In South Carolina, the verdict is published by the Clerk of Court. In other words, when a jury has reached a verdict, the Clerk of Court, not a member of the jury, announces the verdict to the courtroom.

But in every jury trial – whether criminal or civil – there is no mistaking that the jury, and only the jury, is the finder of all facts.

Starting in August and running throughout the season, I will be writing a weekly column called The Verdict - presented by the Goings Law Firm. And much like a jury, I will try to base my findings and opinions on facts. But unlike a jury, I want to hear from the gallery, both what I got right and what I got wrong.

This week’s Verdict is in: East Carolina will be a great measuring stick game for this Carolina team.

Last weekend was incredible.

First off, the weather. Can we just bottle that up and have that every weekend until October?

And then of course there was the actual gameday atmosphere itself. I got up at 7 AM, took in a deep breath of that cool air, drank some coffee, and then headed towards Williams-Brice.

For the first time in a long time, I went to the Gamecock Walk. It was loud and electric. (I also shook Frank Beamer’s hand, which fired me up way more than it should have.) But you could feel even at 4:30 that the fanbase was going to bring the juice all night long. I got to the stadium an hour early and watched warmups and pre-game festivities. And I stayed the entire game. I soaked it all in. Everything just felt right.

Things get a lot more real next weekend in Greenville, North Carolina. The Gamecocks travel to East Carolina for a week two showdown that can be described as nothing less than a measuring stick game. I’m glad Carolina didn’t have one to open the season. But things are about to crank up quickly.

Now I can already hear some of you reading this. You are shouting into your computer screen that East Carolina in no way should be a measuring stick game for Carolina. What do I mean by measuring stick? A measuring stick game is a game where we will find out how good this Carolina team is and what players are the real deal.

Of course, you want to beat Georgia or Texas A&M or other elite teams on the schedule. But what does a loss by three touchdowns to the Dawgs really tell you? Barring a surprisingly narrow defeat or an upset victory, you’re probably going to walk away from those games thinking “Man, Georgia is just a much better football team.” Well, we already knew that. We didn’t need to watch the game to know Georgia is currently better than Carolina. (Of course, I am really hoping this post blows up in my face after Carolina upsets the Dawgs in Athens, but I digress.)

But there are a few games I have circled as games that we will be able to measure where this Carolina team stacks up. The first is the East Carolina game.

If you don’t know much about East Carolina, allow me to break down the Pirates. This will be their Super Bowl. Yes, East Carolina has upset the Miami Hurricanes before. And yes, they have upset Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and a Pat White/Noel Devine No. West Virginia team.

But when East Carolina plays a Power Five program from the Carolinas, they circle that game months in advance. And they often have a puncher’s chance at winning. (Look up the East Carolina-NC State series or the East Carolina-North Carolina series.)

From my count based on the East Carolina roster I found on ESPN, East Carolina has 69 players either from North Carolina or South Carolina. I’m guessing of those 69 players, very few if any received an offer from the Gamecocks.

Carolina recently played a team that was full of North Carolina and South Carolina kids when Appalachian State rolled into Columbia back in 2019. Then Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz told the team in the locker room to raise their hand if they had been offered by Carolina. One kid raised his hand. That game meant something to App State. And it meant something to their fans who traveled like an SEC program. I have been to a lot of Carolina games. Besides Clemson, no other fanbase has traveled like App State did.

East Carolina is the exact same way only their fanbase does their barbecue whole hog with a vinegar-based sauce. That is a passionate fanbase. And their stadium is big enough and loud enough for this to be a true away game. (If you go on YouTube, look up East Carolina vs. North Carolina in 2014 and watch the video taken from the field.) This isn’t like rolling into Vanderbilt. This is a big-boy football stadium. And these players are going to want to show the local SEC school who they are and what they are all about.

Of course, the biggest difference between East Carolina and App State is that App State is a better football program. And we saw that last weekend when App State was leading 33-9 at one point before giving up 10 fourth-quarter points.

App State was able to run with authority accumulating 226 yards rushing (averaging over six yards per carry) and pass with ease with close to 260 yards passing. The App State run defense stifled East Carolina but did allow close to 300 yards passing, although, as previously mentioned, a lot of that was in garbage time.

We know App State is better than East Carolina. But it still remains to be seen if Carolina is better than East Carolina. Of course, Carolina has better players. But Carolina had better players than App State and lost.

If this program is going to take a strong next step under Shane Beamer, they have to go into Greenville, North Carolina and assert themselves. Despite rushing for a lot of yards, I was not entirely impressed with Carolina’s offensive line in how it run blocked in week one. Eastern Illinois was not necessarily blown off the ball every play. East Carolina might not be great at run defense, but they are going to be better than Eastern Illinois.

Nothing would make me happier than for this offense to rush all over the field on this East Carolina team. That takes the pressure off whoever the quarterback may be, and it allows for the defense to catch its breath for what is traditionally a hot and humid stadium (especially with a noon kickoff).

But I mostly want to see Carolina run the ball extremely well because, in terms of a measuring stick game, this is a game that will show not only how physically strong Carolina is, but how mentally strong the Gamecocks are, as well.

If this is a Carolina team that can whip East Carolina on both lines of scrimmage, I feel good about where this team is at heading into conference play. If they can’t whip East Carolina on both lines of scrimmage, even in a win, I will be worried heading into conference play. It’s as simple as that.

This is a measuring stick game. Let’s see how the Gamecocks stack up.

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