The Greatest Gamecock Football Team Ever . . . For A Single Game

[uscg1984]

Let's have some fun during this sports lull:

Watching the 2012 Georgia game on Youtube recently, it occurred to me that Gamecock team, on that particular night, was probably the all-time greatest Gamecock football team in history. They weren't the greatest the next week or the week after that, but on that particular night, I think they would have beaten any team in the country and any other Gamecock team in history on their best days. For example, if the 2010 team played like they did on the day they beat Alabama and our 2012 team played like they did on the night they beat Georgia, the 2012 team wins.

That Georgia team was a legit national contender that year. They only lost one other game - a four point loss to eventual national champion Alabama in the SEC title game. And they came about one yard away from winning that game. But on that night in Williams-Brice, they were DESTROYED. The game was over by the end of the first quarter.

What say you? Who are some other contenders for this title? The '84 team on the night they beat FSU, the 2013 team on the night they beat Clemson, the '87 team on the day they destroyed NC State?

 

[SCGCock07]

I convinced myself the night of the UGA game in 2012 that we were a national championship team. The thing is, we were better than Notre Dame that year.

 

[uscusc1987]

Alot of people don't realize how close we were. Had we not given up the long pass at Tennessee in the final 30 seconds and let them kick a field goal to beat us we would have won the sec. Had we beat Alabama in Atlanta, (Georgia should have beat them if you remember the ending ) we would have played for the national championship.

 

[titaniumspur]

I was there and I agree. That Georgia team we destroyed was loaded with talent.

 

[flatwoodcock]

I was there and I agree. That Georgia team we destroyed was loaded with talent.

That just goes to show you that you can win without all 4 and 5 star players but you have to know how to coach.

 

[SpurCock78]

The day we beat UGA in 12 we were the best team in the country. We could have beat them by 50, but Spurrier played very conservative 2nd half.

We have had other big wins, but nothing as dominating as that vs a top tier team other than Bama 2010, but we weren't a top 10 team that year.

Only others I could think of would be 87 Clemson, 84 FSU, 80 Michigan , 00 UGA, 13 Clemson. All big wins vs top level teams

 

[paladin181]

Vs Bama in 2010. I told my friends, "If I told you one of those two teams was ranked number 1 in the country, which one would you think I was talking about?"
We dismantled and out performed a Bama team that was one of the best in the country. LSU and Auburn both barely edged out the Tide, but we dominated them from gun to whistle on the back of Lattimore, Garcia and Jeffery. That was one of the best games against a good team I've ever seen. That Auburn destroyed us in the SEC title game (after edging out a win against us earlier in the season) was heart breaking. But for 60 minutes, we and everyone else in the world believed we were capable of winning a National title.

 

[jeff2001]

87 48-0 nc state. They weren't that good. But they just beat clemson the week before. And we held them to like 40 yards total offense.

 

[Spurrierisking]

Let's have some fun during this sports lull:

Watching the 2012 Georgia game on Youtube recently, it occurred to me that Gamecock team, on that particular night, was probably the all-time greatest Gamecock football team in history. They weren't the greatest the next week or the week after that, but on that particular night, I think they would have beaten any team in the country and any other Gamecock team in history on their best days. For example, if the 2010 team played like they did on the day they beat Alabama and our 2012 team played like they did on the night they beat Georgia, the 2012 team wins.

That Georgia team was a legit national contender that year. They only lost one other game - a four point loss to eventual national champion Alabama in the SEC title game. And they came about one yard away from winning that game. But on that night in Williams-Brice, they were DESTROYED. The game was over by the end of the first quarter.

What say you? Who are some other contenders for this title? The '84 team on the night they beat FSU, the 2013 team on the night they beat Clemson, the '87 team on the day they destroyed NC State?

The game was over before it started. When the military reunion happened the electricity in the stadium was like none I've ever felt. We were world beaters that day.

 

[pettyw]

I agree that the UGA game was the best game but BLACK MAGIC was the best year.

 

[USCBIRDS]

It depends...If the opponent only has a regular week of practice, I would pick the ‘87 team (that defense was BADASS). If it’s a Bowl game situation, then I would probably pick 2012.

