USC 22 - Citadel 22: Thoughts on Loss #8
Worst Season Since 1999 Confirmed
This one was a disaster from the beginning. The Gamecocks got dominated on both lines of scrimmage from the start, even though they had ~40lbs advantage is size, and ended up losing to an FCS team for the first time since 1990 (also the Citadel). This was the eleventh game this year that the Gamecocks failed to go into halftime with a lead. As was the case in the Florida game, the offense finally showed signs of life in the 2nd Half, only to have the defense give up a huge play late in the 4th (a 56-yard TD run) with little time left. You can argue that the call that negated what would have been a Pharoh Cooper 95-yard (likely game-winning) TD reception with less than a minute to go was totally bogus, but the fact is that the Gamecocks should have never been in that situation to begin with. An SEC team does not give up 3 TDs to the Citadel and only score 2 of their own. I was a proponent of keeping maybe 2 members of the current coaching staff on board after the new head coach is announced in the next few weeks, but after this game I'm of the opinion that a complete house cleaning is in order. Let's hope it will be more than 25 years until our next loss to an FCS team.