Steve Spurrier’s career ending will begin against Georgia in 2015

By Michael Collins | Sep 18, 2015

At 70 years of age, South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier is still one of the most beloved and hated coaches in the SEC, but the curtain is about to go up on the beginning of the end for the Head Ball Coach.

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Two to three more years…that’s what Steve Spurrier has stated when he’s asked how much longer he thinks he can continue coaching. When you’re a fixture like Spurrier, you pretty much have the ability to make your own timeline. No athletic director or university president in his right mind is going to be known as “the guy who forced out Spurrier” (just ask UGA president emeritus Michael Adams about the stigma of pushing a legend out the door).

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But for all the things Spurrier is — cocky, cantankerous, snarky, funny, volatile — the one thing he isn’t, is stupid. He’s a savvy fellow who knows how to keep himself standing in a positive light, even in the darkest of times.

This week he’s facing one of his favorite nemeses, the Georgia Bulldogs.

Spurrier has been torturing fans in Athens for over a quarter of a century. The Bulldog nation cringes when they have to come up against the Evil Genius, because he always seems to find a way to poison the Bulldogs’ season.

When he was at Florida, it wasn’t even close. His Gators destroyed the Bulldogs, regardless of how good they were. Spurrier only lost once to Georgia as head coach in Florida, a 37-17 loss in 1997. Beyond that blip on the radar, his Gators beat Georgia by an average of 23 points per game.

The Bulldog faithful thought they had caught a break when Spurrier left to try his hand in the NFL, but just four short years later, he was back in college football and in the SEC. When Spurrier took over a hobbled South Carolina program in 2005, Georgia fans were licking their chops at a chance for some revenge against their most mortal enemy.

Things didn’t quite work out that way.

While it hasn’t bee a reverse of the whitewashings that Spurrier laid on Georgia as a Gator, the Bulldogs have at least made themselves look competitive, going 5-5 against Spurrier’s Gamecocks.

The games between the Bulldogs and Gamecocks during the Spurrier era have almost always been nailbiters, with six of the ten meetings being decided by seven points or less. Only two of the meetings have been out of reach – an 18-0 Georgia win in 2006, and a 35-7 South Carolina win in 2012.

But South Carolina is, by all accounts, on the decline. After consecutive 11-win seasons in 2011, 2012 and 2013, the Gamecocks fell to 7-6 in 2014, and some questions about Spurrier’s ability to coach and recruit at a high level began to surface. While the HBC has done all he can to try and silence critics, a second consecutive loss to Kentucky last week re-opened some of that discussion.

South Carolina will travel to Athens this week, 17.5 point underdogs to the No. 7 Georgia Bulldogs. In any other season this would be yet another opportunity for Spurrier to spoil the party for the Dawgs, just as he did in 2012.

Sep 12, 2015; Columbia, SC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks wide receiver Pharoh Cooper (11) runs towards the end zone as Kentucky Wildcats safety A.J. Stamps (1) defends during the second half at Williams-Brice Stadium. Kentucky wins 26-22 over South Carolina. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

If you’ve watched South Carolina, and watched Georgia this season, I think you know where this is going.

This is not a typical Spurrier team. They have a walk-on playing quarterback with the loss of Connor Mitch for the season, and their once fearsome defense (which looked completely anemic in 2014) should feel lucky to be called respectable this season.

Normally when asked about the matchup with Georgia, Spurrier will have some quick barbs and witty snipes.

Not this year.

You could almost see the sweat dripping down the old man’s brow as he glowed about Georgia’s running backs to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Chip Towers.

“Chubb is one of the best you’ll ever see,” Spurrier said. “Like any great running back you hope to not let him get started. You can’t give him much of a hole at the line of scrimmage. So we’ll probably get a bunch of guys up there like everybody else tries to do when the they play Georgia and try to stop him.”

What…no sly dig on suspensions or schedules? That’s all we get from the Evil Genius?

Georgia is motivated, even more so than in past seasons. Their young defense looks like Carolina’s from a couple of seasons ago. They run the ball as well as anyone in the country, and the Gamecocks are giving up 207 rushing yards per game…

To North Carolina and Kentucky.

Circle it on your calendars, this Saturday in Athens will mark the beginning of the end for Steve Spurrier. His storied career will begin to wind down with a humiliating defeat in enemy territory…and not just any enemy, but one that he has owned for longer than most guys even play football.

Take the 17.5 points and run with it…run like you’re Nick Chubb being chased by Todd Gurley. The Bulldogs will control this game from start to finish. Oh sure, this is an SEC game and anything is possible, but unless Georgia just has flashbacks of the game against Florida last season and mails it in, this one should be a walk-through.

Not that Georgia ever does that.

The Gamecocks will likely leave Athens 0-2 in conference play, and the wiley ol’ ball coach will realize it’s time to start hinting at farewells.

Poetic justice for the Bulldog Nation, but a rather sad way for such a legendary coach to go, if it does go down this season.

One last visor toss, old man? For old time’s sake.

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