What HAS TO HAPPEN for this team to go to a bowl game??

[Bud Wiser]

Ok, I’ll state the sarcastic obvious…win 6+ games.

But for real, In your opinion what absolutely must happen for this team to get to a bowl game?

For me, the defense has to be dominant. I don’t know if this will happen, but I do know Muschamp’s teams had no idea where they were on the field. I think we have a couple of players who haven’t played anywhere near their capabilities in Burch and Pickens. Beamer seems very pleased by watching his defense so far. The Holtz and Spurrier turnarounds happened because of solid defensive play. If there is an area I think we could be surprised by as fans…it might just be that defense. It can’t get worse, but after watching talent go undeveloped under Muschamp…perhaps we have better talent on that side of the ball than it seems.

I still predict 4 wins. But hearing good things about our defense gives me a bit of hope. You can cover a lot of weaknesses with a good defense.

 

[jeff2001]

The secondary has to surprise us for USC to get to 6 or more wins.

 

[92Pony]

Defense has to be solid and consistent.

Offense has to either be able to score avg. 25-30pts per game, OR, be able to ground and pound with the run game, slog it out, and control the clock in nearly every game.

IM(far-from-expert)O

 

[ClemDent]

Y’all have the talent on the D line to protect your secondary. They Have to get pressure on the QB without having to Blitz. If they can do that I really believe you’ll get to 6 wins.

 

[heavycock]

Agree on D and secondary in particular. I'm not going to say they need to be dominant (would be great to see), but they just need to not be stupid (good lord we saw a lot of dumb play, busted coverage, 'ole' tackles etc past couple years) and be able to actually make a stand and not give up huge plays at crucial times, particularly towards end of games.

Also on O - don't be one dimensional and actually sustain some drives. Even if we can't score a bunch of points (not expecting that) if we can keep our D off the field and give them some hope so they don't mentally check out after watching three-and-outs over and over.

 

[mavcock]

At least three opponents getting Covid. I put a ton of $$ on the over 3.5 wins and now I'm sweating out the whole season. I still think we can pick a team off and finish 6-6. Hell, I'll go to the Birmingham Bowl if we finish 5-7 and they invite us if there aren't any other teams that are willing to go/have opted out.
I DO NOT want to see any of our players opt out (Quit).

 

[Harvard Gamecock]

Divine intervention.

 

[Bud Wiser]

At least three opponents getting Covid. I put a ton of $$ on the over 3.5 wins and now I'm sweating out the whole season. I still think we can pick a team off and finish 6-6. Hell, I'll go to the Birmingham Bowl if we finish 5-7 and they invite us if there aren't any other teams that are willing to go/have opted out.
I DO NOT want to see any of our players opt out (Quit).

The good thing, and scary thing, is that you should get your 4 wins in the first half of the season. Bad thing is, if we don’t…I don’t think we’ll ever get them.

 

[GatorlandGamecock]

They win 8 games and go to a bowl, I will be able to go to my grave having seen a true miracle, equivalent to Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

 

[OldWiseCock]

It's not any one thing. On defense the secondary has to step up. We need some pizazz on special teams and the passing game has to compliment the running game.

 

[JGH 35]

To win 6 games they have to do things that they probably are not capable of at this point. This isn't going to be a quick fix. We have to get better players and the players we have need to get better as well.

 

[TAV31]

Pretty simple, but harder than you think. I believe it's still around 80% of the time the winning team in college football wins the turnover battle. So win the turnover battle.

 

[alaskagamecock]

We need several more recruiting cycles of consistent upgraded talent to be in a position to go bowling. We are coming off consecutively our worst two years in the past 23, mighty big hole to dig out of.

 

[The Gadfly]

Divine intervention.

THIS!^^^^^^

 

[midline]

Some of you folks need to stop venturing into fantasy land. Or any hopes of such. It isn't healthy.

 

[Follyboy 56]

Afraid we’re looking at preseason hype to be followed with September excuses.

 

[BattleshipTexas]

You should beat East Carolina, Eastern Illinois and Troy. A likely win at Vanderbilt who was 0-9 last year, that is a solid base of four wins to work from. I am going to count Clemson, Georgia, Auburn, Florida and A&M as losses, even though somehow Muschamp beat Georgia. I would give SC about a 35% chance of winning at each of Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. That is almost certainly a fifth win in one of those three games. Getting a 6th win is doable, but difficult. Still 6 wins is slightly more likely than four wins, though the best bet would be 5 wins.

 

[FORKCOCK]

Teams are going to force us to throw the ball. That worries me.

 

[OldBluJacketJr]

We need to score TDs!

