Groundhog Day

Disclaimer- this post has nothing to do with the Bill Murray movie by the same name. I will try to avoid using any Bill Murray humor in the writing of this post, though I must admit, that his work in the Ghostbuster movies deserves some recognition.

Everyone knows the story of ole Punxsutawney Phil (had to look up the spelling on that one). On Feb 2nd, the ole groundhog comes out of his home on Gobbler's Knob and if he sees his shadow, reports that there will be six more weeks of winter, but if he does not see his shadow, proclaims that spring will come right on time. Whether you are willing to believe in these little legends is up to you, but I can promise you that today is a type of Groundhog Day for myself, and one that does prove itself true year after year.

You see, today is the annual Clemson versus South Carolina football game. This is the day when I look to the scoreboard to see what the year will bring. If the Tigers come out on top, there will be 52 more weeks of pure, unadulterated bliss. Nothing makes being thousands of miles away from home, living in a Muslim country, and trying to learn a new, and difficult, language easier to bear, than a Clemson victory. There aren't many things that can really get a man down after watching Clemson soundly thumping Carolina. With a Clemson victory and the divine Paraclete, I can change the world.

But on the other side of the coin, a Carolina victory means doom and gloom for weeks to come. Nothing makes a cold winter night colder, darker, or lonelier, than knowing that the misfits in Garnet and Black stole one from us. On the rare occassion that they do mess up and win one, time seems to just stand still. Expectations grow dangerously high around downtown Columbia. And all we in Clemson can do, is sit and wait, and remind them that they may have won the battle, but we are winning the war.

So which should we expect this year? Before I offer my guess, let's look to the past to give us a hint of what the future may bring (this next section is taken largely from a document entitled "This is Carolina Football" and does not include the past two seasons under Spurrier).

On December 24 1892, The University of South Carolina began a storied football tradition by losing to in-state rival Furman 44-0 in Charleston. The Gamecocks compiled a 0-3 record in their first two seasons and did not score an offensive point those two seasons. South Carolina football was born, as was a losing tradition that would continue over the next 111 seasons. This is Carolina football.

South Carolina has an all-time winning percentage under .500, which ranks 90th all-time in D-1A football history...only 27 of the 117 programs who are currently competing at the D-1A level have been worse. Of the 62 teams in the history of D-1A football who have played 980 or more games, only 7 programs have won fewer games than South Carolina. Forty-Six teams have played 1,050 games in their schools history and only two of them have yet to win 500 games…Northwestern and South Carolina. Since the Associated Press began ranking football teams in 1936, the Cocks have finished in the Top 20 of the rankings only five times in the 69 years. South Carolina has never finished in the Top 10 of a major recognized poll...NEVER. This is Carolina football.

The first year of Gamecock football was in 1892, Carolina won its first bowl game 103 years later. Seventy-two schools have been to 9 or more bowl games, and of those 72 schools, South Carolina’s .273 bowl winning percentage ranks 72nd…that’s correct, LAST. This is Carolina Football.

In the thirteen seasons as a member of the SEC, Carolina boasts an overall conference record of 37-66-1…only two teams have been worse: Kentucky has 27 wins, Vanderbilt 13. Although Carolina has yet to finish in the top two of the Eastern division, they have finished last twice. Since 1992, only once has a conference member failed to win a game overall in a single season…you guessed it, South Carolina. South Carolina’s all-time record versus other current conference members is even more unimpressive: 3-9 vs Alabama, 5-8 vs Arkansas, 1-4-1 vs Auburn, 3-19-3 vs Florida, 13-42-2 vs Georgia, 9-6-1 vs Kentucky, 2-14-1 vs LSU, 5-8 vs Ole Miss, 5-6 vs Mississippi St., 2-19-2 vs Tennessee, and 12-2 vs Vanderbilt. South Carolina boasts an all time record of 60-137-8 against current SEC teams, a .2926 winning percentage…good enough for 12th out of the current 12 SEC members…that’s correct, LAST. This is Carolina football.

But, the comparison of only 13 seasons in one conference does no justice to the tradition of South Carolina football. So lets compare the Cocks record versus D-1A schools they have played 20 or more times: 36-62-4 vs Clemson, 17-24-3 vs Duke, 3-19-3 vs Florida, 13-42-2 vs Georgia, 9-12 vs Georgia Tech,11-17 vs Maryland, 16-34-4 vs North Carolina, 25-26-4 vs North Carolina State, 2-19-2 vs Tennessee, 21-12-1 vs Virginia, and 33-21-2 vs Wake Forest. This is Carolina football.



South Carolina has had 32 different head coaches in its storied tradition...only six of them stayed longer than 5 seasons, 22 of them have losing records. This is Carolina football.

The Gamecocks have failed to score a single point in 160 games, over 15% of their contests. They have scored in single digits in 395 of their 1051 games, a staggering mark of 37.5%. Of the 46 programs, which have played more than 1050 games all-time, only one (Northwestern) has scored fewer points than South Carolina in their schools history. This is Carolina football.

According to South Carolina fans, their biggest two rivalries are Clemson and Georgia. The Gamecocks have compiled a 48-105-6 record against these two schools. Over the past 47 seasons, South Carolina has played both Georgia and Clemson in the same season 42 times. The Gamecocks have beaten both teams in the same season five times since 1958, and have lost to both teams in the same season 21 times over that span. This is Carolina football.

But all this tradition and past records are meaningless. What is more important is the recent history. Only losers live in the past. We are in the best years of Carolina Gamecock football, and the future has never been brighter...or has it? South Carolina’s record since 1995: 49-64-1, which is 82nd among 117 D-1A teams over the same period. Since Joining the SEC: 66-81-1, which is 74th among D-1A teams over the same period. Since 1990: 75-92-3, which is 71st among D-1A teams over the same span. Carolina has finished in the Top 15 once in the past 16 seasons, and been to three bowl games in that span. And to add to this myself, I will add that Carolina has lost to in-state rival Clemson 8 of the last 9 years, including a 63-17 thrashing in Columbia, the largest point difference in this "rivalry's" storied tradition. This, my friend, is Carolina football.

So it looks like history is on our side. Joining history is class, intelligence, and athletic ability, to make for an all around dominating performance by Clemson. I say that both our tailbacks top a hundred yards rushing, with both scoring at least once. Reggie Merriweather will score one too, for old times sake. Proctor will play good enough for us to win. Gaines Adams will have 3 sacks on the sadly immobile Blake Mitchell and Newton will not fair much better in a support role. The Tigers dominate on both sides of the ball. Hopefully the Chickens wear their black. It'll be appropriate for the funeral procession back to Columbia this evening.

Clemson wins 31-13 and Clemson fans the world over will bask in Tiger orange sunsets for another 365 days. GO TIGERS!!!