If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

For the second year in a row, the oft-maligned football team at Vanderbilt University beat Steve Spurrier and the South Carolina Gamecocks, 24-17; and Gamecocks supporters everywhere are in absolute state of shock. Apparently, losing to Vanderbilt, no matter how much they’ve improved, still brings up extremely negative reactions. In short, it’s unacceptable.

Now, never mind the fact that under Bobby Johnson’s tutelage, Vanderbilt has beaten Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas. When fans see the name “Vanderbilt,” they automatically pencil a “W” by that game, even though Vanderbilt beat South Carolina last season. For instance:

There’s no excuse for what we saw tonight. There just isn’t. Don’t even start this “Vanderbilt is a good team” crap. Don’t even start making excuses. Don’t even begin to try to explain this away.

We lost. To Vanderbilt. Deal with it.

That, however, pales in comparison to the meltdown going on at the South Carolina Rivals message board. It’s beginning to look like the Spurrier honeymoon might be reaching the end of the road. Naturally, the Ole Ball Coach doesn’t agree with Gamecock fans when it comes to assessing Vanderbilt’s play:

“Last year’s was just as stunning, and it sort of irritated me that our players tried to say we weren’t ready. We were ready to play, we just got our tails kicked. I’m sure those Vanderbilt players are wondering what kind of excuse the South Carolina guys have now. We don’t have excuses, they just beat us,” Spurrier said.

So while bloggers are taking the “don’t tell me Vandy is good” perspective, it seems their coach knows better. Just because a team has a history of mediocrity doesn’t mean they can’t field a good team every once and a while. It’s obvious some SC fans saw Vandy’s name and chalked up another victory for the Gamecocks, while conveniently ignoring the Commodores as they trounced Miami of Ohio last week.

Now they are shocked Vanderbilt could sustain their improved play over a two-week period.

Meanwhile, I’m sure many SC supporters and its coaching staff are wondering if this year’s loss to Vanderbilt will lead to another five-game losing streak for a team that should have a much better offense under Steve Spurrier by now.

Obviously, getting big time offensive players to Columbia is a lot harder than they thought, even for a proven coach like Steve Superior.

Tags: Bobby Johnson, SEC Football, South Carolina Gamecocks, Steve Spurrier, Upsets, Vanderbilt Commodores

You Might Also Enjoy:
• The Return of the Spurrier
• Is Steve Spurrier Into Horse Racing?
• Thank God It’s Saturday - Week 3