USC confident it will avoid a late-season slide

COLUMBIA -- Steve Spurrier has been adamant this week in saying his 6-3 South Carolina team is just fine and will not fall prey to another late-season slide.

"We don't feel bad," Spurrier said Tuesday. "We haven't lost to Eastern Illinois, or somebody like that. We've lost to some pretty good teams on the road.

"So don't try to make us feel bad. We don't. We don't feel bad. We had a lousy game last week, but we don't feel bad."

The Gamecocks were 6-1 in 2007

before a five-game losing streak left them out of a bowl.

A 7-3 start ended in a 7-6 finish last season. Deflating losses at Florida and Clemson bled into a lackluster showing against Iowa in the Outback Bowl.

Whether Spurrier acknowledges it or not, a four-turnover night in last Saturday's loss at Tennessee evoked the here-we-go-again mentality.

So let's break down South Carolina's late-season woes.

Here are five characteristics of the Gamecocks' recent November swoons -- and corresponding ways to keep them from resurfacing this season.

1. Defensive injuries

We'll start here because it's the one of the five that's beyond South Carolina's control.

Two years ago, injuries slowly worked to handicap a pretty good Gamecocks defense. Middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley was lost early in the year, and it went on from there.

By the Clemson game, freshman Addison Williams had to play quite a bit at one of the corner spots.

How to prevent: Well, you can't. Injuries and weather are the things football teams can't help. Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, they've already lost two defensive starters for the year and defensive end Cliff Matthews for at least a couple of weeks. Things are sort of setting up the same way they did in 2007.

2. Bad attitudes

This was the culprit a year ago, more than any other time. The defense, as we know now, was littered with players who already had their NFL careers in mind rather than the end of the team's season.

Those players aren't around anymore, and this year's Gamecocks seem to have a better core of leaders (Moe Brown, Eric Norwood). Still, you're starting to see little signs of bad seeds.

How to prevent: The leadership has to seize control of the team's overall disposition. Some dissatisfaction cannot be evident when the team takes the field; everyone needs to be on the same page. Coaches -- especially assistants -- are also responsible for the tone of the team.

3. Turnovers in losses

The Gamecocks had been so effective this season in holding on to the ball -- until last weekend.

They had nine turnovers in eight games, and then four last week at Tennessee.

In the team's seven late-season losses since 2007, they've never once been "plus" in turnover margin. They're minus-13 (9-22) in those seven games.

The best they've done is push with Arkansas and Florida in '07. And those teams churned up enough yards for turnovers to become a moot point. In the embarrassing showings at Florida and Clemson last season, USC turned the ball over four times in each game.

How to prevent: Easy. Don't fumble or throw interceptions. But this falls on the defense, too, to some degree. It needs to get some takeaways. No more dropped interceptions.

4. Brutality of the schedule

This one's sort of like injuries. Can't do anything about it -- at least this year.

Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, bye, Clemson.

The traditional late-season schedule is a twist on the Orange Crush.

It finally gets a facelift next year, as it did in 2006.

Troy is inserted in place of the bye, and the Gamecocks get a week off in mid-October. That's when a breather could help the team catch its breath in the midst of the SEC season.

How to prevent: Work with ESPN, just as they did for the 2010 schedule. Splitting up Florida and Clemson, putting a Sun Belt opponent in between, is a good idea.

5. Poor offensive line play

There's a new line coach and several new linemen. But South Carolina's still dealing with the same issues.

Inconsistency. Missed assignments. Sacks.

Eric Wolford's reclamation project is still in its early stages. But, at this point and for whatever reasons, you can't say he's brought a lot of change.

Correspondingly, South Carolina still hasn't shown the ability to consistently run the ball.

Last in the SEC the past two years, they're 10th going into this week (129.2 yards a game, 92.5 yards a game in SEC play).

The Gamecocks have been outrushed in every SEC game except for one.

How to prevent: Tough to say, at this late stage in the season. Perhaps hope that new starter Garrett Chisolm provides a boost and guys such as Jarriel King and Garrett Anderson have saved their best for the end of the year.

There are still three games to change course, but some of the familiar earmarks are already playing out just as they did the past two years.

Ultimately, beginning today at Arkansas, it's still in the players' hands to keep history from repeating itself in 2009.

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com and check out the South Carolina blog at www.postandcourier.com/blogs/gamecocks.