Gridiron Belles

Football season is less than predictable. It’s torturous and riveting. And it most certainly leaves us sleepless on Friday nights.

This week is different. This week the sleepless nights aren’t waiting until Friday.
Perhaps I am not sleeping well because my lucky navy dress is at the dry cleaners. Maybe I’m shooting up in bed because I am missing some recipes for the book. Tossing and turning could be from the musical chair game between conferences for automatic qualifying status. (More on why TCU moving to the Big East was a lateral move later).  Maybe my irritation with the BCS computer system is becoming a deep abomination mixed with fear.

The fact of the matter is, my sleepless nights are caused by the SEC Championship matchup between The Ole Ball Coach’s Gamecocks and the relatively fresh Gene Chizik’s Tigers. Again.

Alas, they don’t call Coach Spurrier the “Ole Ball Coach” for nothing. This man, this legend, has been here before. He’s been to championship games as a player and a coach and has a pretty decent record. (6 SEC championships, 1 national championship while coaching at Florida)

This will be the Cocks’ first trip to an SEC Championship. This is the biggest game of South Carolina football in school history. This is also the best coach South Carolina has been blessed with in years. Good coaching can almost fill any gap for shortcomings on the field. Most of the time.

I caution you not to count out the Plainsmen.  Let us not get lost in the hype of a legend. Let us recall that the Tigers are 12-0—including a win against: the Devil, the Ole Ball Coach, and the reigning God of college football, Nick Saban. (That’s pretty good for Chizik’s second year). Let us remember 2004.

Saturday in Atlanta is going to be no different than every other weekend, another matchup between two teams in the toughest conference in the country.

Either way, “If South Carolina wins, Gamecock fans will most likely create the second-coming of Sherman in Atlanta. I hope the Atlanta Fire Department is ready.” Calhoun Hipp, South Carolina fanatic

If Auburn wins (again), they’ll return to the plains to practice and prepare for Glendale. “After all, tomorrow is another day.”Scarlett O’Hara, Gone with the Wind