wbcochran

Ok so I have to disagree with this projection. I logged onto another sports site to do a little research and found the following: Over the last 11 years, South Carolina has posted 5-6 records against Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee, with an 8-3 record against UK, and a 9-2 record against Vanderbilt. The closest rivalry of the 5-6 teams is ostensibly Tennessee, with average margin of victory in those 11 games coming in at 7.8. The average margin of victory of the Florida games is 15.2 and Georgia is 23.4. This isn't necessarily indicative of how much superior those two teams are than South Carolina; remember, we went 5-6 against all three of these teams. If you drill down a little deeper, you'll find that as often as they've walloped us, we've dealt it right back. For those that are curious, we've been 6-5 against Clemson during the same time span, with an average margin of victory of 12 points. As has been said before, take a few unlucky breaks and spin them differently, and you're looking at a vastly different season last year. We're a Jerrell Adams fumble away from beating Tennessee. We're a Perry Orth pick-6 away from beating TAMU. And aside from that one bad play, Orth played very very well in that game, and in many others last year. We're a mystery play away from beating the Citadel. So already we could have very easily been a 6 win team last year. And how bout that flood? You think football was on anybody's minds when we went to LSU in what should have been a home game? Frankly, that game should have been rescheduled altogether in my opinion. Near misses against Florida and Clemson, inexplicable meltdown against UK and you're looking at a 9-3 season. The John Hoke and Lorenzo Ward debacle is probably mostly to blame, if a single thing can be pointed out. But it was a combination of a lot of little things. My point is: we weren't as terrible as everyone likes to believe. So sure, we've lost a few key players for this year. But I think a lot of young guys really started to develop last year that should really have a coming out party this year. Couple that with an EXTREMELY manageable schedule, and if we gel early and get some swagger, I see no reason why we can't win 7 or possibly even 8 games this year.