While some of the reasoning in this post over at Saturday Down South is a little silly – Georgia isn’t talking more about South Carolina than Florida in preseason pressers right now because of the passion of the rivalry, but because it’s the second game of the season – I don’t deny that the series has gotten more heated and that Spurrier is the major cause for that, both because he’s an ass and because he’s raised the play of the program.
But I look at this series the same way I did the one with Tennessee from ’92 until Fulmer left. It became a big deal because the division title was in play (okay, not every year, but work with me here, peeps). Fulmer’s personality added some zest to the recipe, but I’d never put the UT rivalry on the same pedestal with Florida or Auburn, even though they’re all conference rivals. The same goes for South Carolina. And the thing is, besides Spurrier, South Carolina’s never really had others who’ve irritated me like some of the Vols have over the years. (Before you go there, Garcia was comic relief.)
So I can’t call this one “sexy”, really. How do you guys feel about it?
Get The Picture 
Sexy… until their 68 year old coach hangs it up.
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Yeah, that’s what I think. Once he’s gone they’ll be back in MIssissippi State territory.
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There’s nuthin sexy about South Cakalacky….
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I’ll have to disagree. Their coeds are some of my favorites to drink with. Probably the least uppity chicks in the sec, and not near as gross as the LSU and Florida girls. Actually had a good time hanging with them Downtown two years ago, despite the outcome of the game.
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Agreed.
USC is nothing more than an irritant at best. They have a two year winning streak against us and all of a sudden they become our heated rival? Don’t think so.
As much as I detest Spurrier my hate for the burners, nerds, and lizards eclipses him by miles.
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Check that. It’s three in a row and four of the last six. #cockenvy
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Or 4 out the last 11. 🙂
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That’s better. I’m looking at 46-17-2 for the series. Which makes it slightly sexier that Vandy – unless Coach Franklin actually trades blows with Grantham after the game this Fall.
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South Carolina is too nouve riche to be to a serious rival. They’re about to remember was Pre-Lattimore life felt like. Still is one of the games that I look forward to most.
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If you can’t spell nouveau riche, you’re nouveau riche…
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The day Spurrier signed on as coach I began to hate USCe. He automatically increased their dislike factor by 10000%. For now only FU is above them on the hated list, even Auburn is lower.
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Disagree. I have Auburn at a solid two based on 2005 and 2010 alone.
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“Sexy”?? Annoying is a better description.
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Agreed, SC is a pain but not heated like UF or Auburn.
UT is a big game even before ’92 when UGA and UT rarely played as the program has a winning tradition. Like the Vols or not they were the 2nd winningest SEC program. However, it was never as heated as UF, Auburn or even Clemson. They may have passed Clemson but I still don’t have as much fire for UT.
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UT was just in division, beat the hell out of us for years, then it was a big deal when we beat them, then it was just a huge game because they were still one of the best teams in the country but we knew we could beat them, and now they suck and its sort of got some recent history of being big but its really now just a game that makes us nervous because they have beaten us a time or two since they’ve sucked.
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I can think of a couple of games I’d trade to have won vs. them in ’04 and ’07. We’ve probably got at least one national title save for UT (in the post-Hobnail Boot Era).
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I came to UGA in the later half of the 1990s without a ton of historical perspective on UGA and its rivals. What was presented before me at the time was a UT team that had kicked our butts like 9 years in a row and was clearly a roadblock for us to become championship contenders. It felt like UT was just as much of an important, or sexy, or stomach butterflies-inducing, or rivalry game as Florida (who we’d finally beaten in 1997) or Tech (who we’d had so many ill-fated games with in the late 90s). The UT game meant so much to our program that we stormed the field when we finally beat them. This introduction to UT still affects my feelings on that rivalry game to this day. In much the same way, my introduction to USC’s program was that they were a dumpster fire and it was an indictment of major problems within our program when we lost to them. In the same mold, I don’t think we should underestimate the importance of recent history to the players and students who have only known USC’s program as the one who’s beaten us 3 in a row, has won the East, and has star players and a coach that everyone hates. It’s hard for us to imagine USC on the same level as the other schools we grew up hating, but probably not so for the most recent generation.
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+1. For me the UGA-UT game was as big a game as the WLOCP. In fact I still hate UT more than FU which is really saying something. If we keep losing to USCe that one will, as you say Ruteger, become more of a heated rivalry for the young folks and, if they win enough, for the older folks, too.
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I don’t think he’s wrong. Hard to feign indifference to someone you’ve played 65 times. What makes it not a rivalry is the historic uncompetitiveness of it. But that’s changed, and not just due to the past three years. Really, since the early ’90s, they’ve been winning at a better clip than they were previously. And, of course, even when we’ve been beating them, we haven’t been blowing them out (2003 excepted).
And let’s not sell the chickens short – they’ve had some characters: Tanneyhill, Cory Boyd, Holtz and, um, their fans, who, as any Georgia fan who’s lived in Charleston, Augusta, Savannah, Greenville, Charlotte or Columbia will tell you, spare no antagonism when it comes to Georgia fans. I grew up in Columbus, so I hates me some Auburn, but my biggest fiasco as a visiting fan (outside of Bobby Dodd in the early ’80s) was in Billy-Brice during the 1998 game.
