One win ‘helped the whole energy’ in Gamecocks’ building. Now it goes for two
When Will Muschamp walked into the Long Family Football Operations Center on Sunday, he and the rest of South Carolina football did so with a different feeling — for the first time in more than 11 months, the Gamecocks’ most recent result was a win.
After a challenging end to the 2019 season, a delayed start to the 2020 campaign and an 0-2 mark to open the year, USC defeated Vanderbilt by a solid 41-7 margin this Saturday. And while it’s common for coaches to talk about putting last game’s results behind them quickly, Muschamp acknowledged that getting back in the win column after five consecutive defeats can change a lot.
“Certainly winning helps. Makes the food taste a little bit better, your wife likes you a little bit more, your girlfriend likes you a little more, if you got one,” Muschamp said. “So it certainly gives you a better outlook on things.”
It wasn’t all sunshine from Muschamp, who was quick to point out that there was plenty the Gamecocks could have done better against Vanderbilt.
“Our guys, (I’ve) been very pleased for the most part with how we’ve gone about our work. ... I think they came in with a very good attitude on Sunday, understanding we still have a lot of improvement to be made on our team and corrections and to accept being a very coachable player, and that’s something we challenge them with all the time,” Muschamp said. “And then understanding we got a very good Auburn coming in here Saturday and we need to continue to improve and get better.”
Still, the feeling around that Sunday practice was noticeably more upbeat this week, players said. And for a team in need of a bump, it could prove crucial, they said.
“I mean, nobody likes losing. You put in all this work and it definitely wasn’t the start we wanted to come out 0-2, but I thought we responded well last week. And to get that first win, it was good for us,” quarterback Collin Hill said. “It was nice coming in Sunday and watching film after you win as opposed to coming off a loss. But I do think it gave us confidence. I think as an offense in particular, you can see we’re starting to find our stride and get more confident and comfortable with each other.”
Confidence and knowledge that they can win is an issue Muschamp pointed out in the run-up to Saturday’s game. And with the lopsided result, offensive lineman Eric Douglas said he saw the benefits trickle down the roster.
“It’s not only a confidence boost for the first team, it’s also a confidence boost for those guys that maybe haven’t played since high school. So you got second-team guys that haven’t got reps, the only reps they get is in practice, so seeing those guys out there, letting them get some of the reps that we always get, it was just exciting, because the same way that they pump me up, I was on the sideline pumping them up just as well,” Douglas said.
The next step is stringing together wins, something South Carolina hasn’t done in a full calendar year. The Gamecocks are currently listed as home underdogs against Auburn for this Saturday, but the Tigers are coming off a controversial victory over Arkansas and inconsistent results so far this year, while USC’s veterans are trying to keep their first bit of momentum in a while going.
“It’s just helped the whole energy in the building and on the practice field. We were on a losing streak, even dating back to last year. So to be able to get a win like that, especially to win big, it was exciting,” cornerback Jaycee Horn said. “The young guys, they didn’t know what that felt like. So now it’s a better feeling in the locker room and meetings. And now we just gotta try and build on it. It was good to get a win, but we got to also know that we’re gonna playing a lot better competition, so you can’t get too high or too low off games like that. You just gotta try to build off of it, and that’s what we’re gonna try to do this Saturday.”
