The question: Is it ever, under any circumstances, OK to pull for Clemson?

Now, fair reader, I know you know the answer to this, and I agree it is a little bit silly to put this topic in my award-winning series.  However, there are those fringe “fans” who make the following arguments:

My husband/wife is a Clemson graduate, so I pull for them when we’re not playing each other. First of all, and I mean this as disrespectfully as it sounds, you are no fan and have no concept of rivalry.  And if your husband/wife is telling you they are pulling for South Carolina, they are LYING, because it is not possible to have two people under one roof that are that clueless about the USC-Clemson relationship.  Check credit card records, phone bills, expense reports, etc., because your black-hearted, conniving spouse is probably playing you for a chump in innumerable ways.  Get out of that sham of a relationship ASAP.

I pull for Clemson because it’s good for the state. This “state pride” argument is asinine.  You know what’s good for the state of South Carolina?  Golf courses and hurricanes that don’t hit the state of South Carolina.  You know what’s good for the Gamecocks?  Clemson losing.  Losing at everything.  Football, basketball, baseball, field hockey.  And recruiting.  I want all the top recruits in the state, and if we don’t get them I want them to go to places like Michigan or Oregon State or Arizona where the chances of them hurting us are greatly reduced.

Now, this part may surprise you a little, but I don’t want Clemson to lose every game, and here’s why:  having hope and losing is much more painful than having no hope and losing (who better than us to grasp that concept).  For example, in football I’d like to see good run of 3-9, 4-8 type seasons out of them (losing to us every year of course).  That way they would have that glimmer of hope that a turnaround is just on the horizon.  I don’t know the ideal hope to pain ratio, but I think it would be somewhere in that range.

And I’ll share this with you as a bonus – the only time you should ever pull for Georgia?

When they’re playing Clemson.

Play of the decade for the Gamecocks, and Exhibit A as to why I love college football.

OK, I’ll admit it if nobody else will – I never really wanted Phil Petty to be our quarterback.  I didn’t want a game manager.  I didn’t want a guy who didn’t take chances and make mistakes.  I wanted somebody a little taller, a lot more athletic, with a stronger arm.

But when Phil Petty walked off the field for the last time as a Gamecock, he had done what I wanted most, won a heckuva lot of games (relatively speaking of course).  He persevered through Scott’s last year and Lou’s first, and helped give us a boatload of memories, including:

– The 2000 victory over #9 UGA, then the dramatic final drive and TD pass against UGA in 2001.

– Back-to-back Outback Bowl victories over Ohio State

– The 300-yard game and comeback for the ages against Alabama

– Spraining his ankle against Mississippi State.  What?  Don’t look at me like that.  That was a big, big play that led to “The Fade”.

This one was my favorite though. I was watching at the G-man’s house, and for the only time in my life made an immediate rub-it-in-your-face victory call to an obnoxious Georgia friend/fan.

Two random side notes – I’ll never get enough of Brian Scott’s Huggy Bear strut after that touchdown.  And why, oh why is Ron Franklin not the prime time play-by-play guy for ESPN?  He makes Mike Patrick look like Todd Ellis.  (I’ll apologize to Mike Patrick later and let him know I was just trying to make a point.)

As we enter the midpoint of fall camp, here are some storylines you may have missed:

– PJB Champ UConn indefinitely suspended a bunch of guys they really, really needed, but still weren’t good enough to play in the SEC.  The remainder of the Huskies are all 4-feet tall, enjoy crochet and afternoon tea, but would still pound the stuffing out of the Gamecocks.  Apparently it’s like rock/paper/scissors:  the paper looks weak and outmatched, but it always tops the rock.

– Bubba Drago will definitely play in the opener per the HBC.  No word on whether he will play quarterback, or will serve as the entire defensive line by himself.

– Coach said all spring that some of the freshmen O-linemen would play, but I thought he was just being cute.  Now, after one upperclassman blew out his knee, two betrayed a lack of conditioning necessary to complete practice, and eight others succumbed to the bubonic plague, it appears Spurrier was a prophet.  Oh, and one of our twelve walk-on long-snappers is now the 3rd string center.

– Sometime back the UNC Tar Heels looked away from their agent booty long enough to scuttle a scheduled game with the Gamecocks. They signed up instead for a home and home with the Mighty Volunteers.  Now that UT is apparently scared of anything other than Smokey’s shadow, the planned series is in limbo.     Could it be that Wesley Saunders and Marvin Austin flew down to Miami to try to work this all out?  Sounds plausible to me.  Of course, at one point I believed Brad Scott was a genius.

