South Carolina tries to focus on Vols, not SEC East
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina keeps creeping closer to a first division title since joining the Southeastern Conference 18 years ago, but Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier isn’t ready to focus on that yet.
If South Carolina beats Tennessee this weekend and a few other things fall into place, including a Georgia win over Florida, the Gamecocks could play for a spot in the SEC title game the next week at home against Arkansas and not have everything hinge on the trip the following week to take on the Gators in Gainesville, a place they’ve never won.
But Spurrier and South Carolina fans have seen things fall apart before. In the past three years, the Gamecocks have gone 4-11 in their final five games of the regular season.
“We’ve been 5-2 a bunch of times, as we all know,” Spurrier said. “Whether or not we can finish strongly remains to be seen.”
The Gamecocks should get a critical piece of their offense back Saturday. Spurrier said leading rusher freshman Marcus Lattimore’s sprained ankle should be healed enough for him to get significant playing time, if not the start.
Fitting a topsy-turvy year for the SEC East, the teams in this year’s Tennessee-South Carolina game are coming from different directions in the standings.
These aren’t the typical Vols, trying to stay in the SEC East race. Instead, they are 0-4 in the SEC, coming off a pair of 41-14 loss to Georgia and a 41-10 loss to Alabama. The Gamecocks are on top of the division at 3-2 and are a couple of fourth quarter meltdowns away from even bigger things.
thedailytimes.com
10/29/10
