Loss to Commodores haunts Gamecocks

COLUMBIA — South Carolina was 7-1 and ranked No. 3 in the country last season entering its Oct. 27 SEC East showdown at Tennessee.

Oh. Wait. That's just what the Gamecocks assumed would happen entering last year's Vanderbilt game, not what actually went down.

Riding as high as the program had been in years — since 1984, really — USC forgot it actually had to, you know, go out and beat the Commodores.

"I think we did overlook Vanderbilt," senior receiver Kenny McKinley said this week, echoing something he's said several times this summer. "We just didn't come out to play ball that day and they handed it to us."

It's a loss that's been haunting, to some degree. Especially considering the Gamecocks didn't win again.

USC cornerback Captain Munnerlyn said he woke up at 3 a.m. the night after the loss. He had Vandy on the brain.

Mic Smith
The Post and Courier

The outcome of the South Carolina-Vanderbilt game of late has greatly impacted the respective success or failure of the two Southeastern Conference football programs.

"It still bothers me," Munnerlyn said. "I think we were kind of relaxed last year like they were going to lay down for us. It's still kind of in my head like, 'We lost to Vanderbilt?' They were a good team, but I felt like we were better than them."

Not that Saturday. That's for sure.

Vanderbilt let a win against Georgia slip away in the final minutes the week before. Evidently, that didn't set well with the Commodores.

Before a lot of fans had even wiggled inside Williams-Brice, it was 17-0 Vanderbilt.

"We played like crap," Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier said. "We're just mad at ourselves for last year. I've said many times that it was one of the worst offensive games, personally, I've ever attempted to coach.

"It was a sorry performance. We played the whole game like we played the first three quarters (in this year's opener against North Carolina State)."

But USC snapped out of it against the Wolfpack. Not against the Commodores.

South Carolina mustered all of 26 rushing yards in the game. But seven sacks had a lot to do with that.

Chris Smelley, tonight's starter after the injury to and ineffectiveness of Tommy Beecher, was erratic. Blake Mitchell wasn't much better in relief.

The Gamecocks also had five false starts. And that's something that's come up quite a bit this week, considering USC also had five false starts in last week's opener.

"The false starts are pitiful," Spurrier said. "I know our fans are sick of the false starts as much as I am and (offensive line) coach (John) Hunt and all the coaches. ... It's inexcusable. As coaches, we have to take responsibility for that. We can't teach our guys to go on the snap."

Spurrier has threatened to pull a lineman if he jumps early. He said it's up in the air if and when he would return to the game.

He said, for whatever reason, the false starts have been more of a problem at home than on the road. So much that the Gamecocks might use a silent snap count instead of the audible one that's used pretty much universally by home teams. The silent count, often signaled by the quarterback's leg step, is saved typically for hostile road environments.

"They don't want to hear. They want to guess," Spurrier said. "Maybe we have to go on the foot at home. I don't know. We'll have to wait and see."

McKinley said the Gamecocks need to set the record straight when it comes to the East's pecking order.

"Yeah, I think it's a chance for us to redeem ourselves," McKinley said. "Vanderbilt probably thinks we're some slack players. They kind of ran through us last year. They probably think we're soft.

"We've got to let them and everybody else know that South Carolina's for real."

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com.

and check out the new South Carolina blog at www.charleston.net/blogs/gamecocks.