🏈 With zero SEC titles, South Carolina must do more than beat Clemson

[Fox Sports- Stewart]

Florida had never won an SEC championship prior to Steve Spurrier’s arrival there in 1990. Gators fans were presumably thrilled when he notched the first of six. By the time he left 12 years later, they considered any non-championship season a failure.

The bar was even lower when Spurrier came to South Carolina in 2005. The program had an all-time losing record, for one thing. It had joined the SEC only 13 years earlier and had never reached the league title game, much less win a championship.

Nine historically successful seasons later, the Ball Coach has racked up three straight 11-win seasons and the school’s first-ever set of Top 10 finishes. But the Gamecocks have yet to hoist any championship trophies.

That wouldn’t sit well at Florida or Alabama, but at South Carolina, they’re too busy basking in their five straight wins over longtime in-state tormentor Clemson.

“If you ask our fans at South Carolina, I can assure you a majority would say, we would rather beat Clemson than win the SEC,” Spurrier said Tuesday at SEC Media Days. “Personally I'd rather win the SEC.”
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If not now, when will South Carolina return to Atlanta?

“Every year’s a different story,” said Surratt. “This year we’ve got a story to tell and it starts Aug. 28.”

Eleven wins and another win over Clemson would be another happy story. But at this point it’s plenty reasonable for South Carolina to expect even more.

SI's Stewart Mandel—Continue reading...