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Blogosphere meme watch: Dr. Saturday spins South Carolina's season

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For all the grief we in Bulldog Nation give our SEC East brethren from Columbia about Gamecock fans' unfavorable ratio of enthusiasm to achievement, the fact is that South Carolina fans like C&F have been remarkably level-headed about what last night's win does, may, and may not mean. It is from neutral corners of the blogosphere that the more curious takes upon this topic have come. Consider Dr. Saturday, arguably (and deservedly) the most universally respected college football writer on the internet, whose takes typically are refreshingly free from fealty to predetermined narratives. Nevertheless, the Doc today compounds his earlier error by repeating his mistaken statement that South Carolina "had no business losing at Georgia." That simply is not true, but now the Doc has taken his claim another step farther from fidelity to facts by describing the Palmetto State Poultry's loss between the hedges as "the last-second loss at Georgia." "Last-second loss"? For the record, the Bulldogs took a 21-17 lead on a 61-yard reverse with more than fourteen minutes remaining in the third quarter. Although the two teams scored a combined ten times thereafter, Georgia never trailed, or even was tied, during the final 29 minutes of the contest. There was nothing at all last-second about South Carolina's loss in Sanford Stadium. Georgia miscues made an exciting game out of what ought to have been, and bordered on becoming, a rout. (The Bulldogs led by fifteen with six minutes to play in the third quarter, and, but for a safety and a pick-six that were wholly Georgia's fault, it wouldn't have been close.) South Carolina is a good team, and, last night, the Palmetto State Poultry won a big game. Kudos to the 'Cocks for that achievement. Let's not go rewriting history here, though. Most Georgia-South Carolina games are every bit as close as the scores suggest. This year's simply wasn't, and folks who didn't see that game should take the word of those of us who were there. Matt Hinton is, as we say in the South, good people, and I have the utmost regard for him. Upon this particular point, though, he is wrong, and a mistaken meme needs to be nipped in the bud, irrespective of whether it originates with a half-witted dufus like Stewart Mandel or with a perceptive luminary like Dr. Saturday. Go 'Dawgs!