Delusional chickens (long)

Oct 31, 2011, 2:16 PM

Well, well, well, it looks like USC has this cute little two game winning streak going against the Clemson Tigers and they have now risen to be among the elite football programs in the history of the NCAA. This is the first time they have had a winning streak against their rivals since the 1969-1970 season, by the way, and I thought I’d just do a little research to see how I’ve been so blind to their esteemed program over the past 40 years and how I’ve missed their rise to superiority.

First of all, let’s take a look at the overall series record since the 1970 win. Let’s see, it seems to go in Clemson’s favor by a record of 27-12-1. By the way, this includes drubbings of 45-0 (1989) and 63-17 (2003), but there was an impressive 56-20 win by the Gamecocks in 1975.

Maybe it’s the total number of National Championships. I see one for Clemson in 1981, but haven’t found the Carolina one yet. Still looking. Maybe next year.

Conference championships? Clemson has seven, Carolina has none. I don’t guess that’s it.

COACHING
Now, one thing that I’m certain of is that Clemson has not hired a “legend” for a coach over the past 40 years. While the Tigers have been under the guidance of names like Howard, Parker, Pell, Ford, and a host of others (including, of all things, a former real estate agent), the Gamecocks have had the opportunity to bring in not only one, but two legends of the sport. First of all there was Lou Holth (sp) and then Mr. Steve Spurrier himself. While Spurrier has, undoubtedly, taken the Carolina faithful to heights previously unreached, Dr. Lou finished with an overall record of 33-37, including an 0-11 season in 1999. That would be enough to make a man spit.

Spurrier, the molder and maker of quarterbacks, has yet to have a Gamecock quarterback taken in the NFL draft. As a matter of fact, no Gamecock quarterback that he has recruited has finished their career in Columbia. One could argue that Garcia’s career was finished in Columbia but I don’t think that’s what he had in mind.

NFL DRAFT PICKS
Since the 1970 season, it appears that the Gamecocks have had a whopping 96 players taken in the NFL draft! Surely they hold the edge in this department. Hmmm, during that same time, the Tigers have had 140. Oh well, let’s move on. Nothing to see here.

BOWL VICTORIES
Over the past 40 years, here’s the record:
Clemson – 12 bowl wins, USC – 4 wins.

Nope, that’s not it.

FINAL TOP-25 RANKINGS
Seems that our friends in Tiger Town hold the edge here as well. The Tigers have finished in the AP top 25 a total of 17 times since 1971 compared to five (5) times for the cluckers from Columbia.

HEISMAN TROPHIES
AH HA! This must be it! The Gamecocks had a Heisman Trophy winner in 1981 by the name of George Rogers and Clemson has never had one. Mr. Rogers even has a street named in his honor in the capital city even though he was bordering on illiteracy when he left the school of higher learning. Oh, and by the way, he was later implicated in a cocaine scandal while in the NFL (1982) and arrested for possession in 1990. Word has it that George Rogers Boulevard is void of white lines.

Here’s an idea. Let’s put him on the university payroll and have George Rogers day every football season!

SCANDALS
While it seems that every Gamecock fan wants to dwell on history and mention “probation” whenever given the opportunity, I thought I’d look into all of the scandals involving the two schools over the years. Surely, Carolina’s reputation would be lily-white judging by the way that they like to point the accusatory finger. Here’s what I’ve found:

PROBATION
Yes, the fine folks at Clemson found themselves in an NCAA mess and were put on probation for two years (1982-1983) for recruiting violations. Some would say that the violations took place under the former regime of Charley Pell, some want to include Danny Ford. Whatever the case was, it resulted in probation and being banned from bowl games. Since that time, Clemson, like MOST other Division 1 programs, have had “secondary” violations a time or two. Hmmm, I see that it appears that there is an investigation going on in Columbia, as I type. Interesting….

Since we need to have a history lesson, my research has found several other interesting events in Gamecock history.

Seems that way back in 1982, the same year as Clemson’s probation, a USC basketball coach by the name of Pam Parsons was all wrapped in a bit of scandal herself. By the way, that’s not the only thing she was wrapped up in! Ms. Parsons was very close to her players, one in particular, and was having a (gasp) homosexual relationship with a team member! Is that wrong? Did someone tell her that it was wrong? I’m sure she wouldn’t have engaged in such if someone had told her. Luckily, when the story broke, she was very upfront and honest. No, wait a minute, it seems that she and the player were both sentenced to prison for lying under oath about it. By the way, that’s not the only thing she was lying under!

