First he lashed out at his "dumbass" players over last week’s loss to Georgia. Then he came down hard on starting QB Blake Mitchell over a midweek bar fight.

What’s next? Steve Spurrier puts in on the refs.

This calls for a trip down memory lane. Remember 1996? FSU beat Florida 24-21 in the regular season, and it seemed as if an undefeated season and shot at the national title was down the drain. Spurrier went off on the refs claiming that FSU was allowed late hits on his quarterback. As fate would have it, a series of upsets brought about a rematch in the Sugar Bowl, and Spurrier’s whining turned out to be to his advantage: FSU’s defense was less effective the second time around, and Florida won their national championship.

So he’s gone back to this well of complaining about the refs. Poor Steve.

Spurrier concluded, "If it’s OK to hold, we need to start teaching it or we’re at a disadvantage." From what I saw Saturday night, his team already has that stuff down pretty well too.

In 1996, he at least had the team to back up his whining. This was a shot at the national title we’re talking about. Now, it just smacks of pathetic desperation as he seeks whatever leg up he can get for this South Carolina team. If not for Chuck Amato, this might be the saddest display by a head coach we’ve seen in a while. Welcome to the coaching graveyard of the SEC, Coach.

UPDATE: Spurrier’s comments might have violated SEC policy against criticizing officials. “All I can say is that the conference is dealing with this as an internal matter,” (SEC supervisor of officials Rogers) Redding said Friday. “The conversations we have with coaches on matters like these are confidential.”