Marcus Lattimore's Season-Ending Injury Could End Steve Spurrier's Run at USC

South Carolina running back and Heisman Trophy candidate running back Marcus Lattimore will miss the remainder of the Gamecocks season with a torn ligament in his knee, head coach Steve Spurrier said at a press conference Sunday.

The sophomore running back was the key to the South Carolina offense, and with quarterback Steven Garcia being kicked off the team for failing to follow team rules, the Gamecocks offense will struggle mightily in the second half of the season.

Lattimore's injury is the final blow to the Gamecocks chances at winning the SEC or BCS title this season, with Spurrier telling the media on Sunday, "our worst fears were realized."

With this latest setback in Columbia, could this be the beginning of the end of Steve Spurrier's coaching career at South Carolina?

Spurrier hasn't been able to have anywhere near the same success with the Gamecocks that he enjoyed with the Florida Gators for many seasons, with whom he won a national championship and multiple SEC titles.

Obviously, it was going to take time to build the Gamecocks into an elite program, but seven seasons into his career at South Carolina, Spurrier has a 50-34 record and no SEC titles or BCS bowl appearances. At Florida, he went 122-27-1.

Spurrier also hasn't been able to recruit as well as Auburn, LSU and Alabama, who have dominated the SEC for the last decade.

Another reason Spurrier should leave South Carolina is his mishandling of Lattimore, who has had an immense workload this season.

Through seven games, Lattimore has carried the ball an astounding 163 times and has accounted for a ton of the Gamecocks' offensive production. He's also caught 19 passes through seven games.

Now that Lattimore is hurt with a serious injury, his future as an NFL star could be in doubt. Lattimore still has to play another year in college to be eligible for the NFL Draft, and if he misses games next season his draft stock will suffer.

Running backs are always a question mark if they've suffered injuries in college, but NFL general managers will be even more skeptical of Lattimore because he's suffered a major knee injury.

Lattimore was on pace for about 280 carries this season, but without Garcia on the team, Lattimore could have seen his workload raised even more.

Spurrier's failure to recruit well enough to compete with the SEC's elite teams and his mishandling of Lattimore will end his run in South Carolina.

He has made the program better, but Spurrier has run his course at USC. It's clear he won't make them an SEC champion or BCS champion anytime soon.