South Carolina College Sports

[Spartan]

Yeah the noontime game sucks, but at least we get to watch the game on ESPN2 and not PPV!!

[GvilleSC]

ok, I can't pass this opportunity up...

Here in Clemson, a new Walgreens is being constructed at the corner of Tiger Blvd and College Ave (across from Starbucks for those familiar with the City). Well, all through the construction process, the workers have been writing USC on various elements on site. First, a cement block was positioned next to the driveway that says "USC Booster Club. Go turkeys" (EDIT: you can substitute the correct word here, because my computer or the site is changing the word to turkeys in stead of c-o-c-k-s). Later, the steel header above the door received the same words of "USC Booster Club". Keep in mind that this is at one of the busiest intersections in Clemson. Well, this week they added to the mix. It says "G O G A M E C O K S"

Seriously? If you're going to try and put this in people's faces, at least spell your own mascot right! People may make fun of Clemson's Tiger Rag spelling out Clemson, and the cadence count for doing the same thing, but at least it has enabled us to spell!

I'll try to snap a picture of this fabulous sight before construction progress covers it up...

[Spartan]

Clearly that's a poor attempt at a prank from Moo U. There isn't a "USC Booster Club" by that name, and anyone who is a USC fan would know that.

And yes, the site has language filters for certain words.

[GvilleSC]

Clearly that's a poor attempt at a prank from Moo U. There isn't a "USC Booster Club" by that name, and anyone who is a USC fan would know that.

Even I know that, but it's obviously more of an attempt by a gamecock to give the idea that USC is moving in on Clemson's turf... No Clemson fan would go to the extent of putting up about 6 or 7 gamecock related things on a construction site (and only spell one of them wrong). If someone wanted to make USC look bad, they'd spell everything wrong.

[GvilleSC]

For the record, it can be noted that for the 65th time in the rivalry's history, the state of South Carolina is ORANGE! The Tigers whooped the Chickens in Death Valley today 31-14.

I think Clemson's coaching situation will be interesting to watch unfold. I'd like to see Dabo given a short term contract. His wins over BC and USC to close out this season make him a solid contender.

Clemson's men's basketball team has rolled to a 7-0 start with its victory last night over PC. Tuesday they travel to Illinois as a part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in what should be a great game!

[benjamesriddle]

In other news... Wofford College exits the playoffs losing to James Madison in a very exciting game! Final score: 38-35 JMU.

[goodbye]

For the record, it can be noted that for the 65th time in the rivalry's history, the state of South Carolina is ORANGE! The Tigers whooped the Chickens in Death Valley today 31-14.

I think Clemson's coaching situation will be interesting to watch unfold. I'd like to see Dabo given a short term contract. His wins over BC and USC to close out this season make him a solid contender.

Clemson's men's basketball team has rolled to a 7-0 start with its victory last night over PC. Tuesday they travel to Illinois as a part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in what should be a great game!

Honestly, I expected the Tigers to be defeated by a fairly convincing score, so it was a pleasant surprise to end up laughing by the end of the game, considering the fact that Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks still couldn't find a way to get the job done when they were physically at their best. One talk show host on The Sporting News radio network put it bluntly, "Clemson beat the snot out of South Carolina." While it wasn't a clean game for either side, I would have to agree. The Tigers were clearly the better team on the field today.

[distortedlogic]

I was afraid this was going to be the outcome. It is pretty sad really, I could not find a single Carolina fan this week who really thought SC could win the game. There is no surprise on my part. Clemson has absolutely owned SC regardless of season, coaches, players, or whatever. The mentality that both Holtz and Spurrier have tried to change has not changed at all. Spurrier just got completely outcoached by someone with 5 games under his belt and who had only half as long to prepare. His players got dominated by a team that had hit rock bottom just six weeks ago. Does SC have a bowl coming? Yes. But I cannot think of any team they can beat right now. It will be frustrating to see SC end yet another season with yet another losing streak. I know Clemson has had a disappointing year as compared to how they expected it to go, but I would be a lot more excited as a Clemson fan right now than as an SC fan. We came off one of the most disappointing seasons in our history last year, and this year has been little better. For next year, we still do not have a QB, a RB, or an OL. We are losing our top receiver and a solid kicker. Our defense has been exposed as a fraud over the past two games. So what do we have to look forward to next year? Probably just more of the same. 6 or 7 wins at best, another close loss to UGA, another loss to a Vandy type team, and another embarrassment to the Tigers. In my lifetime it has never been any different. What can we as SC fans say then? We can't help but be fans, and hold out a misplaced hope that eventually we will see a true change. So we will continue to pull for our team, yet with realism, we should not expect more than we have gotten, nor this series to turn around.

[CorgiMatt]

In other words, the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina always was, is, and forever will be the college coach's graveyard, because no coach can overcome the inferiority complex that for some reason dominates and so powerfully resonates here.

[Spartan]

What inferiority complex? Maybe you are speaking for yourself. They won because they made the plays and they got lucky (which they are good at in this rivalry) so they earned their win. The stats from the game show that the teams were pretty even... except that our 4 interceptions led to Clemson having more rushing yards. Plus they got most of their points off of those interceptions from our pitiful excuse of a QB. I thought this was going to be a pretty even matchup maybe slightly favoring Carolina until Garcia was officially out for the game. I had my doubts all week after hearing that. And as it turned out, Chris Smelley was the problem- and to save you Taters the trouble, yes he did stink it up. Had he not overthrown every pass and thrown so many interceptions it would have been a much, much closer game. In fact, Carolina could have won that game were it not for our offense. I think that Garcia will be a great QB with more experience, and in the coming years he will prove himself.

Clemson is not an outstanding team (though they are all out, standing in their fields). They managed to beat us once again, but what does that show? Their season overall has been far more pitiful that Carolina's. We finished the regular season 3rd in the SEC East, which is better than what we were expected to do (most had us at 4th). We won and lost every game we were expected to except for Vandy. Clemson fell from #9 with ACC and National Championship dreams to obscurity and mediocrity, finishing the regular season with a 3-way tie for third in the ACC Atlantic and they traded one mediocre coach for another. Swinney may have proved himself to Clemson fans yesterday, but I'm not convinced he will do any better than Bowden.

Say what you want about Carolina, but nobody expected us to be a great team this year, and yet if we win our bowl we will finish out 8-5 on the year, which is a solid winning season. Lets not let a loss to Clemson distract us from the big picture. The defeat of Clemson is not the only measure of our success.

Now its on to a bowl for both teams.

Carolina is bound for the Peach Bowl or the Outback Bowl and Garcia is going to start.

Clemson, Wake Forest, Maryland and Miami have a tie going on, so who knows how that one will end up. Until yesterday nobody thought Clemson was going to a bowl anyway. Is their any prediction on where Clemson will end up?

[GvilleSC]

So, am I understanding that you believe Carolina has a better team than Clemson? Clemson was explosive yesterday. Carolina may have helped the Tigers out some, but Clemson showed up to play.

The stats that are so 'even' also show this:

Passing:

Carolina was 22 completions for 47 attempts, averaging 4.5 yards.

Clemson was 12 completions for 17 attempts, averaging 11.7 yards.

Clemson had 79 more total yards.

Rushing:

Carolina boasts 92 yards.

Clemson achieved 184 yards.

Maybe Clemson needs to go after a legendary, overpaid coach since that has worked wonders for the Gamecocks' program over the last four years. I like Dabo. He's got a fire that Clemson has not seen in a head coach in a while. He's embraced the student body, rallied the troops, started new traditions, and embraced a job that may only be for 6 games.

[GreenvilleSucks]

What inferiority complex? Maybe you are speaking for yourself. They won because they made the plays and they got lucky (which they are good at in this rivalry) so they earned their win. The stats from the game show that the teams were pretty even... except that our 4 interceptions led to Clemson having more rushing yards. Plus they got most of their points off of those interceptions from our pitiful excuse of a QB. I thought this was going to be a pretty even matchup maybe slightly favoring Carolina until Garcia was officially out for the game. I had my doubts all week after hearing that. And as it turned out, Chris Smelley was the problem- and to save you Taters the trouble, yes he did stink it up. Had he not overthrown every pass and thrown so many interceptions it would have been a much, much closer game. In fact, Carolina could have won that game were it not for our offense. I think that Garcia will be a great QB with more experience, and in the coming years he will prove himself.

