South Carolina Football: 10 Wins Isn't the Standard for the Gamecocks Anymore

Steve Spurrier has led South Carolina to its most prosperous time as a football program. 

His Gamecocks claimed the SEC East title for the first time in program history in 2010. His team then followed that up with the first 11-win season in program history in 2011, winning every game vs. SEC East opponents in the process.

The Gamecocks will enter the 2012 season behind Georgia in most SEC East prognostications, mostly due to the fact that the Bulldogs avoid Alabama, LSU and Arkansas out of the West, while the Gamecocks visit LSU and host Arkansas.

The schedule doesn't set up for a title run, but the bar is set higher at South Carolina now.

That's why this column in the Greenville (S.C.) News took me by surprise when it said that a 10-win season in 2012 would be significant for South Carolina.

A 10-win season may have been monumental for South Carolina in 2007, but not in 2012.

Not if you want to be considered a big-time program.

South Carolina has capitalized on the downturn that has befell the Florida and Tennessee football programs and established itself as one of the powers in the SEC East.

It's not done yet. It's a program that's still on the rise.

The Gamecocks have signed Mr. Football in the state of South Carolina for four straight seasons (Stephon Gilmore, Marcus Lattimore, Jadeveon Clowney and Shaq Rowland), have a defensive line that could be considered one of the best in the country and expectations that have never been higher.

Sure, the schedule didn't set up well for South Carolina in 2011 and doesn't in 2012. That's just an excuse. South Carolina has the talent to compete with the big boys of the SEC—it just has to go out and do it.

A 10-win season shouldn't be the standard in Columbia anymore. Championships should be.

Anything less should be a disappointment in 2012.

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