USC Gamecocks left wondering: 'What's the problem?'

As badly as Saturday ended here for South Carolina, and, yeah, it was bad, the Gamecocks still woke up Sunday leading the SEC's Eastern Division. Pretty much any other year, a mid-October loss against a division opponent like Kentucky would cripple a team's chances of getting to Atlanta. But 2010, as you've seen already, isn't your typical year in the SEC East.
"It is unusual, but that's where we are right now," said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, who had never lost to Kentucky before in his career (17-1). "Somebody's going to represent the East in Atlanta. We don't know who it is yet, but they're not going to take two from the West. "The league should consider it. The West currently has five of its six teams ranked in the AP poll, a switcheroo from the recent norm of the East having the more formidable division. South Carolina holds the East lead at 2-2, just ahead of 2-3 Florida and Georgia. The Gamecocks, who have now lost seven consecutive SEC road games, play at Vanderbilt this week. The Commodores were clobbered, 43-0, by a Georgia team that appears to be coming around. "We're still in the hunt," Spurrier said. "Now, if we fall on our face again, we won't be in the hunt. But the Eastern Division is a little down this year, so we're still in the hunt." A 28-10 halftime lead for the Gamecocks turned, stunningly, into a 31-28 Kentucky win , thanks to a stagnant offense that looked a lot like 2009 and a soft defense that resembled the end of 2007. It was a meltdown that didn't get any easier to explain Sunday afternoon than Saturday night. "Certainly we're down a little bit right now today. We'll be a little bit tomorrow," Spurrier said Sunday. "But it's a long season. It's one game. We're still leading the Eastern Division after four conference games. "It's going to depend on our guys and how badly we want to go play, and do things that winners do. It turned out we didn't do those things yesterday." By Travis Haney