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It's no Fun 'n' Gun, but Spurrier is reconquering SEC.
By:
Stewart Mandel
CNNSI.com
A day after leading his new school, South Carolina, to its first win over his old school,
Florida, since 1939, Steve Spurrier couldn't help from uttering
a couple of his patented jabs.
Asked about watching Saturday night's Auburn-Georgia game -- the Tigers' upset kept
alive the Gamecocks' slim hopes of winning the SEC East (and not Florida's) -- Spurrier said,
"Since the Gators didn't have to worry about that game last night, we decided we'd root for Auburn instead."
Later,
a question about next week's game against Clemson prompted a discussion about old nemesis Florida
State, which lost 35-14 to Spurrier's new rival on Saturday. "They've got three losses and they're still in the [ACC title]
game?" Spurrier asked. "Guess they picked the right division to be in this year."
New
job, same Spurrier. He's still saying whatever comes to mind. More importantly, he's still confounding
SEC opponents.
South Carolina's decision to lure the 'Ol Ball Coach out of semi-retirement is paying dividends faster
than anyone would have ever imagined. Most figured he'd need a couple of years to attract the type of athletes necessary to
run his preferred, pass-oriented offense; what we didn't realize was Spurrier doesn't necessarily
need the Fun 'n' Gun to beat people.
In Saturday's 30-22 victory -- the Gamecocks' fifth straight following a 2-3 start
-- South Carolina attempted just 17 passes. There were games at Florida where Danny Wuerffel
or Rex Grossman threw that many times in the first quarter. Once Spurrier realized counterpart
Urban Meyer was determined to play a zone defense to counteract stud Gamecocks receiver Sidney
Rice (who still finished with five catches for 112 yards), Spurrier started pounding the ball
with freshman tailback Mike Davis (22 carries, 88 yards, two touchdowns). The Gators outgained South Carolina 359 yards to
246, yet never led.
"That's the kind of team we have," said Spurrier. "We don't have a
whole bunch of plays, and our defense holds other teams to low numbers scoring-wise."
The history-starved Gamecocks
posted three winning seasons and two New Year's bowl berths under Spurrier's predecessor, Lou Holtz, but they never won five
conference games in a row, like this year's team. They never beat Florida or Tennessee. Spurrier has conquered both in his first season.
The NFL might not have worked out for Spurrier, but clearly the guy still knows how to win in the SEC. Imagine what he'll do with his own
recruits.
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