Comedy or Tragedy? Depends When You Ask.

– Coach Spurrier says we are pretty decent woefully bad ok nothing to brag about this year.  He says the quarterbacks are much improved disgusting exciting stupid a work in progress and the Oline looks stronger weaker committed to excellence average.   Hello Everyyear, nice to see you again.

– Mustard Buzzard head screw Larry Fedora is skipping the walkback and is opting instead for a full-blown reverse sprint.  A timeline to illustrate:

July 15th: “[C]ollege football fan in this entire country will be watching us – watching the Golden Eagles beating South Carolina,”

August 7th: “[O]ur guys are excited to be able to go out and compete against South Carolina.”

August 15th: “We understand South Carolina’s probably got one of the best teams they’ve had in years. We understand what Coach Spurrier and his staff are capable of doing.”

Here’s a little trivia for you – South Carolina has returned exactly ONE kickoff for touchdown since 1997.  Want to guess who it was?  Oh, right, the headline…

Matthew Thomas burst onto the scene in 2001 as a true freshman with a spectacular catch on the game-winning drive in a 13-9 win over Georgia.  He went on to have a solid season that year, and much more was expected of him in following seasons.

The kickoff return of 95 yards against UVA in 2002 showed a flash of who Thomas could be.  But a subsequent fumble by Thomas in the same game, returned for a touchdown by the Cavs, showed us the reality of Matthew Thomas – talented but very inconsistent.

Maybe we expected too much out of the lightly recruited DB/WR out of Georgia.  But it’s really his fault for showing us those occasional flashes of brilliance.  Isn’t it?

Who knew “Dat Boy” had so much influence on popular culture?  The LA alternative band Lifehouse has a new single out, and they’re “All In” just like Swinney.  Watch and listen (if you can):

Proof that its a Clemson Tiger University inspiration?  

The name of the album is “Smoke and Mirrors”.

From the 2004 Vanderbilt box score:

SC – Jackson, Jamacia  98-yard interception return, 4th  09:15; Brown, Josh kick

RIP #16, you created a great memory for a lot of Gamecocks.

Ask any random Gamecock fan and they will probably tell you that the rivalry game against the Clemson Tiger University is the most important game of the year.  Ask that same fan to name the game that is the best predictor of Carolina’s hopes, and they will invariably point towards Athens, Georgia.

In fact, conventional wisdom holds that the South Carolina–Georgia game is a good barometer of the season for both teams.  This feeling is reinforced by the early date of the contest, which does tend to set expectations for both fan bases. 

But the fact is that the SC–UGA game is a very poor predictor of the Gamecock’s yearly fortunes.  Since joining the SEC, South Carolina has lost five different times to Georgia and gone on to have a winning record.  Also, South Carolina failed to have a winning record in two years where they beat the Bulldogs (’93 and ’07).  In other words, in almost half of the meetings between the two teams, South Carolina’s outcome against Georgia does not serve as a predictor of the season’s total result.

Surprisingly, the outcome of the SC-Arkansas matchup bears a much stronger correlation to the Gamecock’s annual record.  Since the two schools joined the league, only one SC team (’97) has defeated the Razorbacks and gone on to have a losing record.  On only three occasions have the Gamecocks lost to Arkansas and gone on to have a winning season.  In the remaining fourteen contests, the result of the SC-Ark ballgame has accurately predicted the Gamecock’s annual record.

Given this strong correlation, why doesn’t the average Gamecock fan identify the Razorbacks as a more important opponent?   This question came to my mind only after reading an interesting post on the excellent Team Speed Kills blog (which, as a fan of the SEC, you should already be reading).

The two schools play every year as permanent interdivision foes, but for a variety of reasons a heated rivalry has failed to develop.   First, the two schools are almost 1000 mile apart, and the annual contest is usually the farthest the visiting team travels to play a game each year.  Probably as a result of this distance, the two fan bases don’t interact that often (although one super Razorback fan does host me and Buck at the Chic-fil-a Kickoff each year) and the schools do not usually recruit against each other.  At present, neither roster contains a player from the other’s home state.

The series stands at 7 wins for SC, 11 for Arkansas.  Since 2004 the record is knotted at 3 wins each.  The individual contests, however, are usually not that memorable.  The average margin of victory in the SC-Ark game is 16 points.  In only three meetings has the margin of victory been a field goal or less.   Put another way, the loser of the Gamecock–Razorback struggle usually gets blown out.

