The Week That Was The Gamecocks

Oxford, MS. It's a Saturday morning, sun barely up in the sky and what is this you see? Thousands of students anxiously awaiting in the stadiums parking lots, firing up their grills, throwing the pig skin, chanting fight songs, drinking some beers; just waiting for that special moment. The moment some fans have been waiting for since the last whistle blew ending their disappointing last season. That moment the stadium gates open and you rush through the tunnel and there it is, fresh cut grass, wind swirling through the stadium, freshly painted sidelines and logo on the 50 yard line and seats filling up with thousands of crazed fans. It's opening day for college football.
There may be nothing bigger then opening day in college football. This day can make or break your season, let you show off your improved skills as a team, or even play spoiler to a powerhouses chance of winning a national championship and this years opening day did not let people down.
For many top 25 teams opening week usually means easy win because their opponent is some small school that has virtually no chance of winning. Schools such as Jacksonville State, North Dakota State, or Utah University. The only thing is, someone forgot to tell these schools that they weren't supposed to actually win the game. These schools pulled off the impossible, some more impossible then others, yet they all played spoiler to a major conference contenders chance at a shot for a championship.
Jacksonville State, is located in Alabama, and is part of the OVC(Ohio Valley Conference) took a trip to Oxford for one thing, to win. After the third quarter a win looked like anything but possible for Jacksonville State as they found themselves down 31-13, but whatever Jacksonville State's coach, Jack Crowe, said to the team on the sidelines worked. Jacksonville State outscored the Rebels 21-3 in the fourth quarter, sending the game into overtime. The Gamecocks tied the game on the last play of the game with a last ditch effort by quarterback Coty Blanchard's toss to the back of the endzone on 4th and 15. Wide receiver Kevyn Cooper came down with the ball leaving a stadium of 55,768 fans silent. Yet that wasn't enough for qb Blanchard and his Gamecocks. The Gamecocks scored in the 2nd overtime leaving them down by 1 on the road to a SEC team that knew they couldn't lose this game. This left coach Crowe with a tough decision, go for the win or keep on playing. Coach Crowe couldn't feel better about the decision he made. The Gamecocks went for two and scored on a crazy, razzle-dazzle shovel pass that ended up in the hands of of Middleton, running back for Jacksonville State, and the Gamcocks did it. They pulled off the impossible and a sub-division team beat a FBS team. As the famous saying goes, this is why we play the game and that is what the little school from Jacksonville did, they played the game and came out winners.

South Dakota State beat University of Kansas and Utah beat number 15 ranked Pitt. 2 other notable upsets to kickoff the year.


Coach Tom