ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

It’s not often around this league that Vanderbilt Week gets a team’s attention the way it has South Carolina’s this week.

That’s because about three quarters of the players on the Gamecocks’ team have never beaten the Commodores.

Vanderbilt has won the last two against South Carolina, which again finds itself at that bewitching point in its season.

The leaves are turning. The temperature’s dropping, and the days are growing shorter. We’re stepping into that second half of the season, which has been a nightmare for the Gamecocks. And, really, it goes all the way back to when they joined the SEC in 1992.

They simply haven’t been able to finish many seasons.

But here they are again, 5-2 and positioned nicely to make this Steve Spurrier’s most successful season in Columbia. It all starts with figuring out a way to beat the Commodores on Saturday.

The Head Ball Coach thinks this team is better equipped to finish out this season the right way.

“I think we have a better team attitude,” Spurrier said. “I don’t think we have a bunch of guys worried about the NFL like we did last year.”

The Gamecocks lost their final three games last season. Their collapse was even more pronounced in 2007 when they lost their final five.

Spurrier’s record at South Carolina from the midway point of October on is 10-15, which includes the loss at Alabama last weekend.

But he’s hardly the only coach who’s had trouble with the second half of the season in Columbia.

For one, the Gamecocks' schedule is much more difficult down the stretch. Eastern Division rivals Florida and Tennessee have always come during that final stretch, and South Carolina closes the season every year against in-state rival Clemson.

Since 1992, when the Gamecocks joined the SEC, they’re just 34-56 from the midway point of October through the rest of the season, including bowl games.

“Again, our schedule is tougher the latter part of the year. We all know that,” Spurrier said. “But that’s for after this week. We’ve got Vanderbilt coming in, and it’s a game if we play well, we certainly have a chance to win. The other games, we’ll worry about them when we get there. Vanderbilt has played us really tough the last two years, and we know we have to really play well if we’re going to beat them here Saturday night. We’ll worry about those others later."

Ending the mini-drought against Vanderbilt would set up two huge road trips for the Gamecocks over the next two weeks. They play at Tennessee on Oct. 31 and at Arkansas on Nov. 7. Florida comes to town on Nov. 14, and after a bye week, the Gamecocks take on Clemson at home on Oct. 28.

Spurrier has lost at least five games every year he’s been at South Carolina.

But maybe this year, October and November will be months to remember for the Gamecocks.