Clemson is not an outstanding team (though they are all out, standing in their fields). They managed to beat us once again, but what does that show? Their season overall has been far more pitiful that Carolina's. We finished the regular season 3rd in the SEC East, which is better than what we were expected to do (most had us at 4th). We won and lost every game we were expected to except for Vandy. Clemson fell from #9 with ACC and National Championship dreams to obscurity and mediocrity, finishing the regular season with a 3-way tie for third in the ACC Atlantic and they traded one mediocre coach for another. Swinney may have proved himself to Clemson fans yesterday, but I'm not convinced he will do any better than Bowden.

Say what you want about Carolina, but nobody expected us to be a great team this year, and yet if we win our bowl we will finish out 8-5 on the year, which is a solid winning season. Lets not let a loss to Clemson distract us from the big picture. The defeat of Clemson is not the only measure of our success.

Now its on to a bowl for both teams.

Carolina is bound for the Peach Bowl or the Outback Bowl and Garcia is going to start.

Clemson, Wake Forest, Maryland and Miami have a tie going on, so who knows how that one will end up. Until yesterday nobody thought Clemson was going to a bowl anyway. Is their any prediction on where Clemson will end up?

Luck? Beating USC the last five out of six years is luck? Stats showed that the teams were even? What game were you watching?

[Spartan]

So, am I understanding that you believe Carolina has a better team than Clemson? Clemson was explosive yesterday. Carolina may have helped the Tigers out some, but Clemson showed up to play.

Y'all seem to have some sort of selective reading disorder. No, I didn't say that Carolina was better. Based on the game I can't very well make that argument. I simply do not see Clemson as a far superior team like some. They are only slightly less mediocre than Carolina at this point. They were fortunate to take advantage of our bad QB. From the game I was watching from the west upper deck I noticed that Clemson scored after 3 of 4 interceptions. I think that had we not thrown those interceptions (again going back to our QB problem) that the score would have been much closer.

[gs3]

What a football weekend! Bama (my alma mater) shut out Auburn .....(but that is for another forum) and Clemson (my adopted home team) really had great energy in their win.

It was interesting to watch the Clemson/USC game with my family in another state as my family has absolutely no historic ties to the state of South Carolina. Someone mentioned above about Dabo Swinney doing a great job of coaching and that is exactly what most of my family members saw. Other than the fact my aunt thought he was a "clean cut young man", most family members commented on the energy and "quick to think on his feet" type of coaching they saw. Most felt Spurrier was somewhat down and remembered the fire he used to have in his days at Florida when he would yell, scream, get red faced, and throw his cap. It was shocking on TV to watch a long time coach seem to be out-coached by a newbie. The TV cameras were not a friend of Spurrier in Saturday's game.

I sincerely hope Clemson gives Dabo a chance as he obviously has been able to fire up the Clemson players. They looked like an excited team. I saw very little "luck", but did see a lot of great coaching from Swinney and one fired up Tiger team. They certainly deserved this win.

Yabba Dabo Do!

[GreenvilleSucks]

Yabba Dabo Do will be the next head coach for Clemson: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20...ONTPAGECAROUSEL

[teshadoh]

Spartan - sorry, but distortedlogic hit the nail on the head, USC football has long had an inferiority complex. Perhaps that is why I consider myself a semi-fan of USC despite being a fan of Clemson, because USC most often poses no threat to Clemson.

Maybe it's the experience of someone that grew up with USC in a major football conference, for those that remember USC from the 70's & 80's as one of the few odd teams out & rarely ever going to a bowl game - USC fans typically never expected much success from them. There was the occasional bowl game & the occasional upset win - but typically (honestly - like it should be) USC games were just about having a good time & supporting their team despite what would likely occur.

Now - Holtz & Spurrier hires made a big & bold statement that USC is committed to winning football. Overall, they are better & now they have a lot more support than they did in the 80's. I think that is something we can all agree with, but the inferiority complex is a lot tougher to overcome. It will take winning the SEC championship to overcome that (no small task).

