NCAA: The Swamp Fox and a Fox who Swamps

If you follow college football closely, and you appreciate the game's tradition and history, you know Beano Cook, the commentator and historian who weaves past events and figures into one-liners that sum up his views on the sport. My favorite line from Beano, among others, is this: "There are two teams you never bet against at home: the Russian Army, and Notre Dame."

A few years ago, Beano christened University of Florida coach Steve Spurrier with a signature nickname that sticks in my mind today, and is 100 percent accurate: "Spurrier," in Cook's words, "is the Swamp Fox. Ya have a Swamp? Ya gotta have a Fox."

Steve Spurrier is indeed a fox, a clever, maneuvering chalkboard genius who has masters degrees in the arts of sandbagging, diagramming, improvising, tweaking, tricking... and winning SEC Eastern Division titles.

This Saturday, the man standing on the sideline opposite Spurrier in the Swamp, and the only man standing in the way of another SEC East crown for the Swamp Fox and his Gators, is another wily coach whose resume surpasses that of Florida's Ball Coach. Not many men can make that claim, but then again, Lou Holtz is not many men.

His ability to jump-start struggling programs in his first or second year, done in five different places (William & Mary, NC State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame), figured to take a hit when Holtz joined the Gamecocks last season. In the cutthroat SEC East--let alone the SEC, period--Holtz had to contend with established, big-name programs sitting in front of South Carolina in the standings. It certainly seemed that the Gamecocks would need at least three or four years--and Holtz' own recruiting classes--to even begin to fight Florida, Tennessee and Georgia on even terms, let alone beat them. After an 0-11 nightmare of a season in his first campaign in Columbia, such an assessment seemed more true than ever.

Darned if Lou Holtz didn't outfox everybody again. Georgia went down in Columbia, and Tennessee needed a number of breaks and a last-minute touchdown drive to escape Williams-Bryce Stadium intact. Take away a shaky kicking game and a few untimely mistakes, and the Gamecocks could have another bagel on their ledger this season--only the bagel would be in the loss column, not the win column. With everything Holtz has done, this might still be his best coaching job ever. That statement will certainly hold true if Holtz and the Gamecocks can enter the Swamp and beat the Gators in an authentic championship game.

A win by USC on Saturday, setting all total accomplishments aside, would rank as the biggest, big-game win of Holtz' career in terms of the quality of his coaching. The game that currently tops the list of the Holtz files is his 38-6 ambush of #2 Oklahoma in the 1978 Orange Bowl with Arkansas. Minus three top players, Holtz got his troops to smother a Barry Switzer team that figured to barbecue the Hogs. With the reputation enjoyed by Spurrier and the Swamp, and with South Carolina's blank slate--now and historically--as a college football school, a win in Gainesville would top what Holtz did in Miami nearly 25 years ago. It would also definitely top what Holtz did to Spurrier in the 1992 Sugar Bowl, when a Notre Dame team with questionable credentials got its usual suspect invite to a New Year's bowl... and promptly ambushed a Gator team that, under its Savior with the Visor, had just won the University of Florida's first-ever SEC championship.

Saturday, much will come full circle. Beano Cook and the rest of us will watch as the Swamp Fox faces a genuine fox known for swamping unsuspecting favorites.

In Florida this Saturday, the game's outcome in the fourth quarter might be... yup... TOO CLOSE TO CALL!