Senior Writer [∞]
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Don't compare your school to mine
1
Jun 23, 2016, 11:33 AM
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Thought you guys might enjoy this during down time.....
I don’t hate the University of South Carolina, it’s students, graduates, or student-athletes. I don’t even hate the football program.
What I hate are the people who try to compare that football program to Clemson’s football program. It isn’t even close, will never be close in my lifetime and to pretend as the two football programs are on even ground is something akin to saying the Cleveland Browns (0 Super Bowl wins or appearances) are on equal footing to the New York Giants. The Giants aren’t NFL royalty – not like the Steelers or the 49ers or Packers – but they are on that next level with a long and storied history.
Clemson isn’t college football royalty. Sure, as a Clemson fan I love my program, and they’ve been close to elite status for a few years now. But you have, to be honest with yourself, and you realize only those teams that hang multiple national championships in their building can be called the true blue bloods – it’s Michigan and Alabama and Texas and Ohio St. and Notre Dame and a few others who have trampled the records throughout the decades that deserve that title.
But this Clemson program has been on that next level, played for a couple of national championships and won one, and they have a tradition of excellence that has also spanned a few different eras. But royalty? Not yet.
The problem I have is with those people who want to compare the two and say that South Carolina is better or at the very least equal. They obviously aren’t bright, and in the South, we say “bless” when discussing them in the most endearing of ways. They – and their program – are the runts that squeeze in on the ### of the momma hog only when the bigger siblings are done, taking what little nourishment is left, and still daring to call themselves the pick of the litter.
For example…if you read recruiting websites and you will see something that is quite comical. If Ohio St. offers a kid, the headline reads “Buckeyes offer elite defensive end” and not “Defensive end earns Big Ten offer.” If Clemson offers a kid, it’s Clemson and not the ACC that made the offer. Texas? The Longhorns offer, not the Big 12. Southern Cal? It’s the Trojans or the easily recognizable USC, not the kid receives a PAC-12 offer.
If a kid receives an offer from Bama, it’s Bama. If it’s LSU, it’s LSU. But if a kid receives a Missouri or South Carolina or Kentucky or Vanderbilt offer, they all of a sudden have received “an SEC offer.” It’s misleading. It’s okay to tell people you live in a gated community, and they might fall for it and think you’re better than you are. But when they find out it’s not the Royal Palm Yacht Club and instead it's the Richland County Jail, their opinion of you WILL change. But South Carolina fans – the runt sucking at the ### of momma hog – believe their SEC ties have them in a gated community while the rest of the world sees iron bars and not yachts. Bless.
As for their “storied football history” let’s take a look at the numbers. They’ve won an astounding – buckle in for this number – eight bowl games. They’ve lost 12. Their most impressive bowl wins? The Outback Bowl? The Capital One Bowl? Take your pick. Clemson has appeared in 39 bowl games, won 20 of them. Yes, Clemson has won as many bowl games as the Gamecocks have played in.
The Gamecocks have finished ranked in a final poll a whopping nine times. Nine. Four of those came during the “glory years” between 2010 and 2013 when they took advantage of a depleted SEC East and actually were a force in the NCAA. Clemson? 30 final rankings, including six out of the last seven years. Six out of seven….means Clemson has almost as many final rankings since 2009 as South Carolina has in its HISTORY.
The Tigers also have 19 conference championships in football, including 15 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Two conference championships have been won since 2011, despite playing in the same division as one of the nation’s best programs in Florida St. South Carolina? Well, they were the ACC Champs in 1969. Other than that…nada. Not even one.
How many SEC teams don’t have a conference title? Well, there are relative newcomers like Arkansas, Texas A&M, and Missouri…they don’t have one. Perennial doormat Vanderbilt doesn’t have one, and never will. And…..you guessed it, South Carolina. Heck, even Kentucky has two!!!
Let’s face it, South Carolina’s GLORIOUS football history consists of three really good seasons that started in 2011 and ended in 2013. They won 11 games each of those seasons (I don’t count the 2010 season as GREAT, even though they had an SEC East title because Mercer would have won the SEC East that season). The Gamecocks won 11 games each of those seasons finished high in the rankings, and it was in the middle of a streak where they beat Clemson five in a row. Congratulations, you now have a minor blip when discussing your place in college football lore. Maybe not even a blip.
Clemson has BCS bowl wins, an appearance in the College Football Playoff, and they've played in illustrious and storied games like the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl. And won.
But your famous coach – all of your “famous” coaches are famous because they were successful elsewhere – threw a tantrum worthy of a teenage girl and quit last season. They pulled down his banner in South Carolina and renamed the field after him at Florida, so that tells you all you need to know. The Gamecocks’ first two choices for head coach winked and said “bless” and went elsewhere and now they have Will Muschamp, a coach nobody else wanted. Watching the MusTrak (not Amtrak) derailment will be fun to watch, and trust me, it will be epic. In the end, as he is marched out of the door in a fit of rage, he will scream, “WERE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??” Oh, everybody but South Carolina fans will be entertained.
A good friend of mine opined the other day, as he cried in his adult beverage, that he “just wants South Carolina to get back to what we were.” You mean in the good old days of 2012???? Sorry Charlie, right now you are what you always were, a team that attracts 2-stars by the dozens and will trade out coaches like Donald Trump trades companies and wives.
But I don’t hate your school. Enjoy women’s basketball and equestrian, places where you actually have an even playing field. Enjoy the success in football of your SEC brethren (and earn a little ### time after the fact). Enjoy baseball.
Just don’t compare your football program to mine. 67-42-4.
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