Cocks Crow: Pick your Top Play

We’re halfway through the 2009 football season – take a look at this video and then vote for your favorite play of the season!

Cocks Crow: Tuesday Links

Here’s some links to get you in the mindset for Saturday’s game at Alabama. Did you know it’s Homecoming for the Crimson Tide? I sure would love to spoil that party.

• Old-school Saban impressed by USC (The State)
• Opportunity knocks for Gamecocks (The State)
• Crimson Tide looms large for Gamecocks (The Charleston Post and Courier)
• No. 2 Crimson Tide focusing on improvement (Mobile Press-Register)
• Gamecocks a four-point road loss away from being undefeated, highly ranked, Saban notes (The Birmingham News)

Cocks Crow: 10 Straight

Here’s some media recaps of the Gamecocks’ 28-26 win over Kentucky on Saturday – the 10th straight in the series and Coach Spurrier’s 17th straight win against the Wildcats:

• South Carolina holds off Kentucky; Spurrier 17-0 vs. Wildcats (ESPN.com)
• South Carolina holds off UK 28-26 (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• Garcia, Jeffery jump-start USC over UK (The State)

In other news, the Gamecocks move up to No. 22 in the AP poll and will face new No. 2 Alabama at 7:45 p.m. ET on ESPN in Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

Cocks Crow: 200th Post

As we celebrate our 200th post here at the Spurs Up blog, let’s take a look back at some of the most popular posts to grace the page:

1) A Special Message from Ric Flair – Definitely one of the most interesting things to happen here at Spurs Up.  Just out of the blue, one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all-time calls up our ticket manager and leaves a voicemail in character. Less than 24 hours later, we’ve got it up on the site and it took off.  As of now, the YouTube clip has nearly 19,000 views.

2) The Scoop on South Carolina vs. UNC – One of the hot topics floating around regarding the changing of the UNC date as well as who our new opponent would be for the 2010 season.

3) More Stadium Ramp Photos – Most people have seen these photos by now, but leading up to the first home game, these photos were the first glimpse anyone had of the new garnet wraps on the ramps at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Cocks Crow: Thursday

• Coach Horn expects to use the newcomers to the men’s basketball team early and often.
• The seniors on this year’s football team plan on keeping the team focused.
• Check out Chris Low’s Week 5 SEC Picks.
• Joe Person writes about South Carolina’s football schedule and in-state teams.
• Combined ACC/SEC power rankings – Gamecocks come in at No. 8.

Cocks Crow: Wednesday Links and a Dinosaur

• Tony Barnhart from CBSSports.com talks about Coach Spurrier and the “New Carolina.”
• The Gamecocks don’t plan on taking S.C. State lightly this Saturday.
• S.C. State is expecting to enter into a “hornet’s nest” on Saturday.
• South Carolina is still looking for the right mix on the offensive line.
• Check out this video clip of a baby T-Rex with the South Carolina Marching Band on Thursday night:

The dinosaur was at Gamecock Village to promote the Walking with Dinosaurs show playing at Colonial Life Arena from October 7 – 11.  Click here for more information.

Cocks Crow: Basketball Items

Here’s a couple of positive preseason press items for the Gamecock men’s basketball team.  Jason King from Yahoo! Sports has his preseason power rankings for the SEC out and he puts South Carolina at 4th best in the conference:

Not many people are talking about the Gamecocks, who could emerge as one of the nation’s top sleeper teams. Darrin Horn’s squad won 21 games last season but missed the NCAA tournament after faltering down the stretch. That may not happen this season thanks to the return of Dominique Archie and Devan Downey – both of whom withdrew from the NBA draft. Downey, who averaged 19.8 points and 4.5 assists last season, will be one of the top guards in America in 2009-10. Don’t be surprised if aggressive wing Lakeem Jackson blossoms into one of the SEC’s top freshmen.

Senior Devan Downey was also recently profiled in The Sporting News – click here to read. His favorite attribute about himself? His speed.  If you’re still in a basketball mood today, download this new wallpaper for your desktop with Downey:

Cocks Crow: Monday

• ESPN’s Bowl Projections for Week 4 are out. Mark Schlabach thinks the Gamecocks will be in the Liberty Bowl vs. Houston while Bruce Feldman is projecting South Carolina to be in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl against Florida State.
• Coach Spurrier is still focused on improvement for the Gamecocks.
• Travis Haney talks about the Gamecocks and where the pollsters had them this week.
• The Gamecocks’ defense hurt the NFL stock of Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead – there were more than 20 NFL scouts at Thursday night’s game.
• Ken Bloch, Jr. sent me this great photo of Williams-Brice Stadium before the game Thursday night.  Check out his website here: http://kenblochphotography.com

Cocks Crow: Thursday Showdown

• Gamecocks looking for a little Thursday night magic – Chris Low, ESPN
• Check out No. 1 and No. 2 on Chris Low’s things to watch this week in the SEC
• Ole Miss defensive end Greg Hardy is only at about 80 percent for tonight’s game
• Rebels quarterback Jevan Snead hopes to know where Eric Norwood is going to be at all times tonight.

If you’re not going to be in the stands tonight, check out tonight’s live blog from the pressbox.

Forgot to add this to the blog yesterday, but tonight’s Gamecock Walk for the team will be at 5:30 p.m. in the southwest corner of the stadium lot.

Cocks Crow: The Rebels are here

• Ever wonder about the value of Thursday night games? After seeing the Gamecocks win on Thursday night two years ago against Kentucky, South Carolina wide receiver Tori Gurley called and committed right after the game.
• Gamecocks are looking for their biggest home win in their history on Thursday night.
• South Carolina is trying to find a balance to their offense.
• Look what I happened to find when I walked out of my office this morning: