Given this lack of knowledge, I embarked on an intense period of in-depth study and analysis (OK, I used Google for about twenty minutes) and learned that this Nebraska football team is strikingly similar to our beloved Gamecocks.  Witness the following similarities:

– Both teams play tough defense, with a strength being defending the pass.

– The linebacking corps are both sturdy, but lacking in superstar bona fides.

– Both teams feature running quarterbacks, who might not break ankles with their shiftiness, but can burn you with straight-away bursts.

– Both schools are forced to tolerate another in-state school full of  inbred yokels:  Clemson for SC, Mid-Plains Community College in McCook for NU.

–  Both teams have one head-scratching home loss they wish they could replay:  Auburn for SC, Northwestern for NU.

– Neither team has a sterling bowl record, with Nebraska’s being a little better in that it hovers just under .500,  where our’s doesn’t hover so much as it absolutely and utterly fails to get off the ground.

– Both teams are known by unique nicknames, and both of these nicknames have disgustingly suggestive double entendres attached to them. (Don’t ask me to expound on this one).

– Moving on quickly, both schools were once known by other, even more inane nicknames:  Nebraska’s teams have been known, at various times as  “Bugeaters”, “Tree Planters”, “Nebraskans”, “The Rattlesnake Boys”, “Antelopes”, and the “Old Gold Knights.”   We were once known as the “Worst Team in the Southeastern Conference” and “The Team Even Kentucky Laughs At” during the Brad Scott era.

– Both fanbases are riddled with superstitious nonsense – we have the supposed Chicken Curse, they have a Uniform Fetish that borders on the absurd.  You may not realize it, but the Cornhuskers tend to go on wild losing dives every time they alter their traditional (boring) uniforms.  Change to red facemasks?  Inexplicable loss to Clemson in the 1982 Orange Bowl.  All-red unis? Loss to Oklahoma in 1986.  Side panels on jerseys?  7 losses in 2002.  (Here’s hoping the 2012 Capitol One Bowl patch send them into a collective tailspin).

– Both defenses have similar nicknames:  NU has The Blackshirts, SC has The Black Death (except when they are called The Fire Ants, or when they were coached by Chris Cosh, when our defense was called other, less family friendly, names).

– Both schools enter the field to somewhat clichéd, but nevertheless beloved, techno-balads:  We have the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey”, they have the song “Sirius” by, I kid you not, The Alan Parson’s Project.

– Both teams have an excellent football tradition, ranking among the winningest programs in NCAA history, and have multiple National Championship.  /looks nervously from side to side. /clears throat.  /quietly leaves room.

For the first time in the 14-year history of the Bowl Championship Series the Atlantic Coast Conference has placed two (2) teams in BCS bowl games. As you all know, CTU was able to win the ACC Championship Game, and somewhat surprisingly Virginia Tech was given one of the BCS at-large bids and will play Michigan in the Sugar Bowl.

You know, I say “somewhat surprisingly” because the media never really brought up a second ACC team as a possibility heading to selection Sunday. But we here at TRC knew “the little conference that could” would someday break through and have two teams worthy of BCS Bowlness. So in honor of this grand accomplishment we offer our first ever ACC Power Rankings, consisting of teams within the ACC, and some teams, things and people that these squads had to overcome in the 2011 football season:

1. South Carolina – an obvious first choice. We know they’re not in the ACC, but when you beat the ACC “champs” by three touchdowns, well…just go ahead and FedEx the trophy to Columbia. We’ll melt it down and make some nice state championship bracelet charms for our supermodel girlfriends.
2. Wet Paper Bag – the switch to double wall construction really benefitted WPB this season. Word is Al Groh may be in line to take over head coaching duties in 2012.
3. Virginia Tech – it just flat out cracks us up that the “champs” beat them handily not once but TWICE this season, and are still ranked lower in the major polls. We’re not good at logic, so we’ll follow suit. LOLZ
4. Down Comforter – soft, warm and comfortable, but don’t sleep on (beneath) Down Comforter or it can smother your ass in a heartbeat.
5. NC State – beat the “champs” by 24 points, how can you possibly rank the Pack lower? It’s just stupid to rank a team lower than a team they beat, right? /brings logic back in from window
6. #OccupyWallStreet – Tenacious. Odiferous.
7. Georgia Tech – also beat the “champs”. We called Paul Johnson to congratulate him on a great season and he told us to “go #### yourself!!!” We also overheard him tell his administrative assistant the same thing when she asked him if he wanted a house salad or Caesar.
8. Clemson – should be ranked higher…aw, who am I kidding, no they shouldn’t.

