Gamecocks hope to put tough defeat behind them
After a tough loss at Georgia, South Carolina will take the field against Vanderbilt looking to prove that despite their 1-1 record, they are still one of the most formidable teams in the nation.
“I think we’re all looking at this as a statement game,” sophomore running back Mike Davis said. “Everyone’s angry. We want to take it out on someone else.”
The loss to the Bulldogs pushed South Carolina’s national rank from No. 6 to No. 13.
Since the loss came against a division foe, the Gamecocks’ road to the Southeastern Conference Championship in Atlanta will be more of an uphill climb than if they had lost to a West division team.
Over the last two years, however, South Carolina has beaten Georgia in the regular season, only to watch the Bulldogs play for the conference title themselves.
After suffering the loss in this year’s annual matchup, coach Steve Spurrier hopes the trend of the loser reaching the championship continues.
“We’ve learned that the winner does not necessarily win the Eastern Division,” Spurrier said. “It does put the winner in pretty good shape, but it doesn’t always certainly determine the winner.”
The Gamecocks’ schedule will be on their side for most of the remainder of the season. The only team currently ranked higher than South Carolina left in the season is in-state rival No. 3 Clemson, who the Gamecocks will play in the final contest of the regular season.
When South Carolina plays Vanderbilt this weekend, it will do so on its home turf of Williams-Brice Stadium, where they have seen considerable success recently.
The Gamecocks have amassed a 25-3 record at home since 2009, including an unblemished 7-0 mark last year.
“I don’t want our guys to feel like they can’t play away from home,” Spurrier said. “But when you look at the facts … we’re better at home.”
Vanderbilt will come to Columbia with a 1-1 record that could have easily been 2-0 if not for an interception off the hands of star wide receiver Jordan Matthews that allowed Ole Miss to win one of the best games of the season so far.
While the South Carolina locker room looks for a sacrificial lamb to project last week’s latent frustration onto, Davis insists that recent history should caution the Gamecocks not to look past the Commodores.
“Vanderbilt has been a team that’s been on the uprise,” Davis said. “They’ve done a great job in recruiting and getting those guys prepared to play us. We played them last year, and it was a close game. So we don’t take anybody lightly.”
South Carolina escaped Nashville, Tenn., by the skin of its teeth in last year’s season opener, pulling out a 17-14 win over the Commodores in the fourth quarter.
With Georgia one step ahead of the Gamecocks in the race for the SEC East crown, all South Carolina can now is focus on defeating each opponent they face from here on out and hope to get some help along the way. And that starts with Vanderbilt Saturday at 7 p.m.
“This is a game that we just need to play football. We should feel that way every time we play,” Spurrier said. “We all know you have to have the ability to forget what happened last week, whether it was good or bad, and move on and try to improve as the season goes.”