Scott Davis: Sinking Into History

Scott Davis has followed Gamecock sports for more than 30 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective. He writes a weekly column that appears on Gamecock Central each Monday during football season.

In addition, Scott writes a weekly newsletter that's emailed each Friday year-round. To sign up for the newsletter, click here.

Some soar into the history books. Some have history thrust upon them.

On Saturday night, the South Carolina Gamecocks sank into history.

I mean, before we even take a step further here, let’s go ahead and ask the question: Did this team just make history?

I don’t have the record books in front of me. And I’m not even sure we still have every offensive statistic going all the way back nearly 130 years to 1892, when the University of South Carolina first fielded a football team.

But there’s every indication that Saturday’s offensive performance by the Gamecocks in College Station was the program’s worst ever, at least through three quarters. No matter what, we can all come together, hold hands, stand in a circle, nod to each other and agree that regardless of what the record books say, that was at the very least one of the worst Gamecock offensive performances of all time, can we not?

It’s a mighty impressive achievement, but not the kind we were all hoping to see when we kicked off the Shane Beamer Era in that game against Eastern Illinois back in September (which, speaking of history, now feels like it occurred during Old Testament times).

If you’re Coach Beamer or South Carolina offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield, this is an accomplishment you probably don’t want to list on your LinkedIn page: “Presided over what may very well have been the worst offensive showing in program history.”

Just how ugly was it? Folks, the Gamecocks compiled 11 total yards of offense in the first half. From there, they briefly went backwards in the second half. With just a couple of minutes left in the third quarter, the SEC Network broadcast displayed the Total Yards numbers for both teams: 443 for Texas A&M, six for South Carolina.

Six, as in the number between five and seven.

Six, as in the first number of the beast.

Six, as in four fewer yards than a single first down.

There’s something spectacular in the total. My guess is that if the Gamecock coaching staff had publicly announced before the game, “Just wanted to let everyone know that we will be running up the middle on every single offensive possession in this football game,” and then the team actually did so, it could have picked up more than six yards of total offense through much of three quarters. An offense featuring nothing but quarterback sneaks picks up more than six yards through three quarters, doesn’t it?

That “six” graphic was unforgettable. It will live in my mind forever, a sacred symbol of my life as a South Carolina fan.

The Gamecocks wound up with 15 total yards by the end of the third quarter, which at that point seemed like an explosive outpouring. South Carolina’s defense was gashed for 477 yards – 290 of them on the ground – and yet their performance barely registered, barely flickered.

After all, the offense was making history.

And it was the kind of history you don’t forget, the kind that leaves a mark.

Nearly two months ago, we named the weekly Game Balls after my wife, whose exuberant one-liners during the Eastern Illinois game provided me with what were arguably the only enjoyable moments I’ve spent watching South Carolina football this season. Through eight games, no Gamecock player has been able to wrest the title away from her, and at this point, I feel confident in saying she’ll safely hold on to the Balls for the remainder of 2021. In the words of someone who used to coach around here, “It is what it is.”

The Jaylan Foster Weekly Game Ball – To Gamecock safety Jaylan Foster, who picked off a pass in the first quarter for his fifth interception of the year. It’s unclear if this team would even be able to put together a season-ending highlight reel without Foster’s presence on the squad.

South Carolina’s Offensive Ineptitude Helping to Distract Me from What I Really Cared About on Saturday Night, Which Was the Atlanta Braves Playing for a World Series Berth – As a lifelong Atlanta Braves fan, I had to divide my attention between two sporting events on Saturday: The Braves – against all odds and despite some crushing personnel losses in 2021 – were a win away from making their first World Series since 1999, and their National League Championship Series game against the Los Angeles Dodgers was happening concurrently with South Carolina-A&M.

I’ve written on many occasions that I believe postseason baseball to be the most excruciating sport in existence – it seems designed to end lives and destroy hopes and dreams. All of the things that make baseball feel quaint and even boring during the regular season – the endless moments between pitches, long stretches without any action at all – make playoff baseball throb with so much tension it’s nearly impossible to watch without some type of prescription medication nearby.

