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Scott has followed Gamecock sports for more than 30 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective. His columns appear on GamecockCentral.com each Monday during football season and other times throughout the year.

I walked over to the pantry in my kitchen early in the second quarter of the South Carolina-Florida game.

It felt like doom was imminent. I needed chocolate if I was going to watch the carnage unfold. Briefly, I contemplated hopping in my car and driving around the block, or maybe even to the Tennessee border.

Florida led 14-7 and had taken the ball back after the Gamecock offense had quietly stalled. And since South Carolina had shown no signs of stopping the Gators thus far, I had visions of a quick Florida score, a 21-7 lead in the Swamp, and the beginnings of a rout in Gainesville.

“This is the moment where the game gets away from us,” I mumbled to my wife while shoveling Halloween candy into my mouth.

So what happened next? Florida quarterback Kyle Trask immediately fumbled, Carolina recovered, and before too long, the game was knotted up again at 14-14. Huh?

Eventually, and inevitably, Florida eased past the Gamecocks and breezed to victory 38-24, which most every breathing human being outside of the USC football offices expected to happen. No surprises, right? Well…

This game was oddly – and almost stubbornly (and occasionally even frustratingly) – competitive despite being decided by two touchdowns. It just kept right on being competitive long after I expected it to stop being competitive. At no point did I think South Carolina might actually win the football game, but as long as it lasted, I also never ended up having a reason to drive away for a yearning, reflective car ride while listening to sad ‘80s songs, either.

This is the moment where the game gets away from us.

I thought it about 27 different times on Saturday. But the moment never actually arrived.

There the Gamecocks were as the clock dwindled in the fourth quarter, driving towards the end zone with vague hopes of a score and the possibility of an onside kick giving us all a reason to at least pretend to stay interested in the proceedings against the nation’s third-ranked team.

“Past editions of SC football would have lost this game 56-6,” I texted my brother-in-law during our grim postgame iPhone chat. And they probably would have. But what does that mean?

Ultimately, I’m not sure I feel even a smidgen better than I would have if that had happened.

It’s an interesting turn of events for a fan like me. When I was a USC student back in the ‘90s, I routinely watched the Gamecocks get annihilated, dismantled and embarrassed by the likes of Florida and Tennessee (and sometimes, even Arkansas and Mississippi State). “There’s no shame in losing an SEC football game, but I’d at least like to pull for a team that competes,” I thought back then.

This team? This team competes.

They hang around. They hang around even when I expect them to fold. They hung around last week against Tennessee and could have (should have?) beaten the Top 20 Volunteers. They led the Florida game early on the road and never fully vanished despite roughly 75 different opportunities to evaporate into thin air.

They compete.

And they’re also 0-2, which is precisely the same record they’d have if they’d been routed in both games.

Which begs the question: Is “competing” a vision for the future? Is it a master plan? Does it lead anywhere?

Does hanging around signify anything in particular (other than a nose-against-the-grindstone ability to show up and churn forward against teams with greater talent)?

As a fan, do I actually feel any better watching a team that hangs around and loses anyway?

I thought I knew the answer to that 25 years ago. But now that it’s happening in 2020, I’m no longer sure I do.

Because 0-2 feels an awful lot like 0-2.

Superlatives, shout-outs and salutations go to the following:

Is That a Running Game? For South Carolina???!!! – In a downright stunning twist, South Carolina’s offensive line had little trouble moving the Gators’ defensive frontline backwards and aside during much of the game, and running back Kevin Harris took advantage, to the tune of 22 attempts for 100 yards and a touchdown. Deshaun Fenwick chipped in with six carries for 32 yards. After highly touted freshman MarShawn Lloyd went down to injury in the preseason, a raft of “Who will actually be running the football for this team?” stories flooded the internet, and I would have written one myself if I’d had an opportunity. After running the ball as many times as they passed it against Tennessee, South Carolina followed it up by churning out first downs on the ground against the Gators. This offense still makes too many mistakes to be lethal (more on those later), but at times I feel a flicker of something resembling hope when watching them.

Shi Smith. Again. – A week after essentially representing the entire receiving threat for the Gamecocks in the Tennessee game, Smith was once again the bulk of the receiving threat for the Gamecocks against Florida. He caught 12 more balls for 85 yards and a touchdown. If someone gave him Bryan Edwards’ old jersey from 2019 and told me that Edwards had somehow received another year of eligibility due to a technicality and that actually was Edwards on the field, I probably would have believed it, no questions asked. The Gamecocks’ second-leading receiver (based on yards) was, um, running back Kevin Harris. And you know what I always say: When your second-leading receiver is your starting running back…that means your second-leading receiver is your starting running back.

Competing – I guess it’s better than losing 56-6?

