Now is the autumn of his discontent.

From Chris Low’s SEC blog:

… There are bad losses, and then there are bad losses. This one will resonate for a while with Steve Spurrier, who’s simply is not wired to lose four or five games a season. He is definitely not wired to lose to Vanderbilt in consecutive seasons.

The frustration is growing, and you could hear it as loud and clear in what he said Thursday following the Gamecocks’ 24-17 loss to the Commodores as you ever have since he returned to college football in 2005.

Insert snark about "big, powerful team" here. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Watching the teams trot off the field at halftime, it never occurred to me that Vandy would come back.  The Commodores showed almost nothing on offense – and in fact would finish the game with only 225 yards total offense.  Yet they won.  A Spurrier coached team has lost two games in a row to Vanderbilt.

I have no idea how the ‘Cocks respond to this.  The OBC knows that a win in Columbia against Georgia would turn the season around on a dime, but given how badly damaged his team’s psyche has to be right now, that’s a monumental task, at least in terms of motivation.  Rallying the troops has never struck me as a Spurrier strong suit (mainly because he’s never really been in that position very much).  And the McKinley injury doesn’t help.

Just how long do you think Spurrier stomachs quotes like this one from the coach that beat him last night – again?

“I was surprised so many people thought it would be real hard for us to beat them,” Johnson said. “We beat them last year, and I don’t know why everybody thought they got so much better than we were getting.”

Needless to say, this will be interesting to watch.

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UPDATE: Sorry, but I couldn’t resist posting this quote from SI.com’s Bill Trocchi.

… Spurrier is 11-14 in the SEC with the Gamecocks — 6-11 since his first season. Not only are the Gamecocks failing to climb the SEC East ladder behind Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, it appears Vanderbilt is coming up from behind.

Somehow, I don’t believe that was the legacy Spurrier intended when he took the job.

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UPDATE #2: Barnhart urges caution.

… And here is my first early warning to my Georgia friends. If you’re feeling more confident about the Gamecocks because they lost to Vanderbilt last night, don’t. We’ll have more on that next week.

Should we feel less confident?  Stay tuned.