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.

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It didn’t take Steve Spurrier long to put his signature on the South Carolina program after he arrived in time for the 2005 season.

After half-a-year of finding themselves, the ’05 Gamecocks went to Knoxville to face a Top 25 Tennessee team that had tormented them for over a decade. On a cold night in Neyland Stadium, South Carolina walked away with a hard-fought 16-15 win. Was it a fluke or a Signature Win?

We’d find out soon enough.

South Carolina next outlasted Arkansas on the road, then returned to Williams-Brice Stadium just in time to face Spurrier’s old team, the 12th-ranked Florida Gators (who were just getting started with a new coach named Urban Meyer). The Gamecocks wound up stunning the Gators 30-22, and the Spurrier Era was off and running.

It took a few years for things to start rolling seamlessly, but the previously elusive Signature Wins kept piling up under Spurrier: the Clemson monkey was ripped off the program’s back a year later in ’06, the Gamecocks eventually mastered rival Georgia, and pretty soon the Ball Coach’s teams were winning New Year’s Day bowl games with regularity.

Those Signature Wins were what Gamecock fans kept waiting for (and waiting…and waiting) when Will Muschamp took the reins after Spurrier’s departure. The question dogged the coach throughout his tenure, and it came up at the beginning of every season. Fans and radio dudes loved talking about it. Sportswriters loved writing about it. When would the Muschamp Signature Stamp happen?

Occasionally there were Signature candidates under Muschamp: A comeback win in the Outback Bowl over Michigan. A few razor-close wins over a suddenly struggling Tennessee. In 2019, the Gamecocks made their best stab at Signature Status by winning in Athens against Georgia, but that victory ultimately proved to be as fluky as a snowstorm on July 4 – South Carolina won with virtually zero offense, spending most of the game running a makeshift Wildcat with receiver Dakereon Joyner playing quarterback due to an injury to Ryan Hilinski.

Ultimately, Muschamp never answered the Signature Question, and he left Columbia without recording a single win that lingered in the minds of Gamecock fans.

South Carolina’s 40-17 dismantling of Florida on Saturday feels different.

We won’t know if first-year coach Shane Beamer has already locked up Signature Status for a few more weeks – turning around and losing to a shaky Missouri team this coming Saturday would be a quick way to douse the momentum from this electrifying evening. But this win already seems like it has an immensity and gravity that no victory in the Muschamp years ever attained. The Gamecocks dominated the Gators in every phase, looked far more physically and mentally imposing than Florida, and served notice to an SEC East rival that Williams-Brice Stadium at night is still a toxic environment for visitors.

True, Florida was just 4-4 entering this game, having lost some grueling SEC battles in previous weeks before getting embarrassed by Georgia a week ago. And yet the Gators were also 20-point favorites in this football game. Instead, they lost it by 23 (in a game that didn’t even feel that close).

It wasn’t merely that South Carolina won the contest, but the way in which it won that inspires so much tantalizing hope. This was a brutal punishment of a longtime nemesis – blunt-force trauma delivered without remorse or pity. Even when the Gamecocks have been successful in recent years, we’ve rarely seen them abuse a traditional SEC power in this manner, with this kind of thorough force.

Was it a Signature Win for Beamer and his staff?

I’m not ready to answer that yet.

But it sure felt like one.

We’ve been trying to dislodge my wife as the namesake for the Game Balls for weeks now. She’s held the title throughout the season after her epic performance during the Eastern Illinois game, but her long rein ends after SC 40-UF 17 happened. Pour one out for Christie Davis – it was phenomenal run. Also, if anyone’s wondering whether I think this was a Signature Win or not, this is probably your answer.

The Offensive Line and the Running Game Unexpectedly Going Into Beast Mode – What happened here? South Carolina has struggled to get anything going offensively in recent weeks, notably bottoming out in College Station two weeks ago with a performance so listless that it left many old-timers like me scanning the memory banks to see if we could remember anything like it. I’m going to go right ahead and raise my hand and admit that I was absolutely not banking on the Gamecocks rushing for 284 yards, rolling up 21 first downs and 459 yards of total offense or becoming the first team this season to outgain Florida in total yards. South Carolina’s offensive line – maligned for much of the season – opened up holes the size of the Atlantic Ocean for much of the night. Meanwhile, ZaQuandre White and Kevin Harris each posted 100-yard games. On that note, we’ve got to hand it to…

Bye Weeks – This was a different football team after a two-week break. I’m not sure what went on in practice over the last 14 days, but whatever it was, do it again. Can I buy another Bye somehow?

