On Playing Homebaked Cupcakes

I believe Hyman meant a tradition of playing these schools. Furman, The Citadel, and Wofford are still among Carolina’s 20 <a href=“http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/all-opp.pl?start=1869&end=2008&team=South+Carolina&sort=g” target="_blank"most common opponents. In each case, the rivalry predates World War I.

The only reason S.C. State was added to the rotation is the school’s HBCU status. That history gave connected Bulldog backers a unique method to apply political pressure. Had Carolina resisted, it could have been a public relations black eye, while the presence of a popular former Gamecock as S.C. State head coach made the series more attractive for Carolina fans.

There are probably other factors at play for each of the school’s mentioned as well.

If a pollster from the west coast (or Alabama for that matter) sees a score against Presbyterian, they may think the school is still Division II. Heck, probably a quarter of South Carolinians don’t even realize the Blue Hose have moved up. While everyone is allowed a 1-AA opponent every now and then, there would rightfully be a hit to an SEC school’s image for playing a D-II, especially when the result turned out to be only 30 points or so, which would be awful if Presbyterian was still D-II. It’s not our job to let the nation know Presbyterian is now barely Division I.

Charleston Southern is one of the worst programs in 1-AA. I suspect the Buccaneers are taking advantage of that reputation and have priced themselves out of our schedule. They can get more money as a patsy for out-of-state programs.

Coastal seems the most obvious one to avoid. Not only is there some lingering bad blood from the school’s split with the university system, but I suspect the Chants remain ambitious at the university and AD level. I could see the program trying to move into the D-I Sunbelt in five or ten years. There is absolutely no reason we should help them attain those goals. We could freeze out every CCU sport for all I care. Don’t ever take sides against the family.

I don’t want to see more than a single 1-AA game on the schedule. I understand why S.C. State is getting a shot, but I’d rather not even seem them in the mix. I’d rather stick to our three historical rivals and let it go at that.

stupid open HTML tag.

Carolina’s all time opponents by games played.

at the D-I level. If they go D-I at all though, it is bad for us.

We won’t lose obvious starting quality recruits to them, but, given the choice of coming to Carolina as a likely career backup or going to Coastal as a starter, some local kids would choose Coastal if the Chants were D-I. That would obviously hurt our depth, while occasionally allowing a diamond in the rough to slip through and develop in Conway instead of Columbia.

If Coastal ever goes D-I, I think we should schedule them as early in the transition as possible, RUTS til the closing gun so we can tell every recruit ‘They suck, they aren’t really D-I’, then drop them forever as soon as they show the first sign of competitiveness. Only a program with a complete fool of an AD would allow an in-state little brother to emerge on the big stage at their expense.

i’d dearly love to trade FCS games for a home-and-home with Wisconsin or Illinois.

I know, I know. We’re in the SEC. We’re in the SEC East. Our in-state rival is not in a different Conference. The Columbia Chamber will go ape if they don’t get at least seven home games a year … blah blah.

Georgia does it.

I’d rather play the instate FCS team early and get a home-and-home with Wisconsin or Illinois. Wishful thinking on my part, I know.

I think playing an in-state team is a win-win all the way around. First, you already mentioned that it’s a good idea to keep the money in state, as we all know South Carolina’s universities need the cash (Of course this logic could backfire on the smaller schools if you apply fair trade theory to its logical conclusion. Right now, though, it doesn’t look like any other states are following suite by only scheduling in-state schools.) Also, we probably get them at a little bit of a discount since their travel budgets will be much less than that of an out of state team.

Don’t forget that cupcake matchups traditionally aren’t very well attended. Bringing in a Wofford or Furman in this instance puts butts in seats. This is good for our Athletic Department, especially this season when sell outs are going to be hard to come by. Who is going to bring more fans to the game, Wofford or Alcorn State?

As for not including the likes of Coastal Carolina and The Blue Hose, I really have no sympathy for them. As GwinnettGamecock pointed out, it’s not our responsibility to help their program. I actually didn’t know that CCU left the USC system, but I don’t really care about that either. I would rather play an SC State or Wofford because these programs bring something to the table. They have a widely known brand- tradition- pizazz. This may not sound important, but when you’re going over a team’s schedule and you see West Bumble State College, you think less of said team than if you would have seen Wofford or SC State. It doesn’t even matter if those two teams have the same record or even if West Bumble is a better team this year – perception is reality. (By the way, as it currently stands, SC State sits at #14 in the FCS Coaches’ Poll). So if we’re going to schedule a cupcake, let’s get some credit for it, however minimal that credit may be.

Of course we can’t forget the real reason we started scheduling an in-state team every year – threats from idiotic legislators.