Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010

Morris: A winning streak 40 years in the making

CLEMSON

SOUTH CAROLINA finally did what it was supposed to do in its rivalry with Clemson. The Gamecocks entered Saturday’s game as a superior team and showed it.

USC’s 29-7 victory was thorough. USC’s defense surrendered an early touchdown, then shut down Clemson’s offense. USC’s offense found the going difficult for running back Marcus Lattimore, so it exploited Clemson’s defense with its other big-play weapon: Alshon Jeffery.

We should not be surprised by the outcome. This USC team has shown it is capable of breaking down barriers and establishing milestones. It continues to accomplish either what no other USC team has accomplished, or done what only long ago teams did.

“Coach (Steve) Spurrier has been talking a lot about first time for this and that,” USC quarterback Stephen Garcia said. “This year, first time we’ve beaten them back-to-back since the ’70s, so we’re doing a lot of firsts around here this year, and hopefully we can keep going and win the first SEC championship.”

We, of course, will not know for years to come, but USC fans have got to believe the back-to-back wins signal a turning point in the series. If USC can dominate Clemson in back-to-back seasons, there is every reason to believe more of the same is to come.

Do not undervalue the importance of those back-to-back victories. It might not rank with winning the SEC East for the first time, but it should be in the next category.

It should be right there with defeating Florida, Georgia and Tennessee in the same season. Right there with defeating then-No. 1 Alabama for the first time. Right there with winning at Florida for the first time.

At about every juncture where USC fans expected their team to fall back into the defeatist ways of the past, the Gamecocks first stood their ground, then surged forward.

That has not always been the case, particularly in the USC-Clemson series. Saturday’s game was the kind USC usually lost over the years.

Just like this season, USC entered the 1980 game as the better team but lost 26-7 to a .500 Tigers team. At the turn of the century, Lou Holtz fielded two of the best teams in program history, but the famous Rod Gardner play in 2000 set up a last-second field goal in the Tigers’ 16-14 win. A season later, USC handled Clemson, 20-15.

This time, USC left little to chance. It had every reason to look a week ahead to Saturday’s SEC championship game. Heck, Clemson did that a season ago when it was eyeing the ACC championship game while sleepwalking through the loss at USC.

“No looking ahead,” strong safety D.J. Swearinger said. “No looking ahead.”

It proved to be the surest sign of a mature team that can concentrate its efforts on the task at hand, while recognizing the bigger game ahead.

“The mental attitude of these guys has really changed since the Arkansas game,” Spurrier said. “We were really lousy that night, like we were (at Clemson) two years ago, like we were in the Papajohns Bowl. . . . Since the Arkansas game, we’ve played much better.”

For one night, there was no bigger stage for USC than that at Clemson. Finally, USC did what it was supposed to do in this series. It defeated a team it should have beaten.

It makes the look ahead to the SEC championship even sweeter.

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