I would posit that Alabama's win against us was of a miraculous nature then.
Play til the whistle blows. Or as Floyd Mayweather would say, protect yourself at all times.
This board ought to be coming to life any day now.
- Thread starter Gr8spur
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Play til the whistle blows. Or as Floyd Mayweather would say, protect yourself at all times.
If we had beaten Alabama, THAT would have been miraculous. Recovering an onside kick, then scoring again, is extremely rare and extremely difficult.
The wins over Missouri and Clemson, in my mind, were not miraculous. They took big-time plays to win by multiple players, but none of those plays were miraculous. I'd characterize those wins as surprising, or unlikely, but not miraculous.
Anyway, there's no need to beat that dead horse again lol
Well, here we go again. Surprising? Miraculous? Unlikely?
Is there really much substantive difference between the 3? We can bicker the semantics because some (not necessarily you) illogically fear that the use of "miraculous" somehow means our effort is not to be credited with the win. But everyone actually understands what is meant by the use of that word.
Last season was full of drama which made it one of the best ever.
We could have easily beat LSU and Bama. We could have easily lost to Missouri and Clemson.
Also, the unprecedented/unexpected road drubbings of UK and Oklahoma.
We could have easily beat LSU and Bama. We could have easily lost to Missouri and Clemson.
Also, the unprecedented/unexpected road drubbings of UK and Oklahoma.
I do appreciate that Beamer noted this last week. He commented how many folks want to talk about the narrow losses but few wanted to talk about the narrow wins that could have just easily been losses. His reality check is that we were just as close to a mediocre season as a great season.
My two cents - miraculous should be so unlikely and surprising that it's shocking when it happens.
Scoring late, then recovering an onside kick, then scoring again to win (what could have happened at Alabama) is miraculous. The Kick Six, the prayer at Jordan-Hare, the Georgia Tech blocked field goal return against FSU a few years back, the "trouble with the snap" Michigan State-Michigan game, the Flutie Hail Mary, "the band is out on the field!," etc. These are plays that were so shocking that many have a name that most college football fans know and recognize as a specific game-winning play.
The Carolina wins over Clemson and Missouri were great, but in my mind don't rise to that level of shock/awe/surprise. I was in the stadium against Missouri. It was a real letdown when the Tigers scored late to take the lead on 4th and long, but I told my wife before the kickoff that they left too much time on the clock. And then when we did the trick kick return to Harbor, though it didn't really result in anything crazy, it gave life to the stadium.
Those wins were special, but it's not like they were unprecedented or something so crazy that general college football fans were going to stop and say wow.
I was shocked with how both of those games ended. and, of course, I'm looking at them through the lens of a Gamecock football fan and evaluating them against our own history.
QB TD scrambles on 3rd and 16 from the opponents 20 yard line don't grow on trees. Then a shoestring INT to seal the win after the opponent had sliced through our D like a scalding knife through butter for what appeared to be at least a game-tying FG. Let's be honest. Who here had "QB TD scramble on 3rd and 16 from the Clemson 20 to take the lead and, on the ensuing Clemson drive, a shoestring INT to seal the win after Clemson had driven 57 yards in 56 seconds to get in easy FG range to tie the game".
Against Mizzou, we held them off all game before coughing up the lead for the first time with just over a minute left in the game. I mean, come on, be serious. What likelihood did you think there was that we would drive the length of the field in 1:10 to take the lead? I told my wife multiple times after the game "we just don't win games like that". We cough up the lead late and then lose. We don't cough up the lead late, then go on a 70-something yard drive in 47 seconds to win the game.
You give examples of individual plays. My use of "miraculous" encompasses the final outcome and multiple plays/series. And also our history. I've seen us lose games like that time and time and time and time again. Given the situational aspects of each game, these are certainly 2 of the more improbable wins in our history. Historically, these are games we simply DON'T win. I don't see what's wrong with admitting that. It speaks to the character of the team.
If you made a list of games over the course of our entire history where we were in similar situations (score, time left, field position, opponent ranking etc) and we came away with a win, I can guarantee there are less than 10 on the list. From our entire history.
After watching us coming up with new and innovative ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory too many times to count over the course of our history, I'll stand by my use of miraculous to describe these outcomes.
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I don't see a guaranteed L's on our schedule this year. First time I've ever really felt that way. There are some games I feel are more likely to be losses, but there aren't any games where I just say "no shot in that one".
But I also don't see many guaranteed W's. Lots of winnable ones but there aren't many games outside of the creampuff ones where we can sleepwalk and win.
That run by Rocket Sanders will stand out to me for a long time. The way he bounced off defenders at the 5 yard line and then score.
Oh yeah, I doubt there are more than ten games on the list in our entire history.
Anyway, like you say, it's ultimately semantics in how we define miraculous.
2013 Missouri? That's miraculous. A chip shot doink field goal. A long 4th down conversion for a touchdown to extend the game. A sick QB off the bench after halftime.
Sellers against Clemson already had multiple runs of a similar nature. He'd already run for 140 yards or so prior to that last play. Honestly his first touchdown run was even more impressive than the game winner. It wasn't that surprising that he could break through the defense and run in another one.
Sellers against Missouri threw the ball really well. He made plays all day through the air, with 280 yards passing prior to that last drive.
Again, it's all semantics and good message board fodder. It'll be nice when we have some actual football to discuss.
EDIT: As far as did I actually think we'd go down the field and score on that last drive? Yes, I honestly did. I told my wife sitting in the stands that Missouri left us too much time, especially since we had (I think) all our timeouts left. If I'd been home watching on the TV it might have been different, but at the game, I really did think we were going to make it happen.
I think I can agree with both. Miracle when it comes to being a Gamecock fan because our last 10 years we just didnāt win those games. But as a football fan those werenāt miracles. The 2024 team showed plenty of grit and responding to a lot of adversity well. I know itās hard to admit because you didnāt expect it but we had a damn good football team in 2024. LSU and Bama was also two games where we couldāve won at the last second as well.
Agreed. Itās going to make for a good season if youāre a football fan. If Iām being honest, some of those first time QB starters that we face will not pan out like the media want to believe, and that makes me feel a little more confident in our playoff hopes.
Re the Alabama game, I was thinking differently; I was referring to us fumbling the exchange deep in their territory late when we had all the momentum and then missing the field goal late that would have been the winning points and therefore āmiracleā W for them. However, my memory of that game is clouded by my wife dragging me around some street/block craft fair at Edisto beach while that fourth quarter was going on so I didnāt have visual; the muffed exchange was actually with ten minutes left.
Craft fair during a football game, dang it that must have been tough. I guess it's good we didn't get the miracle win that day.
Walking around with that fourth quarter streaming in your ear while people are trying to talk to you was indeed but again, I viewed Alabama as the āmiracleā recipient. That missed field goal was known to everyone around I assure you.
Opie, just learned today that the sheriff & Helen had a 5 yr relationship off screen.
Did this in anyway impact you?
I felt like last year's success was somewhat the result of happy accidents in our schedule. No one could have guessed before the season that aTm and OK would be as bad as they were and the MO and Clemson wins were not exactly miraculous but were pretty unlikely.
We could set a goal for August 1st and maybe then there will be signs of football life 
with a 30-day waiting period
Mark your calendars
with a 30-day waiting period