Gameday Forecast for S.C. State
It took 100 years, but South Carolina finally got around to scheduling S.C. State.
Here are a few of the powerhouses the Gamecocks took on while ignoring their neighbors in Orangeburg for the past century (I swear on my Larry Bowa bobblehead I’m not making these up):
Camp Blanding, Catholic, Charleston AA, Charleston AC, Charleston Coast Guard, Charleston MC, Charleston Y, Columbia (thought that was a women’s school), Fort Benning-176th Infantry, Georgia Pre-Flight, Lenoir (no mention of Rhyne), Machinists Mates, Mercer (which dropped football in 1942), Newberry – pause for deep breath …
North Carolina MA (no idea what that stands for), North Carolina MC, Pacific, Porter (Stout did not have an opening), Presbyterian, Ridgewood (isn’t that a high school?), St. Albans, Sewanee, Washington & Lee and Welsh Neck (ask your friends from the Pee Dee).
Oh, and Hawaii – which is a mere 4,636 miles farther from Columbia than the trip to Orangeburg. Are we there, yet?
The point is: We’re glad USC athletics director Eric Hyman coughed up the $230,000 – if not all of the tickets the Bulldogs requested – to make this historic matchup and feel-good story a reality.
Well, we think it’s a feel-good story. There’s an editor at The State who has asked several times whether Steve Spurrier would run up the score on the Bulldogs, members of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (aka The NCAA’s Really Dumb Name for the Division Formerly Known as I-AA).
Anyway, Spurrier’s response has been that his team has not been good enough to hang 70 on teams from The NCAA’s Really Dumb Name for the Division Formerly Known as I-AA.
Exhibit A: Spurrier’s squad needed a last-minute, defensive stand last year to hold off Wofford, which incidentally, played USC 21 times before S.C. State got its first crack at the Gamecocks.
But USC can name its number Saturday. The Gamecocks are deeper and more talented than State at virtually every position, with the possible exception of big-talking, backup defensive end.
The Bulldogs’ Xavier Littleberry told reporters he plans to “beat up” and sack USC quarterback Blake Mitchell four times. You have to go all the way back to last week to find the last time a second-string defender in this state provided such easy bulletin board material to the opposition (take a bow, Dustin Lindsey).
Sportswriters love that kind of stuff, but the football gods frown upon it. Coming off a 21-month layoff, Lindsey re-injured his knee against Georgia and is out this week. We’re just saying …
Without further ado:
Mitchell throws two touchdowns in the first half, including at least one to someone other than Kenny McKinley. Tommy Beecher throws two touchdowns in the second half. Spurrier throws his visor when 10 players go out for the extra point following the Gamecocks’ sixth TD.
Littleberry falls four sacks short of stated goal. Bulldogs fall to their second Football Bowl Subdivision – write an NCAA rep and tell him stupid that sounds – team this season.
Two weeks after a 34-3 loss at Air Force (not to be confused with Georgia Pre-Flight), the Bulldogs can take solace in the fact that they didn’t have to go as far to make history. Only 40 miles and 100 years.
USC 45, State 13.
USC football beat writer Joe Person has covered the Gamecocks since the start of the 2002 season. He's been on the college football beat since 1993. 
Are you sure that it was actually SC State that was requesting all of those tickets? If memory serves, that request was actually made by a former state representative not even affiliated with SC State.
Also, it is my understanding that USC allotted the same amount of tickets to SC State that it did to Wofford, Middle Tenn. State, etc.
WHO FREAKIN CARES? I just hope we hang about 50 points on them , and shut their offence down. That way when we play the fourth or fifth best NFL team next week, we will have some momentum.
I HATE ALL BULLDOGS AND TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
goooooo COCKS!!!
Why have you not mentioned that Clemson has never played SC St.Why always so negative about
USC.You could have pointed out that neither
USC or Clemson have ever played SC ST.Clemson
is in the State of SC also but it seems every
thing negative about our state gets pinned on
USC. Thank you.
Al
From Ocean Isle Beach NC.
Unlike an apparent host of others, I don’t think your writing is so bad. The guy noting your lack of including clumson in the SC State history is, you must admit, an oversight that would have made your article much better.
I like the last comment about Clemson.They have not played us either when you come and think about it.It is time for all the BS to cease in the staedily reemerging South.Forget racism , demographic…..Since the beginning of the 1980’s college football in SC has really centered around three schools…SCSU, South Carolina, and Clemson.South Carolina on the national scene looks better when we give our own programs a chance to match wits with SC and Clemson.Plus…for nothing else imagine the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$s for the state.
ENJOY THE GAME SOUTH CAROLINIANS…..IT IS TOO LONG OVERDUE
I think we win this one big 49-17. They only scored 3 on Air Force and I think we could take them to the woodshed. Anyways, I think it is a dumb decision to play D 1-AA teams, but here we are playing them, so we should at least beat them handily.
Personally, I do think Joe is a bad writer.
You say he is a “bad” writer, but do you think his writing is bad? Sounds like admiration.
A lot of the schools Joe brought up we played back in the early days of football where it was tough to find a team to play!!
SCSU will show up today but as much as they’d like an upset, that’s highly unlikely.
The COCKS will prevail and move on to BIGGER and BETTER things.
No gimmies on any given Saturday
Lets not let our guard down
Hard nose football
Go Cocks
i dont realy care if we run up the the score, i think it would be more important to let some of our fresh man get in there and get there feet wet. its time to pick your redshirts.
Jstrom, I guess my effort at having a little fun went over your head.
No, Seth, it didn’t. However, I think mine must have gone “under” yours. ha!