Saturday, we get it back...

I've changed my mind.  I think we're going to kill them.  Of course, by Saturday I will be a nervous wreck.  But there's this…

• In '10 they had the only team they've ever had that won the East.  We played them up there and we were missing our best player (AJ).  We were starting our freshmen QB in his first game on the road.  We had Washaun Ealey and Carlton Thomas.  Caleb King was suspended and Richard Samuel was redshirting.  It was Grantham's 2nd game.  We lost 17-6 and Lattimore rushed for 182 yards.  Ealey had a crucial fumble in the Gamecock redzone.  It was Mark Richt's worst team, which would go on to lose 4 straight and ended up 6-7 with a  loss to UCF in the Indy Bowl.
• In '11, we had a pick six, a fumble returned to the 1, a fumble returned for a TD, and a fake punt for a loooooong and slow TD.  28 pts.  We lost Alec Ogletree the week before and lost Christian during the game.  We had just lost to Boise the week before, following that Indy Bowl loss and a 6-7 season.  We had absolutely no idea how to win.  We had Isaiah Crowell (who played great that game…but he was still IC), Richard Samuel and Carlton Thomas.  John Jenkins really hadn't started playing.  They won 45-42, thanks to our gift-wrapped 4-TDs.  We were in extreme identity crisis mode.

Fast forward to 2012 and think about a few things:

• Alec Ogletree will play Saturday.  Due to him being a freshman safety or injured, the 'Cocks have never had the privilege :) of playing against #9.  Allow me to introduce you to the guy we call 'Tree.
• Aaron Murray is not a freshman.
• John Jenkins plays a lot.
• Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall play RB for us, not Carlton Thomas, Richard Samuel or IC.  That, alone, should give you pause to feel really, really good.
• I don't think we'll gift wrap 28 points (21 off turnovers).

I think I'm starting to feel like what Alabama must have felt like in '08 coming to Athens.  Our blackout/Gameday atmosphere was unbelievable.  Bama had won a couple games of consequence.  They beat Clemson in the CFA game 34-10, but that ended up being Bowden's last year.  They had beaten Arky 49-14, in what would be Nutt's last year.  Otherwise, they'd beaten a bunch of nobodies, including an ugly 20-6 win over Tulane.  We had beaten them the year before at their house on a miracle.  We were coming off the best run I'd ever seen under Mark Richt and feeling very good about ourselves.  The stars were aligned.  And they punched us in the mouth and took our manhood.  I think we're going to punch THEM in the mouth.  Spurrier's distracted with this reporter at The State.  I think he's preoccupied.  I think this team is ready to enforce it's will on someone and…for once, we're going to play a mammoth game with all our bullets in the barrel.  I don't think they're going to like it.

Then the real war will be in Jax.  Those guys have the horses to play with us.  Simply, these guys don't.  And they're gonna wilt when we're up 27-0 at halftime.