9. 

   All I needed was a reason.

   Victoria’s Secret Catalog Models – mesmerizing and highly disciplined, wings cause fits for teams who like to play man-to-man.

10. Florida State – ranked preseason top 10 this year, screwed the pooch, will be ranked top 10 preseason next year, all based on their 1999 National Championship. Will also have a top 5 ranked recruiting class for the 27th consecutive year and will be given some type of trophy for no reason.
11. Wake Forest – most of the 200 students enrolled at WFU are actually on the football roster, which explains the extremely small home crowds. Jim Grobe cries himself to sleep every night thinking about all the jobs he could’ve had three years ago.
12. Stay Puft Marshmallow Man – SEC size and attitude, but ACC speed. Good thing ACC games are played in tiny stadiums and not on the streets of New York. (And if you’re a child of the 80’s, a reference that will never not be funny.)
13. North Carolina – has a team ever cheated so much to accomplish so little? Put your hand down Clemson.
14. Miami – when Ray Lewis stops using you to pimp himself on TV during bye weeks, then you know you’ve hit rock bottom. Check that, when Al Golden calls Temple and begs them to take him back, THEN you know you’ve hit rock bottom. Oh, and Nevin Shapiro.
15. Betty Crocker Yellow Cream Frosting – don’t let the color fool you, coming down off a sugar high can cause disastrous fourth quarters.
16. Boston College – yes, still has a football team, one that grows more bafflingly irrelevant every year. If not for Matt Ryan, B.J. Raji and Mark Herzlich, the B.C. football program would literally be invisible.
17. Maryland – James Franklin has a picture of you on his wall Maryland. He blocks out 30 minutes per day to point at it and laugh.
18. Inanimate Carbon Rod – see Simpsons, The.
19. Duke – was 1-7 in conference and 3-9 overall, which adds up to their best season in 52 years. Congrats Blue Devils!
20. Cumberland – still haven’t completely recovered from the 222-0 loss to Georgia Tech.

Next week we take a look at the Big East’s new powerhouse, Wonderbread.

Following up on the football team’s beat down of CTU last week, the basketball team kept the ball rolling against the Tigers with a 59-56 road victory yesterday afternoon.  Before we reflect on the game, let’s take a minute to review the performance of our major men’s sports teams against our “rivals” from the upstate during 2011:

• Baseball – check (won season series, again) 
• Football – check (see aforementioned beat down reference)
• Basketball – check and mate 

That’s right, I said basketball.  After losing to the likes of Elon and Tennessee State in the early season, things didn’t look good for Darrin Horn’s young charges entering the game at Littlejohn.  In fact, I think most Gamecock fans (let’s be honest, all Gamecock fans) pretty much chalked this one up as a L.  Having just whipped the Tigers in football, most of us were fairly content with things, and were resigned to the fact that beating CTU on the road was basically an impossible task for what has appeared (again, let’s be honest) to be a bad, bad basketball team. 

Well, shame on us.  Someone forgot to tell Bruce Ellington and the rest of our guys that they weren’t supposed to win.  In what was an ugly basketball game from both sides, the Gamecocks made the plays down the stretch and managed to pull out the win.  Big shots in the final couple of minutes by Anthony Gill and Eric Smith, and a strong overall game from Demontre Harris, propelled the Gamecocks to victory.  This win gives guard/wide receiver Ellington two wins over CTU in eight days (h/t to willy_t_smith on Twitter for this tidbit), a feat likely unparalleled in the history of the “rivalry.”

