Scott Davis: Sleepless in South Carolina
Scott has followed South Carolina athletics for over 40 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective. He writes a weekly newsletter (sign up here) year-round and a column during football season that’s published each Monday on GamecockCentral.
These are the games that keep you up at night.
The come-from-ahead losses, the “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” setbacks, the double-digit leads that slowly melt away in an endless fourth quarter. These are the ones you never forget.
You remember the unexpected and glorious wins, too. But you remember these more, with more intensity, more passion, more power. You remember these deep in your bones, with your whole body. We shouldn’t, we mustn’t…but we do.
Man, I wanted this one.
You did, too.
We don’t even have to wonder about whether the South Carolina players and coaches did. The pain on their faces as they walked off the field after Florida 41-South Carolina 39 showed us everything we needed to know. But we already knew.
Entering the game at 2-3 after a bye week, the Gamecocks needed a W in the worst possible way to keep postseason hopes alive and momentum moving forward in Year Three of the Shane Beamer regime. And with Missouri, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Clemson remaining, this game came just about as close to must-win territory as a 2-3 team can find itself playing in.
That win looked to be secured after South Carolina took a 10-point lead into the final minutes of the fourth quarter. And just like that, it wasn’t.
Watching Florida’s players hug and dance on the Williams-Brice Stadium turf after their improbable victory, I was suddenly rushed backwards in time: I was 13 years old, sitting at an uncomfortable desk in the eighth grade at a Greenville County middle school, listening to an American History lecture about the Missouri Compromise.
The compromise happened in 1820, and it was a scheme that involved admitting both Missouri and Maine into the Union in an effort to keep Southerners and Northerners alike on equal footing, and former president Thomas Jefferson felt it would ultimately end in disaster (which, of course, it eventually would). “This momentous question, like a firebell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror,” Jefferson wrote a friend.
Firebell in the night.
I can still remember my history teacher saying those words, her voice rising with an urgent tremor.
That phrase, for whatever reason, has stuck in my mind for decades. And for at least the rest of this football season – and maybe for many more – my own personal firebell in the night will be the image of the Gators lining up for fourth-and-10, deep in their own territory, with a little more than two minutes left in the football game, needing every single thing in the universe to come together exactly right for them to stay alive…and converting it.
Watching that play unfold through a television screen, you could literally feel the prayers from tens of thousands of Gamecocks inside a sold-out Williams-Brice Stadium rising up into the heavens. You could almost see them, circling upwards and outwards to the clouds.
One more play. One more time. Please, Lord. One more time.
The reprieve didn’t come.
And as soon as Florida picked up that first down, most of us knew that we had suddenly found ourselves squarely inside the middle of a nightmare.
Seconds later, the Gators inevitably trotted into the end zone, and after another round of prayers – this time for the Gamecock offense to make miracles happen – the stadium fell into an aching silence save for the celebrating Florida players and coaches.
We know, of course, that there are many more important things for us to be praying about than South Carolina football. We know this. We know it and we believe it.
But you can admit it to me, because I understand.
Despite knowing better, you still wanted that prayer to be answered this one time, for these guys, for these fans, for this school that we love, for this program that so many times through so many years has seemed to come up just short.
I did, too.
Instead, we got another firebell in the night, one that will wake us from a sound sleep during the long, cold winter months, one we’ve gotten used to blaring right at that moment when we start to dream.
The Spencer Rattler Game Balls of the Week
Shane Beamer praised the effort and resilience of South Carolina’s players after the game, and the desperation and hunger with which the team played made it even more devastating to watch the victory slip away from them. Let’s hand out a few Game Balls to a familiar few names…
Spencer Rattler – We’re in Peak Rattler times now, as the quarterback continues to give his team an opportunity to win games that might be uncompetitive without his presence. He did it again Saturday, going 23-for-30 for 313 yards and four touchdowns. It’s difficult to comprehend what he might be doing this year with a full slate of healthy receiving targets, a serviceable running game and a more experienced and consistent offensive line in front of him.
Xavier Leggette – This man is doing everything he can.
Trey Knox – South Carolina finally got some production in the passing game from someone other than Leggette, as Knox caught eight balls and scored a touchdown on the day. It’s a start.
South Carolina-Florida Deflated Balls
When my football team loses a game against a despised SEC rival despite leading by double digits with five minutes left, chances are strong that I’m going to have a Deflated Ball or two to pass out. Might as well start with…
Fourth Down – The Gators converted three of them in the waning moments to somehow leave Williams-Brice Stadium with a victory. I’m not sure there’s anything more painful a sports fan can witness than repeated fourth-down conversions by an opposing offense as the clock ticks down. It just drains all the life out of you. You aren’t even sure you should try to move after you watch it happen. You just want to close your eyes and hope someone comes to rescue you.
South Carolina’s Surprising Special Teams Struggles – We’ve already been compelled to hand out this particular Deflated Ball once this year. But the one aspect of the program that we’d come to depend on with rock-solid assurance since Beamer’s arrival – special teams play – is no longer something we can always count on. The Gamecock kicking team failed to convert a crucial extra-point in the fourth quarter (which forced the offense to shoot for a touchdown in the final seconds rather than take a crack at getting into field goal range). Meanwhile, punting has been a bit of an adventure for South Carolina throughout 2023. I think we can go ahead and slot this into the “Officially a Concern” category.
Scoring 39 Points at Home in Front of a Sold-Out Crowd and Still Failing to Win a Football Game – You can’t do it.
My Ongoing Inability to Solve the “Is It Worse to Be Blown Out or Lose a Heartbreaking Close Game” Debate – I’ve been trying to figure out this question since I started watching football as an eight-year-old kid. At times, I’ve definitely felt each of these things was the worst possible thing you could endure as a fan. Right now, in the wake of Florida’s ridiculous, against-all-odds win Saturday, I’m most certainly leaning towards “it’s worse to lose a heartbreaking close game” and ending the discussion. Still, I remember the way I felt walking out of Williams-Brice Stadium the night Clemson routed South Carolina 63-17 in 2003. I didn’t just feel sad – I also felt angry, and stupid, and hollow at my core. Ultimately, I’m not sure there’s a definitive answer to the question. I think whatever happened to you most recently is the answer. What happened to me most recently was this monstrosity.
Me for Allowing the SEC Network’s Shot of a Florida Fan Flipping Double Middle Fingers to the Williams-Brice Crowd at the End of the Game to Rile Me Up as Much as I Allowed it To Do – As I’ve aged, I don’t take crushing losses quite as hard as I did as a South Carolina student or as a young man in my twenties and thirties. It’s the age-old storyline: You stick around long enough and you start to slowly understand what’s important. But as the clock ticked towards zero after a breathtakingly dispiriting loss for South Carolina, the SEC Network’s cameras panned over and then froze upon a maniacally giddy Florida fan, red-faced and shouting and proudly pointing two middle fingers at the Williams-Brice faithful. For a quick moment, I almost forgot I’m an old man. I almost lost my composure. That shot really, really tested me. But I took a deep breath and it passed. Also, before we go, let me just say this: %@#! you, bro.
As for me, I need a good night’s sleep in the worst way after that one.
But you and I both know it won’t be coming.
Not for a long time. Not with the firebell ringing in my head.
Tell me how you’re coping after Saturday by writing me at [email protected].
