Why CFB Fans Should Be Rooting for South Carolina and Steve Spurrier

South Carolina hosts Georgia this weekend in one of the biggest games of the season in the SEC. The showdown between No. 5 Georgia and No. 6 South Carolina will determine which team is the front-runner in the SEC East and has the inside track towards an appearance in the SEC Championship Game.

If you want to be entertained the week of the SEC Championship Game, you should be a fan of South Carolina and Gamecock head coach Steve Spurrier.

Can you imagine the back-and-forth between Spurrier and Alabama head coach Nick Saban or LSU head coach Les Miles?

Either coaching matchup would give the SEC an all-star coaching matchup for the ages.

It took Spurrier longer than he initially envisioned, but he has led the South Carolina program to its most prosperous time in history. He followed up the first SEC East division title in 2010 with the program's first 11-win season last year.

When the Gamecocks won the East in 2010, it was probably "too early" and more a product of a down division. 

Since that season, South Carolina has continued to improve, and it has brought Georgia and Florida with it.

The Gamecocks visit LSU next weekend. If they lose that game and still manage to make it to Atlanta for a rematch, the self-deprecating humor of the new version of the Head Ball Coach all week would be worth the price of admission.

And if the Gamecocks win the regular-season matchup?

Spurrier's quotes would be gold.

"Yep...that Tiger defense didn't seem to be an issue in October in Baton Rouge."

Now, if it's South Carolina vs. Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, the media might as well just not show up. 

Spurrier's ongoing feud with Ron Morris of The State in Columbia, S.C., combined with Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban's apparent desire to control the message would make the game week interesting for entirely different reasons.

It wouldn't be any less entertaining, though.

On the field, watching Steve Spurrier game-plan against a Nick Saban defense for SEC supremacy would be well worth the price of admission. Spurrier has successfully changed his style to fit the players on his roster, but he's still an innovative offensive mind that has plenty of tricks up his sleeve.

Three big college football personalities, two participants, one SEC champion.

South Carolina vs. either LSU or Alabama would take the SEC Championship Game—which already is one of the premier college football events in the country—to the next level in 2012.

Follow @BarrettSallee