Darrin Horn on ESPN’s “The Herd”

Listen to South Carolina head coach Darrin Horn on ESPN’s “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd. Click here to listen on ESPN.com.

Cocks Crow: Midseason Review

• Chris Low is reviewing every SEC team at the midpoint of the SEC schedule. Here’s what he had to say about the Gamecocks:

One of the key questions with South Carolina coming into the season was whether or not sophomore quarterback Stephen Garcia would mature enough to lead this team to a successful season. So far, so good. Garcia has shown a lot of toughness, and he’s also done a much better job of taking care of the ball. The Gamecocks (5-5, 2-2) have proven that they’re good enough on defense to play with anybody, and they’ve done it despite some injuries, suspensions and freshmen playing key roles. They would love to have that Georgia game back right now where they lost in the final seconds on the road. Either way, this appears to be a much improved team and much more focused team than the one we saw going through the motions in the Outback Bowl at the end of last season. The challenge now for South Carolina is seeing it through to the end, something the Gamecocks haven’t done very well.

The Closer: SEC on ESPN

Check out this video that explains how coverage of SEC football is dramatically increased by the conference’s new television deal:

Here’s another fact for you related to television – for the week of September 21-27, South Carolina’s game against Ole Miss was the 2nd highest rated program on a cable television network.  No. 1 was the Monday Night Football game between the Colts and Dolphins with an audience of nearly 14 million.  Almost 5 million households watched the Gamecocks beat the Rebels Thursday.

The Closer: Pep Rally, Golf, Gamecock Football

Just a couple links before I head out the door for tonight’s Carolina Calls Pep Rally at Wild Wing in the Vista.  The pep rally starts around 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m.  Men’s soccer coach Mark Berson will be a special guest on the Carolina Calls show.

Former Gamecock Mark Anderson is still in contention at the U.S. Amateur in Tulsa, Okla.  He is currently playing Clemson’s Phillip Mollica in the third round and is 1 up through 11 holes.  Follow his progress here.

ESPN’s Chris Low was in town today to write about Gamecock football.  Here’s links to a few of his posts:

• Kicking it with Steve Spurrier
• Gamecocks not fretting defensive line losses
• Improvement up front key for Gamecocks

Cocks Crow: On Tap Plus Links

We’re finally starting to get into the fall season.  It’s been a long summer for me without any Gamecock sports.  The first official home event starts tonight (men’s soccer was an exhibition) and we’re also just seven days away from football season.  Here’s what’s going on today:

• Women’s soccer hosts College of Charleston tonight at Stone Stadium at 7 p.m.  Tonight is Faculty/Staff Night.  Students that show their ID at the game will receive free pizza.  Regular ticket prices are $5 for adults and $3 for youth.
• If you’re going to be in the Vista tonight or plan on going to Coach Spurrier’s call-in show, get there a little early for the Carolina Calls Pep Rally at Wild Wing in the Vista.  The band Tokyo Joe will play before and after the call-in show (which runs from 7-8 p.m.) while the band and cheer team will peform at 6:30 p.m.

And here’s some links from around the web:

• Blakely Mattern and Rae Wilson from the women’s soccer team also played high school soccer together at J.L. Mann High School.  Here’s a nice profile on the pair from The Greenville News.
• Feature story from The State on Gamecock volleyball senior Ivana Kujundzic.  The volleyball team travels to Clemson tomorrow night.
• ESPN’s SEC Football blogger Chris Low is in Columbia today as part of his travel around the conference – should be a few stories upcoming about the Gamecocks on his blog.

SEC Weekly on ESPNU Debuts Thursday

ESPNU will debut its new studio show SEC Weekly this Thursday.  The one-hour program will air Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. throughout the academic year and will cover SEC sports, including sport-by-sport previews, reviews, specials and features on student-athletes.

SEC Academic Network: Cocky’s Reading Express

Click here to view a video feature on Cocky’s Reading Express and its focus on inspiring children in underserved schools to become leaders in literacy.

The video is part of the new SEC Academic Network site, established by the SEC in partnership with ESPN and the member universities, will feature content from every institution ranging from research, innovation and economic development to community partnerships, civic engagement and service.

“When the new SEC TV agreements were being discussed, we wanted to explore new ways to highlight the excellent academic opportunities found at our universities, in addition to the outstanding athletics programs,” said Harris Pastides, University of South Carolina president.  “The SEC Academic Network helps realize that goal.”