 

[USCBIRDS]

jeff2001Well-Known Member
87 48-0 nc state. They weren't that good. But they just beat clemson the week before. And we held them to like 40 yards total offense.

Jeffy...I like your choice. I believe it was 48 total yards of offense. The wusspack never crossed the 50-yard line.

 

[coolcock2001]

Alot of people don't realize how close we were. Had we not given up the long pass at Tennessee in the final 30 seconds and let them kick a field goal to beat us we would have won the sec. Had we beat Alabama in Atlanta, (Georgia should have beat them if you remember the ending ) we would have played for the national championship.

That was 2013 when we lost to UT. In 2012 we lost back to back weeks at UF and at LSU

 

[USCBatgirl21]

87 48-0 nc state. They weren't that good. But they just beat clemson the week before. And we held them to like 40 yards total offense.

Brad Edwards - 2 pick 6s.

 

[gamecockjosh]

That 2012 team was a legitimate national title contender. We had the misfortune of playing 3 straight top 10 teams....with the last two being on the road in Death Valley and the Swamp. There are very few teams that could have run through that gauntlet unscathed. Our problem was that we lost both to LSU and UF....and the players got the flu before the UF game. So close, yet so far.

 

[Rod Dangerfield]

That 2012 team was a legitimate national title contender. We had the misfortune of playing 3 straight top 10 teams....with the last two being on the road in Death Valley and the Swamp. There are very few teams that could have run through that gauntlet unscathed. Our problem was that we lost both to LSU and UF....and the players got the flu before the UF game. So close, yet so far.

Yeah, LSU was a winnable game. The Florida debacle....we should have whipped them. Just one of those days.

 

[king ward]

This thread crystallizes the miserable history of Gamecock football. Basically, every team we ever had that resembled a championship team finished with two or more losses.

 

[Number1pjones]

This thread crystallizes the miserable history of Gamecock football. Basically, every team we ever had that resembled a championship team finished with two or more losses.

Unfortunately, this is true.

 

[funktavious]

Alot of people don't realize how close we were. Had we not given up the long pass at Tennessee in the final 30 seconds and let them kick a field goal to beat us we would have won the sec. Had we beat Alabama in Atlanta, (Georgia should have beat them if you remember the ending ) we would have played for the national championship.

That hick-up against Tennessee really stung. As great as the teams were in our 4 year run we had that one game every year that left us all scratching our heads. 1 SEC Title appearance and it was not even the best team in those years. How many times did we beat UGA only to miss the title game because of our little hick-ups? a bad Auburn team in 2011, back to back losses to LSU and UF in 2012. We lost to UGA in 2013 but we could have backdoored them had we not lost to UT allowing Missouri to backdoor us. We had our opportunities, a whole lot of woulda, shoulda, coulda.

 

[king ward]

That hick-up against Tennessee really stung. As great as the teams were in our 4 year run we had that one game every year that left us all scratching our heads. 1 SEC Title appearance and it was not even the best team in those years. How many times did we beat UGA only to miss the title game because of our little hick-ups? a bad Auburn team in 2011, back to back losses to LSU and UF in 2012. We lost to UGA in 2013 but we could have backdoored them had we not lost to UT allowing Missouri to backdoor us. We had our opportunities, a whole lot of woulda, shoulda, coulda.

I can think of two God-awful losses to UT during Spurrier's best years, and that terrible loss to Auburn in '11. Inexcusable, really.

 

[Mr CockStrong]

87 48-0 nc state. They weren't that good. But they just beat clemson the week before. And we held them to like 40 yards total offense.

-48 yards in total offense

Don't ask my why I remember. I just have a thing for eye-popping stats, especially if they happen when I'm there during the event.

 

[funktavious]

I can think of two God-awful losses to UT during Spurrier's best years, and that terrible loss to Auburn in '11. Inexcusable, really.

That loss to Auburn was the end of the Stephen Garcia era for USC. He never played another down for us. Connor Shaw would start the next game and never give up that roll with the exception of a couple of games due to injury.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

-48 yards in total offense

Don't ask my why I remember. I just have a thing for eye-popping stats, especially if they happen when I'm there during the event.

