nutrition then.
- I asked President Caslen about his gameday routine for Gamecock home games, and he said that he would watch the entire game from the sidelines if he could. Aside from entertaining people as part of his duties as president, he said he would definitely make his way to the sideline and also hit the locker room afterwards to encourage players and coaches.
- Listening to the president’s thoughts on how he watches the game of football was interesting. He referred to the running game as the “running program” and said that his eyes are always on the line of scrimmage.
- I mentioned to the president about the research that indicates that athletic success translates to more applicants to a university and greater interest overall. In his mind, how important are athletics to the success of a university?
“I see it as hugely important,” he said. Those aren’t theories, those are facts. If you’re a winner, people want to be part of a winning team. That’s what America likes, they want to be on a winning team.”
Honestly, I had more questions I wanted to ask the president, but his schedule is jam-packed and he was already gracious enough to give me some time in the midst of his day. After we had wrapped up and I was on my way out of the office, he had one more thing on his mind.
“You didn’t ask me about ice cream,” he said, referring to his tradition at West Point of hosting ice cream parties at his home for Army teams that defeated rival Navy.
I told him it had been on my list and just didn’t get to it, but did wonder if it would be ice cream or something like pizza at South Carolina. Confirmed: it’s an ice cream party.
“The real objective I have is, any team that beats Clemson is going to celebrate excellence. Excellence is beating Clemson.”
FOUR: Local spotlight.
Speaking of ice cream…
I’ve been meaning to run by The Baked Bear in Five Points for some time, and this week’s trip downtown lined up the timing just right.
If you like the idea of a cookie sandwich – two warmed cookies (different kinds if you’d like) with ice cream jammed in the middle, well, it may be your jam.
I know it was mine.
It’s game week.
The Gamecocks open the 2019 season against UNC in Charlotte on Saturday, and this season promises to be – if nothing else – interesting. The storylines packed into this year’s campaign are plentiful, and Will Muschamp and his staff will balance what should be his best team in Columbia against the nation’s most difficult schedule.
Let’s be clear: perhaps the slate of teams that South Carolina will see this season should play a huge role in terms of where to project the Gamecocks finishing this year from a wins and losses standpoint. This is a schedule that would give the nation’s elite teams fits. How many programs across the country could get through this one completely unscathed, and substantially so? Look around you’ll see a schedule full of potential stumbling blocks; a few at the peak of college football and many others also in the midst of their own improvement. There are not many schools on the roster one could point to as being substantially “worse” than the 2018 version.
Yet this season is also the time for South Carolina’s program to make a move. The losing streak against Kentucky must end. A signature win (i.e. an upset of a ranked opponent) would do wonders for this program, the fan base, and potentially, for the staff’s recruiting efforts.
It will undoubtedly be fun, and our staff here at GamecockCentral.com cannot wait to capture it for everyone as best we can.
With so many subplots this year, it’s difficult to tell how things will shake out. Perhaps Will Muschamp was prophetic when he mentioned – more than once - this phrase at his Tuesday press conference: Expect the unexpected.
Either way, let’s play some football.
TWO: A look back at the last battle between the Gamecocks and Tar Heels.
Four seasons ago, the Gamecock team that ended up going 3-9 was able to knock off a quality UNC team – one that reached the ACC title game - in the opener in Charlotte.
Perhaps the primary reason? That would be Skai Moore, who racked up 11 tackles on the night and tormented Tar Heels quarterback Marquise Williams with a pair of back-breaking interceptions.
I’ve been checking out some Gamecock broadcasts from the last several years in order to brush up on some recent history, and man, was Skai Moore a good player in this game and so many others. We’ll get to his two infamous picks of Williams momentarily, but first check out the type of plays that made him so good.
Here’s a tackle on a zone read play that illustrates his instincts.
Here’s an open-field stick of Williams.
Moore’s first red-zone pick came on picture-perfect zone coverage:
The second pick came after a succession of plays that saw star running back Elijah Hood sit on the bench, clearly frustrated. The Gamecocks forced a third down, and UNC put Hood back into the game as a blocker. Then Moore did it again.
THREE: Meeting with the president
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to meet with the university’s president, Bob Caslen. We sat for about a half hour and discussed a number of topics that mainly, in one way or another, pertained to athletics and his role as university president in fostering success.
GamecockCentral.com will be publishing a multi-part series next week with Caslen’s comments in full. For now, here are a few takeaways, although fair warning that I’ll reserve most of it for our full interview feature.
- Caslen had familiarity with Harris Pastides since both served on the NCAA’s Board of Directors and Board of Governors. Caslen said that he would always try to sit next to Pastides at the horseshoe-formatted table to pick his brain.
- Caslen is a former offensive center for Army, and one part of our conversation revolved around how the game and resources for players had evolved. He recalled that players would go to class on Saturday before home games – he took a physics test on the morning of a game against top-ranked Notre Dame. Players also didn’t do a lot of weight lifting or specialized nutrition then.
- I asked President Caslen about his gameday routine for Gamecock home games, and he said that he would watch the entire game from the sidelines if he could. Aside from entertaining people as part of his duties as president, he said he would definitely make his way to the sideline and also hit the locker room afterwards to encourage players and coaches.
- Listening to the president’s thoughts on how he watches the game of football was interesting. He referred to the running game as the “running program” and said that his eyes are always on the line of scrimmage.
- I mentioned to the president about the research that indicates that athletic success translates to more applicants to a university and greater interest overall. In his mind, how important are athletics to the success of a university?
“I see it as hugely important,” he said. Those aren’t theories, those are facts. If you’re a winner, people want to be part of a winning team. That’s what America likes, they want to be on a winning team.”
Honestly, I had more questions I wanted to ask the president, but his schedule is jam-packed and he was already gracious enough to give me some time in the midst of his day. After we had wrapped up and I was on my way out of the office, he had one more thing on his mind.
“You didn’t ask me about ice cream,” he said, referring to his tradition at West Point of hosting ice cream parties at his home for Army teams that defeated rival Navy.
I told him it had been on my list and just didn’t get to it, but did wonder if it would be ice cream or something like pizza at South Carolina. Confirmed: it’s an ice cream party.
“The real objective I have is, any team that beats Clemson is going to celebrate excellence. Excellence is beating Clemson.”
FOUR: Local spotlight.
Speaking of ice cream…
I’ve been meaning to run by The Baked Bear in Five Points for some time, and this week’s trip downtown lined up the timing just right.
If you like the idea of a cookie sandwich – two warmed cookies (different kinds if you’d like) with ice cream jammed in the middle, well, it may be your jam.
I know it was mine.
