"New Carolina" Finally Came True!!!

[Garnet Gamecock]

We now take it for granted that this team won't lie down... won't give up... won't get discouraged...

We now expect our team to rise to the challenge... get back up when they are knocked down (such as when a blind ref tries to cheat you out of a win)... Fight to the last whistle (maybe even hit a player so hard that it sets off car alarms in the parking lot)...

This team can overcome injury, adversity, calamity, you name it...

Why?

Because this team has CHARACTER. It starts with a Coach who knows how to build a solid foundation of success, and it's built on honesty, integrity, commitment and faith.

I still can't believe how drastically different this program is from just a few years ago when we had horrible inconsistency at quarterback... our team was constantly flagged for bonehead penalties at critical times... we gave up leads and couldn't seem to come from behind... other teams intimidated us, and we built our entire season around playing the Taters.

I definitely don't miss our now long-gone tradition of digging a hole for ourselves in the first half. I don't miss the shoddy punt coverage and all those kicks that never could make it to the end zone for a touchback.

I don't miss all those games where we said "why can't our guys ever get open"?

Man, life is AWESOME now, and it's because we have one hell of a coach that I firmly believe will decide to stick around and become the winningest coach in NCAA history. What could he possibly do with his time that would be more fun than running this program to national prominence?

I just looked over the last two seasons' schedules with all the W's in place. 22 W's in 26 games. Somebody pinch me!

[uscgamecocks88]

Thinking the same thing. Spurrier has completely turned this program around. Teams looks like they care and want to win. They also don't give up. Or shot themselves in the foot almost every play.

I was thinking after the game, if the Carolina team 8-9 years ago played this game, we would have given up. Michigan gets ahead and has been playing tough the whole game. Past teams would have thrown in the towel and thought "Oh, well. Same ol, same ol. Wait til next year.

But not this team! Both QBs played with ice in their veins and were determied to win. Didn't give up...and now look what happened.,

With our schedule and what HBC has established, next year will be one hell of a year. This is the NEW CAROLINA. We say that every year but i mean it this time.

[AikenRooster2112]

Originally Posted by Garnet Gamecock

We now take it for granted that this team won't lie down... won't give up... won't get discouraged...

We now expect our team to rise to the challenge... get back up when they are knocked down (such as when a blind ref tries to cheat you out of a win)... Fight to the last whistle (maybe even hit a player so hard that it sets off car alarms in the parking lot)...

This team can overcome injury, adversity, calamity, you name it...

Why?

Because this team has CHARACTER. It starts with a Coach who knows how to build a solid foundation of success, and it's built on honesty, integrity, commitment and faith.

I still can't believe how drastically different this program is from just a few years ago when we had horrible inconsistency at quarterback... our team was constantly flagged for bonehead penalties at critical times... we gave up leads and couldn't seem to come from behind... other teams intimidated us, and we built our entire season around playing the Taters.

I definitely don't miss our now long-gone tradition of digging a hole for ourselves in the first half. I don't miss the shoddy punt coverage and all those kicks that never could make it to the end zone for a touchback.

I don't miss all those games where we said "why can't our guys ever get open"?

Man, life is AWESOME now, and it's because we have one hell of a coach that I firmly believe will decide to stick around and become the winningest coach in NCAA history. What could he possibly do with his time that would be more fun than running this program to national prominence?

I just looked over the last two seasons' schedules with all the W's in place. 22 W's in 26 games. Somebody pinch me!

The post of the year may have come on the first day of the year. In the past, we'd never have comeback in the final minute and won like that. But, there are no individuals on this team. They are all TEAM oriented. And, they all refuse to see the team lose. We even had to beat the refs yesterday, and I never criticize the refs, but that was clearly NOT a first down.
Anyways, we looked sort of like the Spurrier coached Florida teams, yesterday. We made big passing plays, and big plays on special teams, even though we couldn't run the ball very well.

[Spurticus]

We may well have become "The New Carolina" (ie: "Turned The Corner",
"Reached the Next Level") etc... or any number of other cliches that
can be applied to the term Arrived. IMO, I think the football program is now
on solid ground and finally headed in the right direction. I'm not convinced
yet we are "THERE". I thank Steve Spurrier and Mike McGhee and Eric
Hyman mainly for where we are right now, BUT we still have a lot of work
to do before we can be considered a consistently good program. We had
our goals at one time set on "beating the big boys", and followed that
up by the words Florida, Georgia, Tennessee.... to get to the next level.
We were of course talking about getting to the SEC Championship and
winning the Eastern Conference. We have gotten to a point of beating
the "big three" and competing with the best in the East consistently. We
have however failed to get to the Eastern Conference again when the
last two seasons it was well within our grasp. We failed in cruch time as
a team. .... We have not yet proven we belong with the LSUs, Alabamas
and sadly enough the Auburn / Arkansas of the conference. We are a
level better than we were 4-5 years ago, but we still have much work
to do before we can be cosidered amoung the Elite.

Again (IMO) the real measure of having Turned the corner, will be in how
this next wave of admin take what we have right now and builds on it.
Spurrier may eventually have us winning the SEC and who knows where
we go from there before he's done here....BUT, the test of a truly solid
program is in how we reload with the major change of losing the coach
and most of the staff that got us this far. ... That's where Ray Tanner,
Dr Pastides and our next coach and his staff come in. If we can get this
program consistent now, and have the next staff UP IT, then we can
say as a whole, We have arrived. We have Turned The Corner.

I KNOW we are far ahead of where we were prior to 2008...We still have
a lot to do to get to where the best teams in the country are. Looking
forward to the transition.

[treyno2722]

I'm worried about all the losses on defense. On the flipside, the passing offense looks so much better than it has in years.

[Spurticus]

Originally Posted by treyno2722

I'm worried about all the losses on defense. On the flipside, the passing offense looks so much better than it has in years.

Last year at this time people were saying they were worried about our
defense because we were losing Stephon Gilmore, Travian Robertson,
Rodney Paulk, Antonio Allen CC Whitlock and Melvin Ingram.
We survived. Yeah, were losing a lot of seniors and some good quality
Defensive players, but we're gowing as a football team and we have
some talented players coming in behind those leaving. ALSO, our schedule
is "lighter" than it has been in YEARS and should allow for growth of our
younger guys, and those replacing our starters who are leaving. We'll have
some growing pains, but I'm not convinced we're going to fall apart on
defense to the point most people think we will. I think we'll be fine
when the team is ready to play game one next season