In fact, I was looking for any reason I could find not to watch Game Six of the NLCS despite it taking place a mere 15 miles from my home. My wife and I had attended Game Two of the series at Truist Park the previous weekend, a down-to-the-wire Braves win that left us dazed and breathless and mildly unhinged.

Given the franchise’s history of October struggles, I wasn’t 100% sure I could watch Saturday night’s game without having some sort of anxiety episode that left me blacked-out and drooling. That’s why I was pleased to have the South Carolina offense come to my rescue during the first half – I was so riveted by the Gamecocks’ wild race to finish in negative numbers for Total Offense in the A&M game that I was able to briefly pretend the Braves weren’t playing in a Life or Death Match for a trip to the World Series.

Eventually I couldn’t escape tuning into Braves-Dodgers, and it was indeed an agonizing experience, at least until the final out landed softly in the glove of Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman to send the Braves on to the Fall Classic. I’m not sure I could have survived the evening if I’d had to focus completely on the Braves game for nine innings, so…thanks so much for the diversion, Gamecocks!

That Immortal “Six” Graphic – Can it ever be forgotten? That might very well have been the most important moment in SEC Network history. SIX YARDS! AFTER NEARLY THREE QUARTERS!

Me, for Re-running This Paragraph from My Troy Column Every Single Week Until the South Carolina Gamecocks Give Me a Reason Not to Run It – After the Troy game, I gave a Deflated Ball to the following: South Carolina’s Inability to Convert Turnovers Into Points – It happened last week, and it happened again this week. Unless the Gamecock defense scores on their own, not much seems to transpire when our opponents turn over the football. No field position is good enough to guarantee a scoring drive for South Carolina. That shoe still fits. It fit last week, when the Gamecocks couldn’t transform Vanderbilt’s turnovers into points. And it fit again this week, when South Carolina’s struggling offense couldn’t turn Foster’s first quarter interception into anything good. This painful sequence set the tone for the rest of the game. Again.

Bizarro Beamer Ball – We were all fired up for Beamer Ball to come to Columbia, inaugurating a new age of special teams dominance like that seen during family patriarch Frank Beamer’s days at Virginia Tech. On Saturday night, we got Bizarro Beamer Ball, with Texas A&M returning a punt 95 sickening yards for a touchdown in what became the third-longest punt return in the long history of Aggie football. What can I tell you, history had a big night all the way around at Kyle Field.

Playing Texas A&M In Football Every Single Season – I’d love to stop doing it.

Bye Weeks – I’m looking forward to this Bye Week like it’s Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and my birthday all rolled into one. This coming Saturday is my favorite Saturday in the history of Saturdays.

South Carolina on the Road in 2021 – This team certainly isn’t fantastic at Williams-Brice Stadium. But they’re historically dreadful on the road this year (there’s that “history” word again). In four road contests, the Gamecocks were largely outplayed at East Carolina in a nail-biting, last-second win, then had their doors, wheels, hoods and trunks blown off in Athens, Knoxville and College Station. Those SEC matchups were all essentially over in the first quarter, and all followed a familiar script: The Gamecocks walked into a loud, raucous atmosphere, looked astonishingly overwhelmed from the opening kickoff, gave up big play after big play on defense, and had trouble even falling forward for positive yardage on offense. It’s difficult to be encouraged about anything happening with the program when you watch the team play on the road this year. They just haven’t been competitive away from Columbia in any meaningful way, and have looked about as far away from SEC contention as it’s possible for a program to look without being Vanderbilt University.

Perhaps some day, the Gamecock football program will step up into history, seize it, storm into our memories forever.

For now, they’re sinking into it. And at the moment, it’s hard to tell just how deep the quicksand goes.

Check out my weekly newsletter, arriving on Friday to in-boxes everywhere, and tell me if you’ve ever seen anything worse than that ridiculous SIX graphic and let me know anything else on your mind by writing me at scottdavis@gamecockcentral.com.

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