As for Clemson, overall - I would agree that USC has had a better year despite having similar records & conference records. But, speaking for fans - we've already fallen from the big cliff early in the season when we were humiliated by Alabama & were out of the ACC title race. Since the midseason, Dabo has managed to do the unthinkable - salvaged the season with a bowl game. No - it's not at all what our expectations were before the Alabama game, but I'll gladly take it.

[Spartan]

I think you touched on what has changed (or is changing) about USC football. There used to be an acceptance/complacency with losing. No doubt about it. I think there are a lot of old school Carolina fans that still have that mentality. But I don't perceive that to be the case for everyone anymore. More and more people are expecting wins and success. The athletics program in general is making more of an effort to change than it ever has in the past. Despite the less than storied history of USC football, if you compare recent history with overall history, we are trending upward. I'm not out to change the mind of the general public here so I'm not going to argue every point, but I want to make sure that the other perspective is out there.

[CorgiMatt]

I will say that if you believe it takes six to seven years to build a strong football program, then it is reasonable to still believe Steve Spurrier could be the one to do it, and while Clemson fans can feel good now about having once again beaten USC and showing they are well ahead of us, I'm not sure Saturday's victory was enough to tell them Swinney is going to end up being the one to take them where they want to go. But I am not predicting much success for the Gamecocks, and I am not placing any more emotional hope into it.

[GvilleSC]

Clemson has received a Gator Bowl invitation.

[GvilleSC]

Clemson has improved to 8-0, with a great, close game on the road to Illinois! Clemson did their part to help the ACC in the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge. They still need to work on free throws, but the team is doing well so far.

[Spartan]

Thanks for the update.

Its worth mentioning that USC basketball is starting strong under Coach Horn. They are at 5-1 with the loss to CofC by 2 points in OT. Right now I think CofC is the strongest team we've played. The next real test is Clemson.

[goodbye]

They won because they made the plays and they got lucky (which they are good at in this rivalry) so they earned their win. The stats from the game show that the teams were pretty even... except that our 4 interceptions led to Clemson having more rushing yards. Plus they got most of their points off of those interceptions from our pitiful excuse of a QB. I thought this was going to be a pretty even matchup maybe slightly favoring Carolina until Garcia was officially out for the game. I had my doubts all week after hearing that. And as it turned out, Chris Smelley was the problem- and to save you Taters the trouble, yes he did stink it up. Had he not overthrown every pass and thrown so many interceptions it would have been a much, much closer game. In fact, Carolina could have won that game were it not for our offense. I think that Garcia will be a great QB with more experience, and in the coming years he will prove himself.

Let's hear what "the great" Steve Spurrier had to say after that shameful loss to the Tigers:

[CorgiMatt]

USC can never get their mind right for that game. It's a mind-set they can't break out of. But if Tommy Bowden can get some "big-time ball players" I think Steve Spurrier probably can.

By the way, I went to Clemson for three semesters, so I've been on both sides. I was there in 1978 when Carolina came up and beat the Tigers in a come-from-behind victory. I got so depressed it was hard to care about going to the Gator Bowl. Not long after that I realized there was nothing to do in Clemson after losing a football game except sit around and be depressed. And soon after that, I realized: football, schmootball - Clemson was depressiing period, so I left and went to NYC.

At the end of the day Clemson is still a remote village that brings back memories of my depressing days there every time I ride through, and now it has a dried up lake. (a bit off the subject, but couldn't resist). Sorry.

[gs3]

By the way, I went to Clemson for three semesters, so I've been on both sides. I was there in 1978 when Carolina came up and beat the Tigers in a come-from-behind victory. I got so depressed it was hard to care about going to the Gator Bowl. Not long after that I realized there was nothing to do in Clemson after losing a football game except sit around and be depressed. And soon after that, I realized: football, schmootball - Clemson was depressiing period, so I left and went to NYC.

At the end of the day Clemson is still a remote village that brings back memories of my depressing days there every time I ride through, and now it has a dried up lake. (a bit off the subject, but couldn't resist). Sorry.

WOW! If USC can't even beat some rinky dink, hick college in a small remote village, how do they ever expect to beat the big city teams of the SEC?

Poor things.

[CorgiMatt]

Only time will tell. No predictions.