You may be surprised to hear this, but according to Stephen Garcia, it’s not Georgia that gets Spurrier the most pumped. It’s his alma mater.
You guys obviously knew going into this game you could give USC something it’s never had before. Did this affect y’all’s preparation levels at all?
SG: “Not really. Coach Spurrier would ALWAYS be more pumped up the Florida than any other game. He won’t ever tell you but we as a team knew that. We just worked on the gameplan and stuck to it.”
Damn. I’m a little offended by that, to tell you the truth. Where’s the hate?
Get The Picture 
To be fair, Florida never had players suspended for their game so Spurrier probably had to try a little harder.
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He does it for Jeremy Foley, adding to his resume.
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Well, even before Spurrier, South Carolina had an inferiority complex and played their asses off against us every year.
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No surprise there at all. SOS turns UF into a power, then leaves for the ‘Skins. After getting his own skin handed to them in the NFL (did anyone really think Wuerffel would succeed as NFL QB?), he then confidently throws his hat in the UF coaching ring after the disastrous Zook era, in which he assumes he’s a shoe-in.
However, much to his chagrin, A Foley asks him to submit his resume if he wants to be considered, in which SOS answers, “you might my resume? Check the trophy case”…and hangs up. What SOS didn’t realize is that Foley had no interest in hiring SOS back, thus the rather insulting request of SOS to actually submit a resume.
With that said, of course Spurrier is going to have it out for UF, and I wouldn’t blame him. Stanfill knocking his teeth in the dirt back in the 60’s is a distant memory compared to UF shrugging him off in more recent years.
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He wants to show UF how much they screwed up by not hiring him back. I have to say I don’t blame him. He put UF football on the map, he knows it and they know it.
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Dose of reality: Foley hired Urban Meyer to replace Zook and Meyer won 2 SECCGs and 2 BCSNCGs. Until Meyer got all touchy-feely, retired, un-retired and then retired again, hiring Meyer over SOS looked like a genius move. Even with the benefit of hindsight, hiring a guy who wins you 2 conference championships and 2 national championships in such a short time is a deal likely any AD would make all day long any day.
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Of course it is, but again, as you said, you’re looking at it with 20/20 hindsight. At the time, you had Meyer out at Utah and Spurrier wanting to come back home. Most of the UF fan base wanted SOS but Foley went with Meyer, which indeed ended up being a smart move. With that said, perhaps SOS wins an additional MNC or two with UF as well during his 2nd stint. Obviously we’ll never know.
You are also looking at things from an objective, most likely sane point of view, in which you’re merely an outsider. From SOS’s point of view, however, he still was denied the ability to come back to the program he created. Oh, and by the way he clearly has a huge ego that needs to be factored in too.
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“You are also looking at things from an objective, most likely sane point of view,”
I think you are most likely giving the Mayor too much credit
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I think you get an entirely different result if FU hadn’t landed Tebow for Meyer. SOS was a slam dunk hire, and Foley happened to get lucky. Spurrier was the better coach, with the most credentials. How has Foley managed in his other decisions?
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I dunno. I think he did OK hiring the FU basketball coach.
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You think Imma believe anything Stephen Garcia says?
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Colorful character.
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He might have been more pumped up for UF, but he had much more evil in store for Georgia.
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He will have his team pumped up for both the UGA and UF games.
It’s the Mizzous, Tennessees, Kentuckys, and A&Ms which he won’t.
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In the event of excitement that persists longer than the 4 hour Georgia game and/or the 4 hour Florida game, all banty Gamecocks should immediately seek a veterinary assistant. Otherwise, tissue damage and permanent loss of potency by spur softening may result.
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Yikes!
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Wait, so we’re not their biggest rival? I thought they were mad at us for not making them our biggest rival. This thing has gotten so meta.
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Tommy at best they would be # 5 on our list – behind…
Tech (yes I still put Tech #1)
Florida
Auburn
Tennessee
Maybe even Clem and son (even though the series is once a decade now)
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Auburn
Florida (tie)
TN
SC
Mizzou
GT
Just a different opinion, not knocking anyone’s viewpoint but conference games rule, and always have….imo If we played LSU and Bama more often, I would put them before GT. In years we do play them, they are more important games than GT.
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I don’t really care any more who Spurrier’s biggest rival is. And I don’t care what Spurrier says about us or anyone else. I just know he’s been hard on us, and he’s never missed an opportunity to gloat about his success over the Dawgs. He’s a helluva coach, admittedly, and he’s entertaining in a way that Joe Biden is entertaining. He seems to play by the rules, and he’s given South Carolina the consistency they haven’t seen in years, indeed if ever.
But he’s an arrogant ass–of world-class proportions–and I’ll always want to see Georgia kick his butt all the way to his Momma’s front porch the way Stanfill and Patton did years ago. I hope this is one of those years.
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Was Garcia sobered up enough when he gave this interview?
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You mean people aren’t out to get the Georgia football program all the time? I thought the entire world was constantly conspiring against us?
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