Black Magic Revisited—Chopped

Tenth in a 15-part series celebrating the silver anniversary of South Carolina’s finest season—the “Black Magic” of 1984.

Chapter 1: Preseason
Chapter 2: Too Close For Comfort
Chapter 3: Devil’s Night
Chapter 4: Collared and Leashed
Chapter 5: The Perfect Beat
Chapter 6: Pitt-spurred
Chapter 7: Luck of the Non-Irish
Chapter 8: Bowled Over
Chapter 9: Hungry for the Wolf

CHAPTER 10: Chopped

For all of coach Joe Morrison’s warnings to his team to keep its collective head out of the clouds, it was getting very difficult. South Carolina returned from NC State a sterling 8-0 and rose to fifth in each poll on the following Monday.

It began to sink in, despite Morrison’s fears of what it could do.

“It was a little harder to ignore the polls when they came out every Monday,” receiver Eric Poole said. “We were happy to be in that situation. The town was buzzing; it was great.”

But just as the increased attention began to worm its way into the Gamecocks’ brains, a reminder from the top knocked it right out.

The Gamecocks were undefeated and playing Florida State, No. 11 in the country but holding a 6-1-1 record. The game was in Columbia. ABC got into the act, bypassing the annual Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville, Fla., for the chance to show USC and FSU.

And still—still!—Florida State was a slight favorite.

“We still didn’t have the respect,” offensive tackle Bill Barnhill said. “We’re playing at home, we’re undefeated, we’re rated higher, national TV and we’re still underdogs.”

It seemed to be a message. As good as South Carolina was, it was still South Carolina. You know, the one that only had one conference title in its history and had made a habit of playing .500 ball.

The 1984 Gamecocks weren’t happy about being compared to the editions that came before them. So they suited up and hit the field on a mission—show Florida State and the country that they may be South Carolina, but they were a different South Carolina.

As in, a damn good one.

There wasn’t much doubt following a 38-26 shootout over the Seminoles.

“We knew then the Orange Bowl was there,” quarterback Mike Hold said. “We started to see if we continued, some of the things that were going to happen.”

The Gamecocks spurted to a 38-7 lead, overcoming a Seminoles touchdown on the game’s third possession. A trick double-pass from Hassan Jones to Jessie Hester got FSU to USC’s 3-yard-line and Roosevelt Snipes, in for injured star running back Greg Allen, took a carry in for the touchdown.

Snipes should have taken a picture. It was the last time it would come that easy.

USC’s quick-strike offense, once again directed by Allen Mitchell with Hold behind, showed it wasn’t too hampered by a season-ending injury to Kent Hagood the week before. Thomas Dendy, yet another of the veer offense’s featured backs, found a hole in the middle and cut loose downfield.

He had one man to beat and didn’t see much sense in avoiding the guy, so Dendy charged to him, waited until he was close, turned a full circle in an eyelash’s blink and sped for a 57-yard game-tying touchdown.

“We knew then that it was going to be pretty easy,” Hold said. “We were pretty pumped.”

Everybody began chipping in. Scott Hagler booted a 27-yard field goal (10-7) and Dendy scored again from 2 yards out (17-7) before halftime. That run was set up by two passes from Hold to Ira Hillary, one where Hold scrambled out of a sack and threw 44 yards downfield as Hillary made a diving catch at the 5.

With a 10-point halftime lead, the Gamecocks knew they could start controlling the game. Immediately after the break, they began showing why.

The second-half kickoff was caught by Raynard Brown, who had to go almost to his knees to catch it. Once he rose and tucked the ball in, he sprinted to the middle, found his path blocked, stepped back and hit the sideline for a 99-yard touchdown.

As announcer Frank Broyles protested the call, saying Brown’s knee was on the ground, the Gamecocks celebrated on the sideline. Oranges from the stands again showered Brown as he completed his run.

One TV station confirmed that Brown’s knee didn’t appear to touch. It didn’t matter—no official called it and even if one had, the Gamecocks knew, just knew, they were going to win.

“That kick return let us know … we’re going to do it,” Hold said. “He hit up in the pile and everybody thought he was stopped, next thing you know, he bounces backward, took off down the sideline. I never felt more confident in our team.”

“That was the first time I saw the upper deck sway,” Barnhill said. “I’d never seen that before. I thought I’d gotten hit or something.”

The Gamecocks led 24-7 and added two more touchdowns in the second half. The “Fire Ants” defense, seeking to atone for a bad day at NC State, squashed Florida State early and although it allowed 19 late points, it accomplished its mission.

USC intercepted seven passes, led by four from Bryant “Mookie” Gilliard. The Gamecocks also recovered four fumbles, overcoming any concern about productivity loss after an early exit from linebacker James Seawright, who had a knee injury.

“Defensively, they just kept getting us the ball,” Hold said. “We had that cushion the whole game.”

Once again, the Fire Ants had done their job. It had fallen on them so many times throughout 1984 to set up the win for the offense, but the NC State game was the opposite. The Florida State game was a return to normalcy.

“We just wanted to make sure we were solid,” Gilliard said. “We weren’t worried about where they were ranked. We knew that we had to take care of business.”

That was clinched as soon as Danny Smith caught a 4-yard pass from Mitchell in the end zone, putting the Gamecocks up 38-7. Scribes in the pressbox hurriedly came up with expressions befitting the miracle they were seeing on the field and at least one, The Greenville News’ Dan Foster, talked to Orange Bowl President Bob Lafferty and got a sort-of official word.

With only two regular-season games left, a 9-0 Gamecock squad was looking good for the national championship game. According to Tom Price’s book, “The ’84 Gamecocks: Fire Ants and Black Magic,” USC had to be No. 1 on the Orange Bowl’s list but the Gamecocks had all of the credentials the bowl was searching for.

Think about that. Little ol’ South Carolina, the red-headed stepchild of college football, was in line for the Orange Bowl, hallowed ground where championships were won.

“We had two games left, and one of them we knew was going to be huge,” Poole said. “We were proud. I remember looking back and having this feeling of pride.”

Poole was referencing the season-ending clash with arch rival Clemson. All that was before that was a cakewalk at Navy.

No need to worry about that.

COMING ON NOV. 6: Chapter 11—Sunk

Selected details found in “The ’84 Gamecocks: Fire Ants and Black Magic” by Tom Price.