Kick Off

It’s late summer in South Carolina.  It’s hot, humid and unless you are a MLB junkie or NASCAR fanatic there are slim-pickings on television for sports aficionados. (I actually recommend the USA Network and check out Suits, Thursdays @ 10 p.m., and Necessary Roughness, Wednesdays @ 9 p.m., as non-sport alternatives until college football kicks off on September 1st).  Once the calendar flips to August, thousands of college football fans across the Southeast rise out of the doldrums, awakening to dreams of conference championships and undefeated seasons capped off by hoisting the BCS National Championship Trophy inside The Superdome in New Orleans in early January 2012.  Right now, there are 120 NCAA college football teams across the country with perfect records and aspirations soaring to new heights before the first snap.

Speaking of ambitions, the above normal expectations amongst the fan base at the University of South Carolina where the Gamecocks enjoy a very loyal and passionate fan base has skyrocketed exponentially in 2011.  Why?  Well let us look in the rearview mirror before we look ahead to the Gamecocks’ upcoming season.  The expectations for the Gamecocks have been ratcheted up significantly in 2011 because USC is coming off its first SEC East Division title and its initial appearance in the SEC Championship game played in the Georgia Dome last December.  2010 marked the first time since the SEC realigned in 1992 that the SEC East was not represented in the Georgia Dome by UGA, UF or UT.  Even though Carolina got steamrolled by Auburn, the University finally achieved some credibility amongst college football “talking heads” outside of the Palmetto State.  My opinion is that until last year’s achievements, most fans across the SEC would admit that USC has brought very little to the SEC as far as marketability.  I am not diminishing Ray Tanner’s (a first-class individual, as is his program) back-to-back National Championships in baseball but lets be honest, football is king in the SEC and unless there are divisional or championship banners displayed in your football stadium you are not a major player in the eyes of your SEC brethren.

IMHO, the 2011 football campaign is the single most important season in the mediocre 119-year-old history of University of South Carolina football.  USC accomplished a lot of “firsts” last year, but the shine from those accomplishments faded slightly with back-to-back losses to end the 2010 campaign - while also coming up one win shy of the elusive 10-game win plateau, which the program has only achieved once in school history back in 1984, that special season remembered affectionately as Black Magic.  After the loss to FSU in the Peach Bowl, everyone in Gamecock country turned their sights to football recruiting and specifically one stud recruit, Jadeveon Clowney, out of South Pointe HS in Rock Hill, SC, who draws comparison to former Gator great Jevon “The Freak” Kearse.  Clowney was rated the consensus #1 recruit from every major recruiting service in the country.  Clowney was the subject of an intense recruiting battle between USC, Clemson and Alabama.  Clowney made Valentine’s Day extra “sweet” for Gamecocks fans around the world when he donned the Garnet and Black hat during his live ESPN television announcement.  This was the first time a unanimous #1 high school recruit chose a team that was not coming off a national championship.  With the Clowney bow on the recruiting season, USC fans ratcheted up aspirations of a dream season in the coming fall.  The question to all Carolina fans is, do the Gamecocks have the key ingredients on campus for a special season or will anticipation turn to angst as Carolina fans return to reality with pie in our collective faces?