South Carolina Gamecocks Football Countdown: 77 Days

Our countdown to the 2014 college football season continues as just 77 days separate us from kickoff between the South Carolina Gamecocks and Texas A&M Aggies at Williams-Brice Stadium on August 28.

Who wears #77?
No one wears the jersey number 77 this year. The last player to wear this number was Mason Zundi in 2012, who redshirted as a true freshman and has since switched to jersey number 74 (more on him in three days).

Gamecock Football in 1977
Record: 5-7
Head Coach:Jim Carlen in his 3rd season
Conference: Independent
Big Wins: Miami

In 1977, the Gamecocks won games against Appalachian State, Georgia Tech, Miami, East Carolina, and Wake Forest. In the eleventh game of the season, what would normally be their last, they lost at Clemson 31-17. But they had a twelfth game at Hawaii (a 24-7 loss), the longest trip South Carolina ever made to play a game. The fact that they played twelve games did not count against their eleven game limit by NCAA rules: the NCAA, in an effort to aide Hawaii in lining up opponents, did not count any games played outside the continental United States against the team’s eleven game limit.

Also in 1977:
The “Son of Sam” serial killer, David Berkowitz, was captured.
The Atari 2600 game system was released.
The #1 song was “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” by Rod Stewart.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (them simply known as Star Wars) was the number one movie.