This isn’t an easy schedules, but SEC schedules aren’t supposed to be easy.  But for the expansion, South Carolina would have had Arkansas and Mississippi State coming to Columbia along with a trip to LSU.  Since Missouri is now coming to Columbia one of those SEC West games had to go.  I assume the SEC didn’t want to break up our incredibly important and meaningful rivalry with Arkansas, so they had to remove the Mississippi State return trip.  That does make some sense.

Allow me to dive deeper into this issue...

The SEC finally released the 2012 football schedule with the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M.  There have been a few changes to the normal schedule to accommodate the two new teams. 

Here is USC's conference slate: 

SOUTH CAROLINA
Aug. 30: at Vanderbilt
Sept. 22: MISSOURI
Sept. 29: at Kentucky
Oct. 6: GEORGIA
Oct. 13: at LSU
Oct. 20: at Florida
Oct. 27: TENNESSEE
Nov. 10: ARKANSAS

Breaking it down further....

The SEC released the football schedules and the assumption that the South Carolina Gamecocks will have a tough road in 2012, is now a fact.

Let's take a look at the schedule and give you the "way too early" predictions and thoughts on the games......

South Carolina finished the regular season with 10 wins.  The Gamecocks had nine wins last season.  Regardless of what happens in the bowl game, the 19 combined wins in two years is the most in Carolina history. The previous high had been 17 by Lou Holtz's 2000 and 2001 teams.  That's another record for Coach Spurrier.

Something that has gone unnoticed by many is the consistency and stability that Spurrier has brought to the program. Since he has been here, the Gamecocks haven't had a losing season.  In fact, USC hasn't had a losing season since the 2003 campaign. This 8 year streak is the 3rd longest streak among SEC teams.  Only Florida (last losing season in 1979) and LSU (last losing record 1999) have longer streaks.

Here are the current non-losing season streaks for the SEC:

Today Coach Steve Spurrier named Lorenzo Ward as the Defensive Coordinator and firmly planted him as the coach in charge of the Gamecocks defense going forward.  Ward is replacing recently departed Ellis Johnson, who left for the head coaching job at Southern Mississippi.

This is sort of a surprise as many coaches were rumored but with Spurrier nothing really goes as you would try to predict.  He does what he feels is right for the program and this is who he wants as the coach of the defense.

Ward held the title of defensive coordinator since being hired in January of 2009 but he answered to Ellis Johnson, who was afforded the title of Assistant Head Coach for Defense.

No word yet on compensation or if the title will change that he currently has but one thing is for sure and that is Ward is now in charge of the defense.

Coach Ward has big shoes to fill after the foundation of success laid by Coach Johnson but he has all the tools in place to be successful.  Coach Ward is walking into a very good situation given the talent USC has coming back in 2012.  Ward is also a great recruiter so that bolds well for USC in the future and he knows the South Carolina program.  The players trust him and like him so that is also a plus.

Is it a smart move by Coach Spurrier? Only time will tell....

What the fans want is to continue the momentum of success.  Do that and the hire of Ward will be viewed as a great choice to lead the defense.

Here is the official bio of Coach Ward per USC:

The Missouri Tigers defeated the North Carolina Tarheels in the Independence Bowl by the score of 42-24.

UNC looked like and played like UNC.  Meaning poor defensive play led to their loss.  They have potentially but must play better as a defensive unit.

The real reason us Gamecock fans tuned into the Independence Bowl was to see what the Tigers from Missouri are all about and we left impressed. The team has been to seven post-season bowl games in a row, and has had 29 total bowl appearances.  By the initial watch of their game, they should fit right in the SEC football world. 

Here are some more postgame thoughts on Missouri...

Redshirt senior Kyle Nunn has decided to play in South Carolina's bowl game on January 2nd against Nebraska.  This will likely be his final football game in the garnet and black. 

If you recall, the Sumter, S.C. native last played in the fourth game of the season against Vanderbilt.  Soon after this game, it was reported that he had suffered a back injury that required sugery and this resulted in him not playing the rest of the season. 

Nunn was strongly considering pursuing a medical redshirt year and come back for a sixth year but it began to become more and more clear that obtaining that medical redshirt was going to be difficult given his circumstances.  The reason his he had volunteered to take a redshirt his first year on campus so getting another year but be out of the norm from the NCAA.

Good luck to Kyle Nunn as he will be playing his final game on Jan. 2nd in the Capital One Bowl, which is a great way to conclude his career.  This was the right choice for Nunn given the decision he had to make.

The South Carolina Football team is celebrating what we hope is a blessed Christmas and beginning to get in the mood to beat Nebraska in the upcoming Capital One Bowl.

Here are five things the Gamecocks want for Christmas:

Well, it is official.  Ellis Johnson has left the University of South Carolina as the head defensive coach to take the job head coaching job at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Johnson will not be on the sidelines when the ninth-ranked Gamecocks (10-2) take on Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl on January 2.

Looking at this Ellis situation…who can blame him?  He wanted to the opportunity to be a head coach once again so this is a good fit for him.  Best of luck to him.  Hate to see it as he was well-respected, a great recruiter and the architect of a stingy Gamecock defense.

So who is next?

Here are some names we are hearing and would like to see in the mix of consideration in no particular order....

The South Carolina football team held its first bowl game practice today and the real news item coming out of that event was the fact that five juniors on the team are eyeing the NFL.

The players are: Defensive end Devin Taylor, cornerback Stephon Gilmore, wide reciever Alshon Jeffery, safety D.J. Swearinger and safety DeVonte Holloman.

All five have submitted paperwork to the NFL’s underclassman advisory committee to determine their draft status.

Concluding the 2011 regular season, Jeffery and Gilmore were the only ones from the group widely expected to be first-or second-round selections.  Those too are the most likely to leave.

Here is how we see it: