A House subcommittee nixed a South Carolina lawmakers attempt to force South Carolina and Clemson to meet on the football field each season.  While the rivalry — which has been played 103 consecutive years — looks safe now, conference expansion and realignment have interrupted other long-standing rivalries (Kansas-Missouri, Texas-Texas A&M, etc).

“This is important to the state,” argued Representative Nathan Ballentine, who sponsored the bill.  “It is something the Palmetto State could be proud of, should be proud of.”

But in the end, his bill was crushed by a touchdown, 7-0.  “These matters should be handled by the universities and trustees,” Representative Lester Branham said.

If Carolina or Clemson ever attempt to end their football rivalry, expect a number of Palmetto State lawmakers to rush to get involved.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced that it will go to a nine-game conference schedule when Pittsburgh and Syracuse enter the league (which should happen in 2014, if not sooner).

The Southeastern Conference is sticking with an eight-game schedule, but the league is adding two more teams this fall (which will lead coaches to say the SEC is just too tough).

BCS commissioners and ADs are kicking around the idea of raising the bowl eligibility standard from six wins to seven (which will lead all BCS schools to schedule more creampuffs and cupcakes).

Obviously, there are several reasons why the SEC’s South Carolina and the ACC’s Clemson could potentially stop scheduling one another.  One Palmetto State lawmaker wants to insure that that doesn’t happen.

State Representative Nathan Ballantine has introduced a proposal that will be considered in the State House this week that would require the Gamecocks and the Tigers to continue their ancient football rivalry every year.  (Recently, a Kentucky lawmaker raised awareness for a bill by tossing in a “UK-Louisville must play” clause to his legislation.)

“You saw Texas and Texas A&M,” Ballantine told Columbia’s The State.  “That rivalry went by the wayside.  Nebraska and Missouri dropped by the wayside (when Nebraska joined the Big Ten).  No one wants to see that happen here to our two universities where families enjoy the annual game, and it’s great for our economy.”

School officials on both sides, however, would prefer the South Carolina House of Representatives not dictate their schedules to them.

“Athletic schedules need to be decided by athletic directors and coaches,” a USC spokesman said.  Clemson AD Terry Don Phillips added, “Clemson would prefer to not have to legislate this issue as I cannot conceive of a realistic scenario that would prohibit Clemson and South Carolina from continuing our football series.”

Ah, but the legislature has actually stepped in and saved the rivalry in the past.  In 1952, Carolina lawmakers forced the schools to meet… keeping alive a streak that’s now stretched to 103 consecutive seasons of USC-Clemson football.

Now usually we want politicians to keep their dirty mitts out of the sports world.  In fact, 99.9% of the time we’re for keeping politicians away from spots. 

This is the .1%

With Texas cold-shouldering Texas A&M and Kansas turning its nose to Missouri, it’s clear that schools sometimes act out of spite.  And if schools can make decisions based on something as childish as spite, you can be certain that something as serious as greed might be a motivator, too.  If a rivalry could come between a school and potential bowl money (as well as bowl exposure) even an historic rivalry might get kiboshed.

Pay attention — ’cause we don’t say this often — but bravo to the Carolina legislature for trying to keep this one on the books.  Makes you wonder how long it will take politicians in Georgia and Florida to fire up proposals to force UGA-Tech and UF-FSU to play. 

Just in case.

During the 2011 football season, Steve Spurrier raised eyebrows with occasional digs at his defense.  The rumor mill began to spin.  Spurrier and Ellis Johnson — Carolina’s de facto defensive coordinator — were no longer seeing eye to eye.

When Johnson left his home state of South Carolina to take over as head coach at Southern Miss, some took it as a sign that there really had been a growing gulf between the Cock’s top two coaches.

But the words of Carolina’s new secondary coach — former USM and Johnson assistant Grady Brown — suggest otherwise:


“(Johnson) was really good about me coming here.  He had nothing but good things to say about his time spent here in Columbia.  He actually encouraged me to take advantage of this opportunity.  He told me about how Coach Spurrier was a great coach to work for and this town is a great town.

He hated to see me go, obviously, but he had nothing but good things to say about South Carolina and really encouraged me to take advantage of this opportunity.  I’m definitely happy and pleased with how he handled it.  We have a great relationship.  He thinks a lot of South Carolina.”


Johnson had decided to hang onto Brown, convincing him to return to Hattiesburg rather than depart for North Carolina with Larry Fedora.  Impressive then that he would encourage Brown to follow up on the opportunity presented by Spurrier and the Gamecock program.

Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings isn’t the only person in the SEC who doesn’t like the league’s scheduling practices.  The folks at South Carolina aren’t happy about the way the SEC schedules its football games.  They’ve come up with a solution, too.

USC trustee Chuck Allen has proposed an amendment to the SEC rules:

“For the purposes of football division rankings, intra-division games shall be valued as a whole (1.0) game and inter-divisional games shall be valued as a half (0.5) game.”

Why count cross-divisional games as a half game?  Because South Carolina had to play one tougher West Division foe in 2011 than Georgia did.  (And if the shoe were on the other foot, USC trustee Chuck Allen would be stone silent right now.)

South Carolina beat Georgia this past season and then knocked off every other team from the East Division.  But the Gamecocks went just 1-2 against the West Division (beating MSU and losing to Arkansas and Auburn).

Georgia ran the table after its Carolina loss, including a 3-0 record versus SEC West opponents (beating Ole Miss, MSU and Auburn.)  Next year, the Dawgs will again avoid Alabama, Arkansas and LSU, while the Cocks will have to face the Razorbacks and the Tigers.

But let’s face facts, if Carolina had won the SEC East last year, Allen isn’t making his proposal and AD Eric Hyman isn’t vowing to push it at the SEC meetings.

Here’s a problem with the logic, though — you could make a pretty good case that it wasn’t the Arkansas loss that cost Carolina last year… it was the 16-13 home loss to a 7-5 Auburn squad that hurt.  Georgia did have to play the Tigers.  And they crushed them 45-7.

If it sounds like we’re not big on schools and coaches whining about schedule slights, we’re not.  When a schedule is made, there’s no telling who’ll be good and who’ll be bad (anyone think Florida would be 6-6 last year).  There’s no telling who’ll be banged up or missing players due to academics or off-field transgressions when two teams meet.  Which teams will start hot and cool off or start cool and heat up.

Beat the teams in front of you.

Until the SEC goes to a 26-game football schedule in which every team will face every other team both at home and away, there’s no such thing as a completely fair schedule.  Someone will always have an advantage.

Championship teams rise above it.  Others spend their time trying to cook up new point systems for the league’s football standings board.

Carolina just had a helluva 2011.  Whining for rules changes is no way to start 2012.

Steve Spurrier has done it.  He’s turned around the South Carolina football program.  In 2010, the Cocks won their first SEC division title.  In 2011, they won 11 games for the first time and swept their East Division rivals.  They also continue to do well on the recruiting trail.

And Spurrier knows it.  A tip of the cap to FootballScoop.com for picking up this video from Saturday’s South Carolina-Florida basketball game.  The coach was exuberant as he addressed a loud, fired up crowd and praised his team.




His closing comment?  “Let’s try to go for 12 next year!”  Twelve wins and/or an SEC title would be the only way to top 2011 — the best coaching job of Spurrier’s career.

When things are rolling, it’s easy to hire assistant coaches.  And Steve Spurrier has things rolling at South Carolina.

In a flurry of activity this weekend, the Gamecocks’ coach has filled three vacancies on his staff with two hires coming Friday and one more today:


* Joe Robinson as special teams coordinator  and tight ends coach — replacing John Butler (left for Penn State)

* Everette Sands as running backs coach — replacing Jay Graham (left for Tennessee)

* Kirk Botkin as linebackers coach — replacing Ellis Johnson (left to become head coach at Southern Miss)


Johnson’s de facto defensive coordinator position has been filled by the recently-promoted Lorenzo Ward.  Botkin will handle his role with USC’s linebackers.

Robinson comes to South Carolina from North Carolina where he served as the Tar Heels’ special teams coach and defensive line coach.  Prior to UNC, Robinson was on Les Miles’ staff at LSU.

Sands joins Spurrier’s staff from NC State.  Before his one season in Raleigh, Sands worked at The Citadel from 2005 through 2010.  He is also a Palmetto State native, so he should have good ties across the state.

Botkin is a former All-SEC player at Arkansas.  He coached defensive ends and special teams at his alma maer in 2008 and 2009 under Bobby Petrino.  The past two seasons he’s been coaching high school in Texarkana, Texas.  (Sidenote — I hear there’s beer in Texarkana.  And the boys are thirsty in Atlanta.)

Former Texas A&M running backs coach Randy Jordan was also on Spurrier’s radar before he landed at North Carolina with new coach Larry Fedora.  From the looks of it, Spurrier — like most SEC coaches — is eager to find someone with recruiting ties to the Lone Star State with Texas A&M now giving the league a foothold in that state.  Botkin fits that bill.

Former South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia is opening up about his midseason dismissal from USC’s football team and he admits that he failed to live up to the zero-tolerance policy placed upon him by the school’s administration:


“It was 100% my fault, and I just put myself in a terrible situation that I wish I could have taken back. … I feel like I could get away with a lot more stuff that obviously I couldn’t get away with.”


Garcia continues to work out in hopes of getting a shot with an NFL team.  “I just pray for forgiveness. … I feel like I’m a pretty good leader on the field.  Off the field, I struggled with that in college.  This is a whole new season, a whole new me.”

Garcia also said he recently spoke to Steve Spurrier who told the quarterback to call him anytime he needed anything.

Here’s hoping Garcia won’t be needing much help in the future.  Best of luck to him as he tries to pen a better finish for his football-playing legacy.

On Monday, South Carolina fans were reveling in a rump-kicking of traditional power Nebraska and the school’s first-ever 11-win season.  This morning, a little cold water got tossed onto the celebration.

Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery — the MVP of the Capital One Bowl — and cornerback Stephon Gilmore announced that they would be leaving Carolina early for the NFL.  Gilmore informed USC’s coaches of his decision yesterday by phone.  Jeffery released a statement through ESPN.com’s Joe Schad:


“I would like to thank the fans, my teammates, Coach (Steve) Spurrier, everyone involved for all the opportunities South Carolina has provided me.  I am proud to say I will always be a Gamecock.  I’m ready for the next step.  I’m physical and can make plays in the red zone.  I can make big plays in big games.  I can work on my speed and get quicker.  I want to be like Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson and Andre Johnson.”


Jeffery is Carolina’s all-time receiving yardage leader with 3,042.  He is also tied with for Gamecock Sidney Rice for the school lead in TD catches with 23.

Gilmore was a freshman All-American and a third-team All-American as a sophomore.  He finishes his USC career with eight interceptions.

The Cocks are still waiting on a stay-or-go decision from junior defensive end Devin Taylor.

In the storied, hall-of-fame career of Steve Spurrier, his work in 2011 should be listed right atop his resume.  Leading South Carolina to its first-ever 11-win season — and doing so while surviving the loss of two key players — was top-notch work.  Fittingly, the coach was more than ready to praise his team and enjoy the aftermath of the school’s 30-13 Capital One Bowl rout of Nebraska yesterday:

“The record speaks for itself as the best team ever. … This is about as big as it gets for me.  I love it.”

He should.  The man who is now just three wins shy of 200 for his career came to Carolina to prove that he could still build a college football program.  He had done so at Duke.  He had done so at Florida.  But a two-year foray into the NFL had left his reputation slightly dented.  And when he took over in Columbia in 2005, not many people outside the Palmetto State believed the coach could strengthen a program that had spent most of the last century getting its beak kicked in.

Carolina needed Spurrier to put the school on the football map.  Spurrier needed Carolina if he was going to regain his status as a master builder.

Done and done.

At Duke, Spurrier won an ACC title in 1989.  That’s no easy feat, but even in the Blue Devils’ championship season, the team finished just 8-4 (2-3 out of conference).  That’s great work, but certainly not Spurrier’s best.

At Florida from 1990 through 2001, the coach never won fewer than nine games in a season.  He cracked the 10-win barrier nine times.  He won six SEC titles.  And in 1996 he won the school’s first national championship.  Again, that’s a remarkable feat, but Florida is a recruiting paradise and the school itself has deep, deep pockets.

South Carolina?  It’s a school that ranks in the lower-half of the SEC in athletic budgets in the middle of a state that ranks in the bottom-half for population.  Facing those obstacles, it took Spurrier a while to gain traction, but there’s little doubt he’s done that now.

Credit should go to his recruiting and to former top defensive aide Ellis Johnson, who has now departed to become head coach at Southern Miss.  The talent level has risen at Carolina (see: Marcus Lattimore and Jadeveon Clowney as two obvious examples) and Johnson’s defense allowed Spurrier to start winning even though his Fun n’ Gun offense failed to develop as it had at Florida.

But it was Spurrier himself who held everything together in 2011.  When quarterback Stephen Garcia used up his ninth life and was finally dismissed from the Gamecock team, Spurrier leaned more heavily on Lattimore.  When the phenomenal tailback was lost to a season-ending knee injury, Spurrier’s staff reworked Carolina’s attack to feature more zone read plays for new quarterback Conner Shaw.

When it appeared the Cocks would tumble minus Lattimore — he had provided 36% of the team’s total offense — USC instead found new ways to win.  In other words, Spurrier wasn’t just plugging new players into his system.  He adjusted his system to match the talents of his players.  That’s quality coaching.

No, South Carolina didn’t win a national title this past season.  And they didn’t win the SEC.  Heck, USC didn’t even win the SEC East Division.  But when you consider how far Spurrier has brought his Gamecock program in seven years — when you consider the “degree of difficulty” he faced in Columbia — there’s no question the coach did a tremendous job in 2011.

In fact, we at MrSEC.com feel he did his best job.

A Rock Hill, South Carolina business might have landed Gamecock stars Jadeveon Clowney and CC Whitlock in hot water with the NCAA.  Club Cascade is using photos of both players to promote its “Christmas X-Mas Eve Explosion.”  That’s a no-no.

The poster — photo at left, click the headline to enlarge — reads as follows:


“#TEAMCASCADE PRESENT

CAROLINA Christmas
X-MAS EVE Explosion
12.24.11

HOSTED BY CAROLINA GAMECOCKS OWN
CEE CEE WHITLOCK
& JADEVEON ‘DOO DOO’ CLOWNEY”


Etc, etc.

Wait.  What?

Jadeveon “Doo Doo” Clowney?  Good luck living that one down, Doo Doo.

As you probably know, it is a secondary violation for an athlete’s name or photo to be used to promote a business.  The State reports that Carolina compliance officials are “looking into” the poster.

Most likely, South Carolina compliance officials will tell “Cee Cee” and “Doo Doo” to avoid the party and they’ll then send a cease and desist letter to Club Cascade in the hopes of keeping Clowney and Whitlock eligible for the Capital One Bowl.

Whitlock is a senior defensive back.  Clowney was the SEC’s Freshman of the Year from his defensive end spot and he also made several freshman All-American teams.