White nor anyone else could linger on it. There was a game the next week, and at 3-5, USC was about out of rope to cling to when it meant a winning season. They all left one last fingernail in the fibers at Texas A&M two games later to contribute to a dreadful 4-8 season, a year after winning nine games.
Alabama sticks to White, worse than Midlands humidity, because his defense played its heart out. That’s what he wants to see every week, in any game of the past five seasons or any one coming this fall.
That was Gamecock Defense.
“We were playing to the competition, we were stopping the run, we were playing physical and good coverage … just the ending of that game,” White sighed. “But that’s the game.”
There’s a dim line on the horizon, the beginning of preseason practice just starting to break through, and White is again soldiered up for the next 12 games (and hopefully more). It’s always on the defense to support the offense: He more than anyone could have lashed out at the Gamecocks’ brutally inefficient O last year, but USC wins as a team, loses as a team, is accountable as a team.
With the familiar bark coming from the defensive huddle — “Put the ball down!” — the defense has regrouped and retooled. Five starters return, four in the second and third levels, and as much as last year stung, there was a lot to build on.
“I thought we played solid defense. We weren’t as dynamic, from our sacks and stuff like that, as far as explosive plays,” White said. “It was just a little bit more sound, understanding how our team was going, how we were playing.”
The goal, as always, is to win but there’s another attached. The Gamecocks haven’t posted three straight seasons of allowing 20 or less points per game since 2011-13. Yes, the official points allowed per game last year was 22.1.
But it drops to a flat 20 considering 25 points were given up by the offense/special teams on two safeties, two pick-sixes and a blocked punt returned for a TD.