By David Knox, Sports Editor
BIRMINGHAM – A member of the Birmingham City Council has argued with me, and the city thinks it’s just fine there’s no title sponsor for its bowl game. Even though it now costs the city half a million to sponsor it and it’s one of just three of the 40 bowls not to have a title sponsor.
I say let’s call it the Will Bowl and be done with it.
This is the third straight year a Will Muschamp team has received a bid to the Birmingham Bowl. For the first time, however, he gets to actually show up for it. Two seasons ago as Florida head coach, the Gators picked up the bid to play East Carolina, but by then, Muschamp had been fired.
Last season as Auburn defensive coordinator, the Tigers met the Memphis Tigers, but he was gone, having accepted the South Carolina head coaching spot.
Now, as the boss of the 6-6 Gamecocks, he’s on the field. Unless something happens, of course, between now and Thursday’s 1 p.m. kickoff against South Florida.
Maybe he’ll write us a check.
He sounded happy enough to be here in a media conference recently.
“We have eight players on the team from the state of Alabama,” Muschamp said. “There’s no question you get some exposure in that state. There are some really good football players and great coaches in the state of Alabama. It helps to win too, that’s the most important thing.”
Among those eight are quarterback Jake Bentley, a true freshman from Opelika, who is the starter for the Gamecocks, having supplanted the expected QBs, Brandon McIlwain and Perry Orth. He’s the trigger for an anemic offense, but he’s turned the year around for the Gamecocks.
On the other side, South Florida’s coach, Willie Taggart, has continued the form of head coaches not coaching this game. Taggart is already gone to Oregon. Remember when Pitt was here three straight years and never had its head coach?
“USF has got an outstanding football team,” Muschamp said. “I know Coach Taggart left to go to Oregon, but he left all those players in Tampa. They’re a talented football team. They’ve got really good team speed (with quarterback) Quinton Flowers, (running back) Marlon Mack (and wide receiver) Rodney Adams. They’ve scored over 30 points in every game this year. They’re very athletic and fast on defense. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
The incoming coach will be Charlie Strong, who’ll be swapping Longhorns for Brahma Bulls in the spring, but the interim coach is a guy with Alabama ties.
T.J. Weist, the co-offensive coordinator and passing game coordinator,, has the Bulls by the horns, so to speak, for this game. Weist played wide receiver for Alabama from 1985-87 under Ray Perkins and Bill Curry, lettering his senior year, and he earned his bachelors and masters from UA.
“Things haven’t changed. It’s still like Coach T is here,” said quarterback Flowers, the American Athletic Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year. “We’re just doing what we’re supposed to do and what these coaches expect from us – going out and making plays, like always, and doing our job.”
Flowers finished the regular season ranked in the top 20 in the nation in nine offensive categories and set new USF season records for total offense (3,976 yards), rushing yards (1,425), rushing touchdowns (15), total touchdowns (37) and 300-yard total offense games (8).
“(Coach Taggart) and I were together for a long time, so we do some things similarly,” Weist said. “I do think I’ll add some things to it, but I’ll do a lot of things that he did. I liked his aggressive attitude overall, so I’m going to continue a lot of those things, because we’ve won. It’s been a good formula. We’re not going to change much.”
It will be Carolina’s defense versus the Bulls’ offense, on paper, anyway. USF’s splashy Gulf Coast Offense plans to ride the wave, but South Carolina is ranked 10th nationally with 25 takeaways and 11th in red zone defense.
“If we get to 11 wins, that’s a big deal for us,” linebacker Auggie Sanchez said. “I think that’s what the guys are looking forward to. We’re all into this and the bowl game is our main focus.”
The Bulls will compete in the program’s eighth bowl game in just their 16th season of FBS football. The Bulls are 4-3 in their previous seven bowl trips. This will be USF’s second trip to Birmingham to play a bowl game. The Bulls downed East Carolina 24-7 for the program’s first-ever bowl victory in the 2006 PapaJohns.com Bowl.
This will be South Carolina’s third bowl trip to Birmingham. The Gamecocks dropped a 24-14 decision to Missouri on Dec. 28, 1979, in the Hall of Fame Bowl, then suffered a 20-7 setback to Connecticut on Jan. 2, 2010, in the Papajohns.com Bowl.
Thursday, 1 p.m., Legion Field. TV: ESPN