South Carolina Gamecocks Football Countdown: 57 Days

Our countdown to the 2014 college football season continues as just 57 days separate us from kickoff between the South Carolina Gamecocks and Texas A&M Aggies at Williams-Brice Stadium on August 28.

What 57 days left means: This means news is starting to pick up about college football, and after finishing 4th in nation last year, South Carolina is definitely going to be part of that talk.

• Out of Las Vegas, South Carolina is currently favored by anywhere from 9 points to 12 points in their opening day game against Texas A&M.
• There is talk of a trophy being established between South Carolina and Texas A&M for this new rivalry, which would be the third such trophy the Gamecocks play for in football.
• It wouldn’t be summer without talk about Steve Spurrier.  Talk radio has been buzzing around Steve’s comments saying “there’s more to life than the SEC Championship”.
• The Gamecocks will be represented by QB Dylan Thompson, DT JT Surratt, and OG AJ Cann  at the upcoming SEC Media Days

Who wears #57: _________
No one on the team this season is scheduled to wear jersey number 57.  Previously, Lemuel Jeanpierre wore 57 and last year was a member of the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.  Also, Gamecocks sideline reporter Langston Moore wore 57 from 1999-2002 for the Gamecocks before moving on to play in the NFL for several years.  Finally, Woody Myers wore 57 for the Gamecocks from 1985-1987 as the center for Todd Ellis.

Gamecock football in 1957
Record: 5-5
Conference: ACC (2-5 in the conference)
Coach: Warren Giese was the coach this year, in his 2nd of five seasons at Carolina, and he was truly landing his running approach to the game.  The team was led by a pair of running backs–Alex Hawkins and Don Johnson–both with over 400 yards that season.  The team started 3-1, but then lost 4 of their next five games, all against ACC opponents, including a 13-0 loss to Clemson.  The team was not ranked during the season.  Then Carolina Stadium was expanded that season to hold 42,517, more than a 20% increase than previously.

Also in 1957:

• Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, and later Sputnik 2 which had first animal to ever enter space
• Egypt re-opened the Suez Canal
• Top movies were “The Ten Commandments”, “12 Angry Men”, and  “Jailhouse Rock”.
• “The Cat in the Hat” was one of the most popular books this year