Corso not loved in Columbia

Corso, the flamboyant college football analyst and primary lightning rod for ESPN’s "GameDay" pregame show when South Carolina entertains Tennessee tonight (7:45 p.m.), would know what awaits if he bothered to check Gamecocks’ message boards, all of them dripping bile this week.

One post says Corso "loved Lou (Holtz, the Gamecocks’ former coach) when he was here and is out to get us for getting rid of him." Others say Corso has never picked South Carolina to win a game (not true, he says).

Most, though, are more along the lines of this: "This is for Lee Corso’s comments ... at the beginning of the (2005) season against (Central Florida): ‘Kiss my (expletive).’ ’’

But then, as Corso says, "I don’t look at e-mail. I don’t read nothing."

He knows what is coming because "I’ve probably (ticked) off every school in America at least once. Tell (South Carolina fans) to join the bandwagon. It’s loaded."

And what did Corso say to inspire such antipathy?

Corso said Steve Spurrier can’t win at South Carolina.

He did say that, right?

Not so fast, my friend.

The following is from Corso in August 2005: "If anybody can turn that program into a championship program, it’s Steve Spurrier. He knows how, he has the system and the personality to take South Carolina to the next level. ... If anyone can put South Carolina in the battle for the SEC East every year, it’s Spurrier."

Huh?

"Thank you," Corso said.

Are you saying, sir, that you have been (gasp!) taken out of context?

"It doesn’t bother me," he said. "There was a sign one time at Auburn: ‘Remember when you picked Fresno State to beat us?’ Yeah, I remember: Auburn won, 62-0. They never forget."

In fact, Corso did say all of the above before Spurrier’s Thursday night debut in 2005, a game covered by ESPN. Alas, he followed that with this: "... but I don’t think he will."

Six little words and you’re tagged for life by Gamecock Nation — if not by its leader.

"(Corso) didn’t say we couldn’t have winning seasons (and) go to bowls," Spurrier said. "He just stated he didn’t think we could win a championship here.

"That’s just his opinion. He’s probably not the only one to say that, but he gets to say it on national TV all the time."

And so Spurrier is happy to let Corso be South Carolina’s bad guy. "He’s given us sort of inspiration to prove him wrong," Spurrier said.

Fred Bennett, the Gamecocks’ star cornerback, fired a salvo in Corso’s direction this week. Even Spurrier, asked about Corso’s pick of Vanderbilt to beat South Carolina last week, said: "He picked Kentucky, too, I heard. He picks against us every week because he has to live with what he said."

We pause for another truth-in-advertising moment. "I didn’t pick Kentucky," Corso said, laughing. "Tell Steve to get his facts straight."

As hard as it may be to believe, these guys actually like each other.

"He and (Kirk) Herbstreit and those guys do a good job," Spurrier said. "They’re not critical of coaches, which I don’t understand ... how some broadcasters who never coached a lick, all of a sudden they’re experts on how to coach."

Corso did coach (at Indiana and in the USFL) and says that "I promised myself when I got in this business, when I said (an opinion), I’d back it up with facts.

"I might be wrong, but I’ve done a lot of research when I say something. Heck, there ain’t many still living in college football that have done it 53 years" as a player, coach and TV personality.

All that convinces him, among SEC coaches, Spurrier is on a par with Bear Bryant. He also calls South Carolina defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix "one of the best in the country."

Corso’s admiration led to a conversation while he was attending a funeral in Bloomington, Ind., years ago. The brother of one of Corso’s former players approached him about his son, then a quarterback at Bloomington South High.

"He asked, ‘Where would you send him?’ " Corso said. "I said, ‘I’d send him to Florida, to the best quarterbacks coach in college football.’ ’’

That player’s name? Rex Grossman.

Come to think of it, that’s another reason for South Carolina fans to hate Corso.

Not that he cares. He revels in fans’ reactions. "We’re in the entertainment business, and I used college football as my vehicle," Corso said. "I can talk about ‘cover two’ and dropping the free safety, but (fans) don’t want to hear that."

Instead, South Carolina fans would rather prepare their taunts and their inflammatory signs (those that get past ESPN’s "sign patrol") for Corso’s arrival. And just in case they needed any more incentive ...

"It’s going to be a great show," he said, "(but) Clemson (last Saturday) had the best environment for GameDay ever, the best in 13 years. The best-behaved, most knowledgeable fans we ever had. Clemson was wonderful!"

You can hear the message boards firing up now.