Gamecocks D back to the incompetence of the Pre-Ellis Johnson days

Ellis Johnson turned
 the Gamecock D into a
winner, but now it's not. 

In South Carolina's last game of 2007, the Gamecocks lost on a field goal to Clemson. In the winning drive, the Tigers converted on a 1 and 35. It was one pass after another. Everyone in the stadium knew that Clemson would throw the ball, mostly to All-ACC WR Aaron Kelley, but the Gamecocks were helpless to stop it.

Sound familiar?

Kentucky RB Jojo Kemp ran the ball play after play Saturday night to obliterate SC's defense in another embarrassing defeat for the Gamecocks, following a fourth-quarter defensive collapse. Ky. 45 - SC 38. 

The Gamecock defense is back to where it was seven years ago, or worse.

Also in 2007, Arkansas' Darren McFadden shredded the Gamecocks' D. No Gamecock fan could forget that spectacle. 

South Carolina's record went from 6-1 to 6-6 that year in 2007. There was no bowl game. It was a disaster and had people questioning the shelf-life of Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier. 

But after that season, things changed. Defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix got a new job at Ole Miss.

Brian VanGorder, former Georgia DC came to South Carolina for about a month, then quit.

Disgusted, Spurrier did what he said he should have done in the first place. He hired Ellis Johnson.

Ellis, from Columbia, said he was at a point in his career that he wanted to come home. 

In that 2007-08 off-season, six Gamecock assistant coaches left the program.

In 2008, Johnson's Gamecock defense was not great, but it was immediately better.

In 2011, after South Carolina's first-ever 11-win season, Johnson made a very ill-advised, and ultimately disastrous decision to take the head coaching job at Southern Mississippi. He did not win a game and was fired after one season.

At South Carolina, many of the assistants that worked for Johnson had moved on. Specifically, defensive line coach Brad Lawing took a job at Florida.

Fast-forward to 2014.

The season began with SC being routed by Texas A&M 52-28, in the first opening-season loss for Spurrier at SC. Since that ugly defensive performance, the Gamecock D has not gotten any better.

Johnson is the defensive coordinator at Auburn. The Tigers, surprising the country, played for a national Championship last year. Auburn is undefeated, and playing well in 2014.

With the obvious failures with his defensive staff, that Spurrier saw after game one this year, the head football coach said: “We've got some coaching decisions to make."

Indeed he does. Because it seems like it's 2007 all over again.