We at TRC would like to give a shout out to Coach Horn’s wife Carla for her enthusiasm and support of the team.  Carla got lots of  TV face time late in the game and seemed to will the ball into the hoop when the Gamecocks were shooting critical free throws down the stretch. 

Here’s hoping that this victory can serve to energize this young team into some improved play.  There are definitely some positives to build on:  our lead guard (and unquestioned leader) is back; Gill is a player with obvious high D-1 skills who can play inside and outside; Harris is capable of being an effective SEC post presence-especially on D; and Malik Cooke has shown himself capable of shouldering the scoring load on occasion.

But let’s get back to the “rivalry”…..

This victory gives that Gamecocks a season sweep of baseball (season series), football, and basketball for the second consecutive year.  We at TRC find this very satisfying to say the least.  At this rate, we may want to rethink the “rivalry” term.  Looks more like a “domination” to us. 

Just sayin’.

Join us for TRC Unleashed tonight at 6 p.m. where we’ll talk about bowl games, championship games and whatever else comes to mind.

(Editors Note: This blog post was written and scheduled to publish prior to the Dabo Swinney rant from yesterday. While this particular post is indeed timely, we will have more to say about the subject in the coming days.)

We get it every time we beat CTU,  the predictable “Overall Record Defense.”  I’m sure you’ve heard it multiple times:  “Sure, you guys might have won this one, but so what.   We still have a commanding [fill in series record]  lead in the overall series.”  The intent, of course, is to deflect attention from the fact that we won THIS YEAR and have bragging rights THIS YEAR.  A good friend of  TRC, let’s call him Moon Pie, was recently engaged in a spirited dialogue with a CTU supporter about the butt stomping administered last Saturday.  Said CTU supporter immediately dragged out the tired Overall Record Defense.  What follows is Moon Pie’s retort.  We are publishing  it here to expose this defense for what it is-more CTU delusionary garbage:  

After South Carolina’s 34-13 win over the Clemson Tigers last Saturday, the typical rivalry banter has been rampant. Truth be told, the Tigers made it pretty easy for the Gamecocks to talk smack. Between the “Shock the World Tour”, the head cheerleader’s rants on ESPN, Gatorade baths after taking down a 2-10 team, and even @Tahj10 taunting in the Twittersphere, the Tigers set themselves up for a tremendous fall. When they dropped 3 of their last 4, the Meltdown in Tatertown was in full gear.

In typical CTU fashion and with little else to brag about, a familiar mantra has been heard and it’s this last line of defense we’ll explore here. Unless you’ve been under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard some young punk with no perspective of history throw out “We own the overall series record.” Don’t blame him, it’s what he’s been taught by the cheaters to the west.

Since 1896, the Tigers are 65-40-4 against the Gamecocks, but let’s get real honest about a few things and speak the truth. For starters, a whole big chunk of that 25-win advantage occurred so early in the rivalry it’s almost shameful for them to brag. I mean, it’s like Spain bragging about the Armada. I simply don’t believe you can compare a “win” before the forward pass and facemasks were invented to a win seen nationally on ESPN. And another big chunk of those wins came during a dark time in the rivalry when Clemson was cheating so hard NCAA investigators rented homes in Easley. Clemson supporters got so bent out of shape after a blowout loss in Columbia they hit the road with a sack of money.  Charley Pell and Danny ended up looking like Johnny Appleseed with $100 bills.

A little History lesson:

Like all of the farm and tractor schools a century ago, Clemson put a huge priority on athletics. USC did not. The student body of South Carolina was mostly sons of the wealthy who were at the college to learn. Sports were intramurals. In 1894, Clemson’s farm boys joined an athletics conference. South Carolina didn’t do that until 21 years later. Heck, in 1906 the Gamecocks didn’t even field a team. It just didn’t matter to them back then. At Clemson, John Heisman was the coach. Their biggest rival was Georgia Tech. Touchdowns were worth the same number of points as field goals. It was not the same game. For Clemson to brag about wins in this era would be like the Green Bay Packers celebrating wins over the Governor’s School for the Arts. I don’t understand how Carolina won the games they did! It really didn’t get competitive until 1922 when South Carolina joined Clemson in the newly formed Southern Conference.

