The heyday of Gamecock football was under head coach Steve Spurrier from 2005 until 2014. The Gamecocks finished in the nation's top ten three seasons in a row and defeated arch rival Clemson five seasons in a row.
However, the 1980s shaped the history of the Gamecock program and will always be remembered. It all started in 1980, when senior running back George Rogers led South Carolina to an 8-4 record and a Gator Bowl invite behind a rushing attack that earned 1,781 yards and 14 touchdowns. More importantly, though, Rogers was voted America's best college football player, becoming the Gamecocks' first and only Heisman Trophy winner.
The best was yet to come.
In 1983, South Carolina hired Joe Morrison from the University of New Mexico. Morrison was a hot prospect on the coaching market at the time, leading the Lobos to a 10-1 finish in 1982.
What was to follow didn't just produce the era with the most wins all-time in school history yet, but also created a brand of roll the dice, smash-mouth football unique to South Carolina, putting the program on the national map.
Simply known as the "Man in Black," Morrison sported an all black look on game days: cap, shirt and pants. Additionally, Morrison's face was masked with his classic aviators.
Joseph Addison, a starting long snapper for the Gamecocks from 1985 to 1988, simply described Morrison's practices as "rough."
Morrison was the type of old school coach to kick back and lean on the field goal at practices and smoke a pack of cigarettes as the offensive and defensive coordinator led drills, Addison said.
Morrison, in his all black attire, might have been quiet at times, but he was busy devising his defensive blueprint: a blitz heavy attack. The scheme was something new to college football at the time and caught opponents off guard, Addison said.
Famously dubbed the "Fire Ants," the defense reached its prime in 1984, as did the rest of the team. The name was a metaphor: South Carolina would be doing the biting, and if the offense figured out it was being bit before it was too late, they'd be swatting away, hard.
The Fire Ants were complemented by a power-running option, which was co-captained by starting quarterback Mike Hold and Allen Mitchell. Hold only threw for 1,385 yards and a 46.7% completion percentage, but he navigated the Gamecocks' rushing attack, which featured three workhorse running backs that each carried for 500 yards or more: Thomas Dendy, Quinton Lewis and Kent Hagwood.
However, South Carolina missed a shot at the national championship. The season was nicknamed "Black Magic" after the coach's favorite color. Morrison was superstitious, and the luck finally ran out at the end of the season.
On Saturday, Nov. 17, only one team stood in front of South Carolina in the rankings: the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who had lost to the Oklahoma Sooners earlier that day. All the Gamecocks had to do was win one more game, and they would be the nation's No. 1 headed into the annual rivalry game against the Clemson Tigers.
Addison was a redshirt freshman when he decided to get in the car and travel over 500 miles to Annapolis, Maryland, to cheer on his teammates' play against Navy, which had a 3-5 record at the time. The Gamecocks were 24-point favorites, and a win would secure a bid to the prestigious Orange Bowl.
The Midshipmen ended these plans. In front of 27,234 fans on a cold, rainy day at Navy Marine-Corps Stadium, a team that had only defeated North Carolina, Lehigh and Princeton would upend the Gamecocks in what Addison called "a classic trap game."
The team meeting the following Sunday was charged and emotional. Addison said that when Morrison walked in, he hit the room's movie projector and said, "Gentlemen, this is what you guys pissed away yesterday."
Morrison would go on to explain all that was squandered: millions of dollars in postseason bowl money and a chance to play in the national championship. Through the heartbreak, the players decided they had no choice but to salvage the situation.
The answer came with two words: Beat Clemson.
And in comeback fashion, the Gamecocks did just that, beating the Tigers 22-21 at Clemson. The tone was set in that meeting, Addison said. The national championship was gone, but all was not lost.
South Carolina would finish the season with a loss to Oklahoma State in the Gator Bowl, but it was still the season that defined the Joe Morrison era in Columbia. The Gamecocks created a 9-0 record and rose to a No. 2 national ranking behind a run-and-shoot offense and blitzkrieg defense, defeating college football bluebloods Georgia, Pittsburgh, Florida State and Notre Dame before their eventual downfall.
During the Morrison era, the Gamecocks would go on to win eight games or more on two more occasions: 1987 and 1988.
After a 3-6-2 season in 1986, the Fire Ants would be replaced with a new scheme under first-year defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn. Another blitz heavy strategy structured similarly to a late night visit to a Las Vegas casino, it was named Black Death.
An article penned by Randall Mell of the Sun-Sentinel two days before South Carolina's Dec. 5, 1987 matchup with No. 2 Miami Hurricanes best described the group: "Death Blitz Gambling Gamecocks Turn Controlled by Chaos, Mayhem Into One of Nation's Top Defense."
"Black Death is the name South Carolina's kill-or-be killed defense goes by. It's gambling, blitzing make-life-chaotic kind of defense," Mell wrote.
Morrison's Gamecocks lived on the wild side, and the team's rabid fanbase did too. Like a rock 'n' roll concert your parents might've attended in the '80s, the fever pitch was deafening, especially when the Gamecocks took the field at the then-72,400-seat Williams-Brice Stadium wearing all black from head to toe.
Black Magic was a brand taken seriously by fans at South Carolina, and some supporters even had jolly roger flags with those letters scripted on them.
In present day, we must continue to honor our storied past, and when the University of South Carolina and Under Armour announced that the Gamecocks would bring back the 1980s era uniforms for a home game this fall, it does just that.
It's a reminder to older fans and a history lesson for younger ones.