Spurrier, Gamecock football top AP sports story of the year in SC
For fans that long for consistency from teams, coaches and players in South Carolina, this year wasn't for you.
Whenever a Palmetto State team was headed down one path, things almost always changed direction - sometimes for the better, much of the time for the worse.
How else to fathom the Gamecocks' football season? A celebratory romp through the Southeastern Conference with talk of a national title one minute, then a historic collapse for the head ball coach the next.
In the case of Clemson football, the change of direction was positive. The Tigers rallied from consecutive defeats to win five of their final six and reach the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Another bright moment was Winthrop basketball's amazing run to its first NCAA tournament win. But less than a month later the Eagles' architect, coach Gregg Marshall, left to take the job at Wichita State.
Clemson's basketball season was up and down, changing course twice on the way to a school record 25 wins. The Tigers started 17-0, dropped four of their next 10 and missed the NCAA tournament, then rallied to finish second in the NIT.
Spurrier's midseason change of fortune was voted the year's No. 1 sports story by members of The Associated Press.
"We've learned some humility here," Spurrier said, reflecting on his year. "Certainly, I've learned some."
Spurrier had a different tale in mind when 2007 began, hoping to spring the Gamecocks from a three-game win streak at the end of 2006 - a feat the team hadn't accomplished in 33 years - to an SEC title.
South Carolina had to think like champions, the coach said, even hinting this could be the year the Gamecocks played in the league's title game.
Things went largely according to Spurrier's plan for half the season. Despite the offseason defection of star receiver Sidney Rice to the NFL, the lengthy suspension of heralded quarterback Stephen Garcia after two spring semester arrests (Stephen Garcia's plight was voted the year's fifth top story) and the loss of defensive star Jasper Brinkley to injury, South Carolina ran out to its best start in six years at 6-1 and rose to No. 6 in the country.
Spurrier, a touch of his ol' Florida cockiness bursting through, joked there weren't the typical celebrations around campus when South Carolina notched its bowl-qualifying sixth win in mid-October.
"That's probably the first time in school history," Spurrier said, grinning with pride.
Turns out, South Carolina wouldn't get another chance to celebrate.
The Gamecocks had no offense the following week in losing to Vanderbilt 17-6. A comeback at Tennessee failed in overtime with the normally reliable Ryan Succop missing the tying field goal. Then South Carolina bolstered the Heisman Trophy credentials of tailback Darren McFadden, who tied an SEC record with 321 yards, and quarterback Tim Tebow, who had a hand in all seven Gator TDs, in losses to Arkansas and Florida.
Spurrier got his fifth-straight loss against rival Clemson, the first time the coach has ever lost five consecutive games in 18 years.
Despite having two punts blocked, the Gamecocks rallied for a 21-20 lead in the fourth quarter. The Tigers, however, made several critical plays - including getting a first down after a third-and-18 - on the way to a game-winning field goal.
The loss left South Carolina out of the bowl picture and Spurrier scrambling for answers. His postseason moves have included bringing in new coordinators for defense and special teams.
Spurrier is taking a more low-key approach to South Carolina's 2008 season.
"We're disappointed," he said. "But we realize we've got nobody to blame but ourselves."
Winthrop's NCAA triumph was the culmination of Marshall's nine seasons of success - and voted the year's second biggest sports story.
The Eagles had won seven Big South Conference crowns to become a mid-major program on the verge of breaking through. However, the school was 0-6 in the NCAA tournament and lacked the validation that comes from winning in March.
Winthrop led heavily favored Gonzaga in 2005 before losing. A year later it took a miraculous shot from Tennessee's Chris Lofton at the end of the game to send the Eagles home. But in March, the Eagles carried 29 victories and perhaps their most talented team ever into a first-round matchup with Notre Dame in Spokane, Wash. - some 2,600 miles west of campus.
Winthrop quickly built a 20-point lead, then saw it all disappear. It took a late rally to lift the Eagles to the 74-64 victory.
"It's huge for me personally," Marshall said, while his players fielded congratulatory phone calls and text messages in the locker room. "It's huge for these players. It's huge for our league, huge for the state of South Carolina.
"It's nine years of putting your heart and soul into something and being close in the past."
Facing a game with No. 3 seed Oregon to advance to the next round, Winthrop found itself out of upsets.
By mid-April, Marshall, who had famously returned to Winthrop in 2006 after his introduction as College of Charleston coach, this time did head off to Wichita State.
The Eagles were left in the hands of Marshall's assistant, Randy Peele. "We will do everything possible to maintain the benchmark that has been set," Peele said at his hiring.
Clemson's basketball team was hoping for similar NCAA tournament success.
The Tigers were considered a lock for their first tournament berth since 1998 before their collapse, which included blowing a 15-point lead at home to Virginia with less than 9 minutes to go.
Picked for the NIT, the Tigers shook off their disappointment to reach the championship finals at Madison Square Garden where they fell to West Virginia.
Clemson's basketball season was voted the No. 3 sports story.
The Tigers' football season was selected No. 4. More than a few frustrated fans gave up on the Tigers after consecutive losses to Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.
Clemson, though, rallied with four straight wins to set up an Atlantic Coast Conference showdown with Boston College. The Tigers, behind quarterback Cullen Harper, led 17-13 in the fourth quarter.
But Matt Ryan's improbable 43-yard TD throw to Rich Gunnell in the final two minutes sent the Eagles to the league's title game. Faced with a critical game at South Carolina, Clemson won 23-21 on 35-yard field goal by Mark Buchholz as time expired.
The victory was Clemson's ninth, the third time it has won that many in coach Tommy Bowden's nine seasons. The 15th-ranked Tigers chase their first 10-win season in 17 years at the Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year's Eve.
Clemson officials made sure they did not change direction with the program, securing a new deal with Bowden that keeps him with the Tigers through 2014.
See more at www.thestate.com