Farmers vs. City Boys, 1896 – 1921: Clemson 13 out of 19 with one tie. Clemson advantage +8.

Clemson joined the Southern Conference in 1921 and Carolina a year later. They played in the league together until 1952. Similar opponents, similar teams. Clemson won two conference championships, USC did not. When both teams left the SoCon for the ACC, their head-to-head record was Clemson 16 –USC  13. They tied twice. It’s pertinent to mention here that the Heisman trophy was originated in this era, and leather helmets went away, too (in 1949).

The Southern Conference years, 1922 – 1952: Clemson Advantage +3

Both teams were members of the ACC from 1953 to 1970. Clemson had a better program under Frank Howard. They won 6 ACC titles to Carolina’s 1. The teams played 18 times as ACC opponents. Each won 9. Clemson won the next two, then the ‘Cocks in ‘73 and right back to Clemson in ‘74, and that brought us to a Gamecock win in 1975 – The Year the Whole Thing Changed.

The ACC Years (plus a few), 1953 – 1975: Clemson 12 wins, USC 11 wins. Clemson Advantage +1

The 1975 Gamecocks behind QB Jeff Grantz scored 8 touchdowns in 8 possessions in a lopsided 56-20 win. The last TD was a pass with about a minute left. Clemson was mad and vowed:  “This will never happen again.” Their solution?  They amassed the best talent money could buy, and did it very well. Under Coaches Charley Pell and Danny Ford, Clemson won 4 of the next 5 before going undefeated in 1981, beating Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, and buying a National Championship. The NCAA came snooping. No matter – they used their newly-minted national prominence to attract some great talent. They paid these guys so much they didn’t mind being on probation when the NCAA slapped Clemson with the worst penalties ever handed down by the infractions committee (prior to the SMU Death Penalty). And just when you thought they were done, they got caught again. Danny Ford couldn’t survive this time and he was forced out after 11 years. But he left one heck of a legacy – 11 wins in 15 tries over USC, A National Title, and a new name for the booster club: IPTAY —  It’s Probation Time Again, Y’all. Clemson spent more years on probation in the 80’s than Michael Jackson had hit records.

The Cheaters Era, 1976 – 1990: Clemson 11 out of 15 (one tie)

There is no way to quantify the unfair advantage Clemson gained in the overall series by cheating. There’s no doubt the games during these 15 years were tainted, but just how far can you carry the taint? In the 50 years prior to selling their soul for a handful of wins, Clemson held just a 4-game edge in the series. After abandoning morals, legalities, and decency, they won 24 of the next 37. Both schools had very bad coaching hires (Sparky Woods, Brad Scott, Tommy West) and Clemson was simply better in the ‘90s. After suffering through some very bad teams and 8 years in the SEC with inferior talent and coaching, the Gamecocks finally hired Lou Holtz and then Steve Spurrier and now have some SEC-caliber talent. The last three years have proved it.

The next time they start spouting off about the series record, ask if they know what happened in 1975. Remind them of Jeff Grantz and Charley Pell. Acknowledge they’ve won more conference titles, and congratulate them for that. Ask  if they had electricity on the farms when they scored about 20 of those wins. Then ask  if they are proud to tout Danny Ford’s record. When they wear that solid orange, does it make them feel like an inmate from the Pickens County Jail? Yes, you’ve got the overall record to hang your hat on, but is it worth your dignity? Are you proud your school built their program by severely cheating? Go ahead and crow about 65-40. Enjoy the Hokies on Saturday. Reflect on nearly 1100 days since you beat the Gamecocks. Jump up and down with your cheerleader coach. We’ll see you next year.  Oh, and get ready for 65-41 (that’s FOUR IN A ROW).