Yeah, Spurrier's a great coach and we know that had a lot to do with their success the last three years. But the wheels are starting to come off and a lot of folks in the sports media aren't pointing out one of the glaring contributors:
South Carolina was one of the worst (known) cheaters in college football in the past decade.
The Whitney hotel, Pro Bowl Motors, the Rock Hill booster, etc. All these factors at the end of Holtz's tenure and the beginning of Spurrier's played a role in landing some solid classes. These factors also resulted in two major NCAA investigations with one probation and another one dodged because the school "cooperated".
And part of that "cooperation" was South Carolina having to sever ties with those sources.
Now that the benefits reaped from those endeavors have graduated or gone pro, the effects are slowly trickling in. So yeah, the win-at-all-costs attitude brought in some nice 11-win seasons and a nice streak against us (and those pretty 11-win rings).
But when you sell your soul, eventually the bill arrives in the mail.
Meanwhile, while they've been laughing at Dabo's antics, Dabo has calmly built a program that doesn't show any signs of slowing down and doesn't seem to produce a blip on the NCAA radar.