It is good to be upset, but...

I am so glad the “moral victory” era is long gone in Columbia.  Just to pick one of many examples I could,  I remember in 1992 when we lost 14-9 at Florida, my reaction was something like, “We played GREAT!  If it weren’t for Cheney dropping that HB pass from Brandon Bennett we would have won!”  I was happy with a loss.  Now if that would happen I would be 8 kinds of sour and angry.  That’s a good change.  So heck yes I am mad about losing in Baton Rouge on Saturday.  Even though I could see it coming a mile away and predicted it, I can’t believe we came out that flat and had our worst game of the season.  I hope we never, ever, ever again “feel good” with a loss.  And good gracious, who kidnapped Connor Shaw and replaced him with a poor understudy?  That is only the 2nd or 3rd time tops that he has played that way.  I bet he bounces back strongly this week which is bad news for Fla-dah.    

How do we do that?  We wash our mouths out, get over it and focus on Gainesville.  Outside of where we are playing, everything that was hurting us going into LSU is helping us this week.  We are coming off a VERY listless performance on the road, are angry and absolutely have to win on Saturday.  (This was LSU last week)  Meanwhile, the Gators are flying sky-high, are ranked #2 in the BCS and are being told by the whole world that they cannot lose and that their program is fully restored.  The national media is just ga-ga over Muschamp and nothing could possibly stop this new runaway train in college football.  (This was S. Carolina last week)

I guess if you have to find something positive to say, here is the best I can do: 

• The only thing that we lost completely with the loss was a chance at a 14-0 season.  USC can still win the East, the conference and with some help even play for the National Title.  It’s not “likely” maybe but it’s realistic.  After all, we are #7 in the BCS, play #2 this weekend and if we win out will play either Alabama (#1) or LSU (#6) again.  The help obviously would involve a couple of timely losses from Oregon, Kansas State and Notre Dame.   So again, not likely but not off the table at all. 
•  Despite being controlled on the lines of scrimmage pretty much all night, we had the ball with a chance to win.  We didn’t win, and that’s all that will be remembered, but I think most folks would agree that the game “felt” like it was more than a 2-point difference.   So the fact that we didn’t go into cruise control and quit matters.
  

• When was the last time an SEC West “Big Dog” celebrated a 2-point win over South Carolina at home like it was Mardi Gras?  I was angry but I had to chuckle at that.  The SEC’s idiot-in-chief, Les Miles was actually talking trash after the game which was funny.  Shoot, I thought for a second that the fans were going to tear down the goalposts but I digress.  LSU played the best game they have in years, the atmosphere was electric, while we were flat and made VERY atypical mistakes. 

That usually means a loss which happened.  But I think we’ll be a much better football team on Saturday and we will win.  I hope I am right.  What a great time to be a Gamecock!