South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier's verbal jabs are typically pointed in a single, very specific direction.
But he took more of a scattershot approach Sunday when asked about Alabama coach Nick Saban's idea for the "Power Five" conferences' scheduling -- Saban thinks "Power Five" teams should only play against teams from those five leagues.
South Carolina, of course, plays host to ECU this season, hence his propping of the Pirates as a decent non-conference opponent. ECU is No. 52 in College Football 24/7's team rankings, ahead of Big Ten teams Northwestern (No. 59), Minnesota (No. 63), Indiana (No. 75), Illinois (No. 85), Rutgers (No. 98) and Purdue (No. 104). So, while we don't know the specific teams Spurrier was referencing, there's plenty of truth to what he said.
His reference to "bottom tier" teams might sound an awful lot like a retort for Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, who has been critical of the bottom half of the SEC. Remember, Spurrier knows Stoops well from his days as Spurrier's defensive coordinator at Florida. But if Spurrier were really wanting to jab Stoops, why pick the Big Ten when Stoops coaches in the Big 12?
The bottom of that league -- Kansas and Iowa State, who were both 3-9 last season -- has its easy targets. Instead, Spurrier has taken aim at the likes of Purdue, Northwestern and Illinois, who combined for a 2-22 conference mark last season, and others.
They, too, are easy targets, but seemingly random ones.
Apparently, "talking season," as Spurrier called SEC Media Days last month, hasn't quite ended.
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