Since I brought basketball into this conversation, I am obligated to bring the name of Tates Locke into the conversation. He was the basketball coach at Clemson in the mid-1970’s and had some NCAA infractions that led to probation for the Tigers. I’m pretty sure he didn’t sleep with any of his players, but I can’t say for sure.

JOE MORRISON
Oh, what a colorful character USC had in Coach Morrison – the beer drinking, cigarettes on the sideline smoking, man in black. During his five-year tenure (1983-1988), Morrison took the Gamecocks to as high as a #2 national ranking and began the legendary “Fire Ant” defense and the “Black Magic” year of 1984. Once they rose to #2, however, the Black Magic faded with a loss to Navy. Morrison was named national Coach of the Year in 1984. The Father of the Year award didn’t go his way due to the paternity suit that followed him from New Mexico.

While Morrison was at USC, they were featured in a glowing article in Sports Illustrated magazine. I believe the term used by SI to describe the USC program was “out of control” when discussing the major steroid and drug scandal that was taking place under his guidance.

As we all know, it’s much better to turn your head while players are given life threatening narcotics than have a booster pay out a little cash to a recruit.

COCKY
What an entertaining mascot the Gamecocks have on their sideline. Like so many schools, they elect a student to put on the mascot uniform and entertain the fans in the stands. Unlike so many schools, however, the male USC mascot was arrested at an I-26 rest area in Newberry for soliciting male patrons. I don’t have the mascot’s name, but, maybe it was none other than……

JAMES HOLDERMAN
Yes, the former President of the University of South Carolina. Also pronounced Hold-a-man, if I’m not mistaken. Dr. Hold-A-Man left, disgracefully, after a scandal concerning

a) using University money for personal expenditures and
b) an inappropriate sexual relationship with a male page in addition to sexual advances with other male students.

After convictions for tax evasion and money laundering, Dr. Hold-A-Man was given a three-year prison sentence.

Yes, Gamecock Nation, be proud of your heritage and your meteoric rise to the ranks of the elite. Your halo remains untarnished and we, the lowly Clemson folks, will forever admire your wonderful program and university. It is our only hope that, someday, we will be worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as USC.

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Gamecocks love to hate on the ACC, even though they had a losing record while in the conference, and have a losing record against ACC schools, even excluding the lopsided rivalry with Clemson.

But why did the Gamecocks leave the ACC?

Well, back in the 1970s, the ACC had higher standards than the NCAA for its student athletes. South Carolina didn't like this. After unsuccessfully trying to get the conference to lower its standards so that South Carolina could recruit the athletes they wanted, the Gamecocks left the ACC in 1971 to become an independent.

In short, the Gamecocks left the ACC because the academics were too stringent. Seriously, I can't make something like this up.

The plan was a complete disaster. South Carolina's successful basketball program collapsed, and Frank McGuire realized too late that he'd made a huge mistake by signing on to the idea. The football team struggled with occasional success and frequent mediocrity. (The real reason for the 40 year streak isn't that Clemson was that good--it survived the Tommy West era, after all--but that USC couldn't put together a decent team two years in a row.)

The athletic program struggled until they were fortunate enough to be picked up by the SEC. Why did the SEC take them? Because FSU and Miami turned down the SEC and they needed a 12th team to have a championship game.

Delusional chickens (long)

Re: Delusional chickens (long)

Candidate for post of the day/week/month/year/decade.....

I have no idea why anyone wouldn't want to go there.

Don't forget why they left the ACC

USuc's SEC record through 2010 is 55-88-1!

Hall of Fame Material Here !***

^best thing read today.***

Just to clarify....

Vote this into the HOF***

Did their mascot actually get arrested for bathroom activity***

Re: Delusional chickens (long)

Is that all you've got?

Re: Delusional chickens (long)

Was this your TAPS photo?

Re: Was this your TAPS photo?

the usuck football coaches were practically forcing usuck

They do have an ACC championship.***

Wasn't that vacated?***

Re: They do have an ACC championship.***

He was counting from 1970.***

Re: Delusional chickens (long)

Although you started at 1970,

Do you happen to still have that link? It may come handy

Re: Do you happen to still have that link? It may come handy

You may be right because the secret slush fund was

They didn't have control of the slush fund?

lol---true***

Your welcome.

You are much too generous with the scandals

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