Halloween Candy – May I recommend the Mars Caramel Lovers collection when you’re purchasing your Halloween candy this year? It contains miniature Twix, Snickers, caramel M&M’s and caramel Milky Way bars, and it helped me survive the inner turmoil of an existential crisis while I watched the South Carolina-Florida game Saturday.

Going for It on Fourth Down – A week after Will Muschamp induced a statewide epidemic of head-scratching by kicking a field goal down a touchdown late in the fourth quarter (rather than going for it on fourth down), the Gamecock offense stayed on the field often in fourth down situations late in the game, going five-for-five on them before missing their final try near the end zone at game’s end.

The Atlanta Braves Winning a Playoff Series for the First Time Since I Was in My Twenties – Folks, it’s been a loooooooooooong time since I was in my twenties.

Dropped Passes – How many balls did the Gamecock receivers and tight ends allow to slip through their fingers on Saturday? It felt like dozens (hundreds?). We said it last week and we’ll say it again (this time with feeling): Someone other Shi Smith has to step forward from the next tier of pass-catchers if this offense is going to have a chance to outscore an opponent. The running game seems to be on track, and Collin Hill looks like a serviceable option, at the very least, at quarterback. Meanwhile, new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has kept defenses off-balance with his steady play calling thus far. There are enough pieces in place for this offense to go win a game, but it’s not going to happen if there are no other options for catching the football outside of Smith. How did we get here?

Five Different Gamecocks Having a Look at Tackling Florida’s Kadarius Toney on Toney’s 57-Yard Touchdown – The Gators effectively ended any and all hopes of a Gamecock comeback when Kadarius Toney rumbled into the end zone to make it 38-14 in the third quarter. But that particular touchdown could have been avoided had any one of the five Gamecock defenders hovering around Toney actually wrapped their arms around him and brought him to the ground. That was an absolute clinic on arm-tackling. Can somebody freeze-frame that shot and make a meme out of it with speech bubbles coming from the Gamecock players that say, “You got him?” “Not me, I thought YOU had him?” Thanks in advance.

The Kyles – Anyone else get tired of Florida quarterback Kyle Trask throwing completions to Florida tight end Kyle Pitts (who scored two touchdowns Saturday)? With apologies to every Kyle who is reading this…doesn’t “Kyle” sound like the name of a guy who played lacrosse in high school and stood around a keg at a fraternity party making fun of every other male at the party in ways that were unfunny and obnoxious? Yes. Yes, it does.

“Atlanta” – The ESPN announcers kept telling us during the game (repeatedly, and with increasing intensity) that Florida’s Pitts had spent the coronavirus lockdown “working out in Atlanta” and then returned to Gainesville a dramatically changed, improved player...but never expanded on the story or gave us any background to it. Why was Pitts working out in Atlanta (since he’s from Philadelphia and plays football in Florida)? What happened in Georgia’s capital city over the summer that mysteriously transformed him into an All-SEC caliber performer? Since I live in Atlanta, why haven’t I mysteriously transformed into an All-SEC caliber performer? What is it about “Atlanta” that makes football players better (especially since my Atlanta Falcons have never benefited from “Atlanta”)? Where in this city does one go to work out to become a pass-catching prodigy? I have like 25,000 questions here. None will apparently ever be answered. While we’re here…

Me, for Actually Being Happy That Football Was Returning in 2020 – So far this football season, my South Carolina Gamecocks are 0-2 and my Atlanta Falcons are 0-3 (with a Monday night game looming against undefeated Green Bay). Why do I follow this sport again? When does Vegas start posting odds on my chances for going winless for the 2020 season? And would that even be the 12,000th weirdest thing to happen this year?

Noon Kickoffs – I know plenty of people who like these things, but for the life of me, I can’t think of a single good reason for a football game to be scheduled at noon. I like to ease into my Saturday mornings, and when you’ve got to start summoning that “It’s gameday, and I’m amped, baby!” energy within seconds after rolling out of bed, there’s not enough coffee on the planet to get me where I need to be. Plus, my wife wanted me to blow leaves out of the garage and our back patio Saturday morning, so I wound up frantically trying to complete yard chores with only minutes left before kickoff – never a good sign for my sanity. This kind of stuff is going to cause me to wind up lying on the floor of my den talking to an imaginary friend one day. It may already be happening.

That Gruesome Stretch Where South Carolina Committed Two Penalties and a Turnover In Three Plays on Offense – I mean, that’s how you stall a promising drive right there.

The Flipside to Pulling for a Team Where You Think “Hey, These Guys Aren’t That Bad” While You Watch Them – Is that you also pull for a team where you think, “Hey, these guys aren’t that good” while you watch them.

Next week: Nashville. The Vanderbilt Commodores. And I have no problem at all calling that one a must-win. They don’t make ‘em any “must”-ier.

Hanging around won’t be enough this time.

Maybe it never is.

Tell me how you’re hanging around through an 0-2 start by writing me at scottdavis@gamecockcentral.com.