Yeah, I remember it being announced at the game. Negative total yardage.

 

[king ward]

-48 yards in total offense

Don't ask my why I remember. I just have a thing for eye-popping stats, especially if they happen when I'm there during the event.

You also remember because of the way they screwed us the previous time we played them up there.

 

[BTMGarnet]

Let's have some fun during this sports lull:

Watching the 2012 Georgia game on Youtube recently, it occurred to me that Gamecock team, on that particular night, was probably the all-time greatest Gamecock football team in history. They weren't the greatest the next week or the week after that, but on that particular night, I think they would have beaten any team in the country and any other Gamecock team in history on their best days. For example, if the 2010 team played like they did on the day they beat Alabama and our 2012 team played like they did on the night they beat Georgia, the 2012 team wins.

That Georgia team was a legit national contender that year. They only lost one other game - a four point loss to eventual national champion Alabama in the SEC title game. And they came about one yard away from winning that game. But on that night in Williams-Brice, they were DESTROYED. The game was over by the end of the first quarter.

What say you? Who are some other contenders for this title? The '84 team on the night they beat FSU, the 2013 team on the night they beat Clemson, the '87 team on the day they destroyed NC State?

I think that the 2012 team was more talented but to answer the question posed in this post, the 2013 thrashing at Arkansas still stands out to me because we did it on the road.

 

[gamecockjosh]

Good one BTMGarnet. I forgot about that Arkansas beat-down. That was unbelievable and so satisfying after all the tough losses out there.

 

[sclawman77]

87 48-0 nc state. They weren't that good. But they just beat clemson the week before. And we held them to like 40 yards total offense.

Payback for the ref hose job in Raleigh the year before.

 

[uscg1984]

Vs Bama in 2010. I told my friends, "If I told you one of those two teams was ranked number 1 in the country, which one would you think I was talking about?"
We dismantled and out performed a Bama team that was one of the best in the country. LSU and Auburn both barely edged out the Tide, but we dominated them from gun to whistle on the back of Lattimore, Garcia and Jeffery. That was one of the best games against a good team I've ever seen. That Auburn destroyed us in the SEC title game (after edging out a win against us earlier in the season) was heart breaking. But for 60 minutes, we and everyone else in the world believed we were capable of winning a National title.

To this day, isn't that still the largest margin of victory against a Saban-coached Alabama team since his first season?

 

[aj&uscgrad]

FSU in 84 was an outstanding performance, probably not the best but a strong honorable mention

 

[DarkCock]

Good one BTMGarnet. I forgot about that Arkansas beat-down. That was unbelievable and so satisfying after all the tough losses out there.

I agree this is an underrated game. The score doesn't even tell the whole story because Arkansas basically gave up; they only threw the ball 13 times. Definitely the Clowney effect. They had no hope of blocking him in obvious passing situations, so the Hogs ran out the clock in the 2nd half.

I'm going to miss Bielema.

 

[gamecockox]

The 88 uga game stands out to me as one of the best games we have ever played. We were coming off the success of 87 and we simply dominated. It was Robert Brooks coming out party. I thought that games performance would fuel us for the rest of the year. I didn't know the wheels were about to fall off.

 

[Cocky704]

That was 2013 when we lost to UT. In 2012 we lost back to back weeks at UF and at LSU

Yes, 2012 we had 3 top 5 teams in back to back to back weeks. 1 home and 2 away. What team other than us has ever had an insane schedule like that?

I remember we whipped Georgia, then half the team became ill and we barely lost to LSU in Death Valley at night (where they almost never lose), the following week the whole team was ill and we looked like a 1998 Brad Scott lead team while playing Florida in the swamp. I think if it were not for the bad luck of the team illness and the insane schedule, we would have won it all that year.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

That just goes to show you that you can win without all 4 and 5 star players but you have to know how to coach.

That team had a LOT of 4* and a couple 5* players... MOST of the roster was blue chip recruits...

Just saying.