ZaQuandre White’s 54-Yard Run in the First Half Delivering an Adrenaline Shot to the Williams-Brice Crowd – After South Carolina took an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter, the Gators appeared to get their acts together and seemed well on their way to reestablishing order by responding with an efficient touchdown drive to make it 7-3. If you were like me, you assumed the evening would fall into predictability in short order and Florida would sprint off into the horizon, not to be seen again until 2022. Instead, the Gamecocks responded immediately, highlighted by White’s twisting, turning sprint that took South Carolina near the red zone and helped set up a go-ahead touchdown from which the Gators never recovered. Most importantly, it electrified the crowd – you could sense the patrons stirring, almost as though they all collectively glanced at each other and murmured, “Hey, we may actually have something here tonight.” Which is why we need to give a Ball to…

Williams-Brice, Night, Still Got It – Remember when Williams-Brice Stadium After Dark was something that mattered? I’d just about forgotten, too. This was the return to raucousness we’d been waiting for what seemed like decades, particularly after a COVID-tinged season last year that helped suck the life out of the old stadium on George Rogers Boulevard (and going 2-8 didn’t help matters one iota, either). I had some family members attending the game who kept sending texts along the lines of “This place is absolutely rocking” and “It’s wild in here.” Thank God. It’s been way too long. Never forget that we have and have always had a potent home field advantage here when we’re simply given the opportunity to rise up.

Jason Brown Eating “First Game Jitters” for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner – A season-ending injury to quarterback Luke Doty, combined with the Gamecock offense falling into the Grand Canyon against Texas A&M, led to transfer Brown getting his first start as signal caller against the Florida Gators. He merely responded to starting for a Southeastern Conference team with an efficient 14-for-24, two-touchdown performance that was nearly devoid of errors and contained the easygoing proficiency of someone who’d been starting as QB1 for 25 games. Brown also looked effective moving around and stepping up in the pocket to buy time when needed, something that Gamecock fans just haven’t seen at the quarterback position in awhile.

Return of a Nasty Streak on Defense – South Carolina has generally performed adequately and at times admirably on defense in 2021, but the unit wilted quickly in Knoxville against Tennessee a few weeks ago, and allowed Texas A&M to run wild for 290 yards in the previous game. Back in the Friendly Confines on Saturday, they looked downright bloodthirsty again, holding the SEC’s third-best offense to a meager 82 rushing yards and harassing Gator quarterback Emory Jones for much of the evening. Plus, who doesn’t love a…

Massive Defensive Lineman Rumbling for a Touchdown – After South Carolina’s Aaron Sterling forced Jones to fumble, the Gamecocks’ Jabari Ellis picked up the football and absolutely defined “rumbling” by stomping his way into the end zone just before the end of the first half. The moment seemed to drain all life away from the Gators, who all but waved the white flag from that moment forward. That was the kind of play that left Florida’s sideline in “OK, It’s Just Not Happening for Us Tonight” Mode.

Shane Beamer’s Halftime and Post-game Interviews – Was that a happy guy or what? Beamer conducted his jubilant post-game SEC Network interview with a gaggle of gleeful kids running around in the background, and if that didn’t put you in a good mood, it might be time for an anti-depressant regimen. Also, Shane’s Dad Frank Beamer’s outright ecstasy after the game did a lot of good things for my soul. Nothing like fatherly pride, is there?

Parker White – Just keeps doing what he does. Four more field goals on Saturday and he’s as reliable as the sunrise at this point.

Confidence – This team literally invented some for itself during the bye week. They manufactured swagger from scratch. Do you remember that Texas A&M game, folks? How did they walk on the field Saturday night with this kind of conviction and poise? I’m not sure I can remember a one-game turnaround that startling in my lifetime. Never forget that Florida made several big plays on offense early in this game, looking very much like the team that had moved the football at will throughout 2021, before getting absolutely overwhelmed.

All “Look, the Flu Bug Ran Through Florida This Week” Narratives – In the words of Randy Jackson, “It’s gonna be a ‘no’ from me, dog.” That was a sound, crisp beating that can’t be explained away.

And with that, we’ve concluded our short list of Deflators this week.

After all, South Carolina beating Florida doesn’t happen every season. South Carolina routing, dismantling and embarrassing Florida doesn’t really happen ever.

And South Carolina winning by 23 points after starting as a 20-point underdog?

I don’t know about you, but that feels like a Signature Win.

And this 2021 football season suddenly feels like it could be the start of something.

Check out my weekly newsletter, arriving on Friday to in-boxes everywhere, and tell me if this is the Signature Win we’ve all been waiting for by writing me at scottdavis@gamecockcentral.com.

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