I’m sure the coaching staff places as much emphasis on the Arkansas game as on any conference foe.  But in my opinion, the Gamecock fan base needs to move the Razorbacks up in importance.  

Oh, and since I’ve got my media guide out – do you know how many times the Gamecocks have beat the Dawgs and the Pigs in the same season?  Only twice (’96 and 2000). 

And in both of those years we went on to have winning records.

– tbone

Did you cringe when you read that name?  C’mon, just a little?  If you were in the stands at Williams-Brice Stadium on November 22, 1997, you cringed a lot.

A severe knee injury to Anthony Wright in the second quarter of the Tennessee game had left Penn as the starter for the Florida and Clemson games.  He was over-matched against UT and UF, but for some unknown reason I remember having hope going into the Clemson game.

I felt my hope was justified after we jumped out to a 14-3 lead and were driving.  Then, inexplicably since we were shoving it right down the Tigers’ throats, Brad Scott went to his bag of tricks.  We fumbled, Clemson recovered, subsequently scored, and all momentum was lost.

Trailing 26-14 midway through the third quarter, the cringe-worthy moment arrived.  Penn dropped back and fired towards a receiver running a 10-yard out route near the sideline.  Clemson’s Antoine Edwards saw it all the way, picked off the lollipop, and it was game over.

For all intents and purposes that was the end for Vic Penn at South Carolina.  He was branded as too small and with too weak an arm to succeed in the SEC.  He transferred to Central Florida where he wound up having a fairly decent career.

I’ll tell you this, we sure could’ve used him in ’99.

– buck

And now, Coach Spurrier gives us a report on Saturday’s scrimmage from Oppositeland:

Spurrier: OK, guys, thanks for coming out, it’s always a pleasure to have you out here with us.  First of all, in addition to it being another beautiful day to be a Gamecock, I’d say we had one of our typical scrimmages, which means it was outstanding on both sides of the ball.  Our offense moved the ball when we wanted them to, and our defense stopped the offense when we wanted them to, just like we planned.  Things could not have looked better, my friends.  Questions?

Reporter: Coach, you say you liked the offense today, but are you concerned about the seven sacks, particularly the five with Garcia in the game?

Spurrier: Aw, that’s just a part of learning and why we practice.  You’re going to have good plays and bad plays, no biggie.  As for Stephen Garcia, he just keeps getting better every practice.  His decision making is superb, he has a rocket arm and is a leader.  He’s got all-SEC and maybe all-American written all over him.  I just hope he decides to stick around and not jump to the NFL after this year.

Reporter: How about the back-ups?

Spurrier: I have to say, I couldn’t be happier with Shaw and Clifford, they have bright futures ahead of them.  But it would be silly to think either could beat Garcia out at this point.  Stephen is just so far ahead.  The bottom line is we are in good hands at quarterback.  Of course, if I had a receiving crew like we have now when I played I’d probably still be playing.

Long pause for reporters’ sycophantic laughter to die down.

Reporter: Are you pleased with the progress of the offensive line?

Spurrier: Oh, you bet.  Those guys are aggressive and rarely miss an assignment.  It’s all instinct now, they almost don’t even need to be coached.

Reporter: How about on defense?  Are you missing Eric Norwood?

Spurrier: I don’t think there’s any question our D will be better than last year, even though it’s hard to top “great”.  And of course we miss Eric Norwood, he was an unbelievable defender.  As a matter of fact, I’d like to take this time to announce that we are not only going to retire Eric’s number, we are going to retire his NAME at the University of South Carolina.  There will never be another Eric Norwood playing for the Gamecocks. Literally.

Reporter: Coach, how is the investigation on the living arrangements of Saunders, King and Robertson going?

Spurrier: Aw, yeah, I’m more than happy to talk about that.  Where is that Joe Person anyway?

Joe: Here I am coach.

Spurrier: Get up here you little scamp.  (Person walks up, Spurrier puts him in a headlock and gives him a noogie.)  I love this guy!  Joe, you found out anything else?

Joe: Not yet, coach.

Spurrier: Atta boy Joe.  Keep on diggin’.  If you find anything out you let us know, all right?

Joe: (Smiling sheepishly, kicking dirt) OK, coach.

Spurrier: OK then, my men.  I’ll close by saying I cannot wait for September 2.  Our guys could go tomorrow if necessary and play great.  But since we have two and a half weeks to go, we’ll use it to get sharper and start our run at the BSC national title.  Now you gentlemen have a good evening and say hello to the wives and kids for me.

– buck