LITTLE ROCK — The Ol’ Ball Coach. Steve Superior. Heisman Trophy winner. National champion coach.
Steve Spurrier is known by many names, some affectionately, some not so kindly because he never seems to lack confidence or a smart retort.
He’s a guy who apparently doesn’t believe in freedom of speech, as he tried to ban a Columbia, S.C., sports columnist for something he wrote months earlier. It was an obvious ploy to divert attention away from Spurrier kicking quarterback Stephen Garcia off the team that day.
Mostly, though, he’s known and respected for his high octane offenses that would hang 50 on anyone at any time when he was coaching Florida.
Winning by six or seven touchdowns was as common as sunshine in those days.
That’s what the good folks at South Carolina thought they were hiring when they grabbed the guy who was born in Tennessee but made his name in Florida, first as a decorated quarterback and later as the head coach.
His success with the Gators was so heady that he jumped to the Washington Redskins, which was, like in most cases of college-to-pro career changes, similar to an episode of Dancing With the Stars. Few are successful at it.
All things considered, Spurrier has been successful at South Carolina.
They are the defending SEC Eastern Division champions and currently stand alone atop the East Division with one loss.
If you looked up the definition of lucky, you might find Spurrier’s picture there instead of Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino’s.
The Gamecocks entered this season as the favorite to get back to the SEC Championship Game because of Marcus Lattimore and Garcia.
Lattimore is out for the season with an injury, and apparently Garcia preferred parties to polishing his passing.
So the guy known to totally ignore defense, who rarely glanced at their meetings or huddles during a game, is winning on the strength of his defense.
Obviously, this was why he hired Ellis Johnson, who had a cup of coffee with the Razorbacks before bolting to Columbia, S.C. Now, without Lattimore and Garcia, the Gamecocks are winning by margins so small that Spurrier has to feel like his visor shrunk.
Granted, South Carolina ranks fourth in total offense in the SEC, but a good chunk of that came before Lattimore’s injury.
The defense, though, is third behind only Alabama, which has the No. 1 defense in the country, and LSU, the No. 4 defense in the nation.
South Carolina ranks No. 6 overall, but what should be a concern for Arkansas is its No. 3 national ranking against the pass. The Gamecocks allow only 135.88 passing yards per game, and they have 16 interceptions.
That pits their strength against the strength of the Razorbacks, who rank No. 9 in the nation in passing with an average of 321.13 yards per game.
Just to finish out the numerical comparisons, the Hogs are 83rd in the nation in rushing with an average of 131.75 yards per game and the Gamecocks are 41st against the rush, allowing 130.25.
If there is ever a game when Dennis Johnson needs to jump on the Razorbacks podium and make a statement, it will be Saturday night in Fayetteville.
In the past five games, South Carolina has gone 4-1 and given up only three touchdowns, and two of those were to Auburn in the Gamecocks’ only loss.
Watching them beat Tennessee on TV last Saturday was about as exciting as warm Kool-Aid.
Smash-mouth defense is not what people pay to see, but there is no doubt it pays dividends.
In the process of becoming a defense-oriented team, Spurrier hasn’t been as much Superior as sporadic as he tries to break in a freshman quarterback and running back, who had a great game against the Vols.
One thing hasn’t changed for Spurrier, though. He’s still finding a way to win.
Sports, Pages 19 on 11/02/2011