 

[Ratheolcoach]

You should beat East Carolina, Eastern Illinois and Troy. A likely win at Vanderbilt who was 0-9 last year, that is a solid base of four wins to work from. I am going to count Clemson, Georgia, Auburn, Florida and A&M as losses, even though somehow Muschamp beat Georgia. I would give SC about a 35% chance of winning at each of Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. That is almost certainly a fifth win in one of those three games. Getting a 6th win is doable, but difficult. Still 6 wins is slightly more likely than four wins, though the best bet would be 5 wins.

Spot on!

 

[Gamecockben1979]

Beat Vandy, ECU, Kentucky & Eastern Illinois.
Hope the rest are ravaged by Covid or injuries.
Maybe enough college football teams finish with losing records or get enough Covid cases where a bowl needs a team with a losing record (like us last year).
If all that happens and we accept and decide to play, we will “make it to a bowl”
6 wins…..highly unlikely. I see 4-5. Usually we win one I don’t expect us to win and we at least lose one I don’t see us losing.

 

[Steves Visor]

Only path to a bowl game? 3 words…..

Covid forfeit wins.

 

[Horseshoe 04]

I’m ready to see us make another team punt

 

[lakemurraycock1]

I’m ready to see us make another team punt

Yep. and it would be awesome to use timeouts strategically. Instead of the usual oh crap we let the clock run down while we were confused better burn another TO.

 

[cockofdawn]

COVID get much worse than Last year!!

 

[USCBatgirl21]

Ok, I’ll state the sarcastic obvious…win 6+ games.

Given the insane amount of bowl games, we may not even need to win 6.

 

[BattleshipTexas]

Given the insane amount of bowl games, we may not even need to win 6.

Usually, like after the 2019 season, there are about 40 bowl games. After the 2020 season that dropped to 22 due to COVID. Anyone know if the number in 2021 will be closer to 40 or 22? makes a big difference for SC's bowl chances.

 

[GarnetBeamer]

I would not be surprised if this team picked up 6 wins. Also would not be surprised if we only got 2 or 3 wins.

 

[GatorlandGamecock]

Teams are going to force us to throw the ball. That worries me.

Well didn't teams we played last year do the same thing? Kevin Harris still gained over 1000 yds. I agree that we must be able to throw the ball, but we can do that with an offense that takes advantage of what's given them. We have played teams that have dinked, dunked and screen passed us up and down the field. They must respect the run and there will be opportunity and hopefully this staff will be better at recognizing and taking advantage of that. We can only hope.

 

[GarnetBeamer]

Well didn't teams we played last year do the same thing? Kevin Harris still gained over 1000 yds. I agree that we must be able to throw the ball, but we can do that with an offense that takes advantage of what's given them. We have played teams that have dinked, dunked and screen passed us up and down the field. They must respect the run and there will be opportunity and hopefully this staff will be better at recognizing and taking advantage of that. We can only hope.

Yeah, we had the worst QB we've had in a very, very, very, very, very, very long time last year. We were thoroughly one dimensional and we still ran the ball well.

 

[gamecocksonly]

EIU-W
ECU-W
Georgia-L
Kentucky-W
Troy-W
Tennessee-W
Vandy-W
A&M-L
Florida-L
Mizzou-L
Auburn-W
Taters-L
That has us 7-5 and gets us to a bowl game. I feel good about this season.

 

[jeff2001]

Why do people believe we will beat UK ?

 

[BattleshipTexas]

EIU-W
ECU-W
Georgia-L
Kentucky-W
Troy-W
Tennessee-W
Vandy-W
A&M-L
Florida-L
Mizzou-L
Auburn-W
Taters-L
That has us 7-5 and gets us to a bowl game. I feel good about this season.

You really want to count Auburn as a win? I can see winning two of Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky for 6-6. Although 1-2 from those three teams may be more likely.

 

[BattleshipTexas]

I would not be surprised if this team picked up 6 wins. Also would not be surprised if we only got 2 or 3 wins.

To only get 2 wins, you have to lose to two of Troy, East Carolina, Eastern Illinois and 0-9 Vanderbilt. Which 2 are you positing SC loses to in your 2-10 scenario?

 

[alston]

Teams are going to force us to throw the ball. That worries me.

Our throwing game from what I have heard is looking pretty good.

 

[JGH 35]

Unfortunately, on a competitive level we are currently closer to East Carolina than we are to Georgia, Florida, and Texas A&M. That has to change before we can expect winning seasons.

 

[FORKCOCK]

Our throwing game from what I have heard is looking pretty good.

Against our own defense? Well, I hope you're right.

 

[cockofdawn]

Why do people believe we will beat UK ?

Well, you gotta pick somebody!! UK fans all pick USC as one of their wins.. LOL So maybe it is for SPITE.. For SPITE

 

[lakemurraycock1]

 

[wycombecock]

Play solid D and O, and win the turnover battle. And get some of those turnovers in big games.