But, back to the present, they just beat us absolutely senseless the way Florida and Tennessee used to. That, for me, finally laid to rest the old narrative that Georgia being a rival to South Carolina but not vice-versa. Those bastards have my full attention.
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The thing with the South Carolina “rivalry” is that they hate us WAY WAY WAY more than we hate them. We are easily their second biggest game every year (Clemson), while they are at best our 4th biggest (Florida, Tech and Auburn). Obviously that has changed some in recent years given the Cocks’ success but make no mistake they absolutely despise us and we just view them as a petty annoyance for the most part.
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I’d have to say 5th biggest. I’d put Tech, Florida, Auburn, and UT (that’s in order, by the way) ahead of them. Agreed on the fact that we are a much bigger deal for them than they are for us.
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The problem with rating Tech is I hating getting beat more than I like winning over them.
But agree on your post. They do get full of themelves especially for a program who has 1 Conf. title in the ACC and 1 SEC CG appearance.
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I’ve always said that the team I want to beat the most is Florida and the team I want to lose to least is Tech.
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Traditionally we own them , SOS for sure made them better and he is good for the game.
First game of the year (SEC) helps too, still way velow UF AU and GT on the rival scale.
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I think that it has been to South Carolina’s advantage that we are their biggest sec rival while they are down the list for us. They consistently play their best game of the year against us while we treat it like just another game. If we want to take back the series we need to make that game matter on an emotional level because relying on a talent gap isn’t going to cut it any longer. I agree that there isn’t the hostility there that drives other series’ intensity but we’d better find it. Hopefully 3 straight losses will be all the “juice” we’ll need.
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Agreed. We are near the top of their list, hence their tendency to lay an egg later in the season after playing us.
They should have our full attention, though they’ll never top Tech, Florida, Auburn or even Tennessee on my rivals list.
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What you said, Russ. One also must recognize that some of the all time great Munsonisms came out of UT games, including 2 of the most unforgettable (do I need to point them out?), which is always a point in favor of establishing rivalry-dom. The only one I can recall v. SC is maybe the Pollack TD, and the play was more classic than the call.
But we do need to beat these guys–4 in a row would be intolerable.
Finally, I would like to compliment all the denizens of this page for stoutly resisting the urge to juxtapose “sexy” and “beating those ‘Cocks” in the same sentence. You are obviously all better people than yours truly.
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This
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^^^. What Tommy said. But, since I live in Florida with all the jort wearers, UF is my biggest rival and always will be.
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It’s always going to be an important game. Sometimes it will be critical. It has frequently been sloppy and rarely have games been one-sided, last year being a very painful exception. Sexy, though? No.
Sexiness doesn’t arise from just having a coach that knows how to bust the other coach’s chops. It doesn’t come from a team finally beginning to emerge from the shadow of the “Chicken Curse” by suddenly becoming relevant on the national scene for a couple years. And it sure doesn’t come from having precisely ONE division championship and ZERO conference championships in football.
For the rivalry to be “sexy” would require something like the 15-20 year cycle of domination between Georgia and Florida with the Chickens going on to win multiple conference championships in the years they beat Georgia.
South Carolina is a rock in your shoe. Whether it’s a smooth pebble that annoys or a sharp stone that wounds you…there’s nothing sexy about it.
May it never be so.
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They’re not a rival. They’re an annual foe.
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Maybe if they recruited a player named Carlos Danger – XXX rated by Ribalds Scouting. 😉
Joking aside, I do want to beat them this year. We don’t need to trip over them on the way to Alanner
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Prob don’t want to know how I feel about it, honestly.
Spurrier owns our soul. I chalk it up as a loss every year now. I’ll really be surprised if/when we beat them. Basically, I consider them the Florida of the 90s.
Goddamn Spurrier.
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WHHOOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH! I thought all the Eeyore Dawgs had been rescued and received their vaccinations. How did we miss you? 😉
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You said it AHD! Dude, who the hell are you? SOS is no match for CMR. You hear me! CMR should not to be labeled evil in any sense of the word. He has a human side that is tempting him towards evil. However, he is like Paul…It is just a sticky little thorn in his side. CMR always has control of that!
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Except without having a heisman winner, conference championships, or a national title like the 90’s gators.
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You clearly missed my point and are possibly in denial.
I don’t think our kids expect to win the game. Coaches too.
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I have never watched a GA/USCe game expecting to lose.
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@ 1. Castleberry, August 1, 2013 at 10:50 AM
“Sexy… until their 68 year old coach hangs it up.”
Recorded live from the Siegfried & Roy Secret Garden and Gamecock Habitat recording studio at the Whitney, Spurrier is too sexy for his shirt
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Temporary irritant due to SOS…not a rival.
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Anybody that thinks this program falls back down when Spurrier leaves hasn’t been paying attention to their overall athletic program and it’s improved stature across the board over the past several years. Like all programs (see Georgia under Goff, Donnan, among others), you’re only as good as your coach. But don’t go expecting them to return to the South Carolina of 20+ years ago just because that’s who they were. They aren’t that school anymore, and are a far cry from that athletic department.
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You make a good point, Senor. USCe has greatly benefited in recruiting not just in football but in all sports as a direct result of becoming a member of the SEC, IMHO. See their baseball program as an example.
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Meh… it hasn’t been 20 years since Holtz was at uSC…. less than a decade actually. He did manage to leave them not unlike he left the ND—– under probation.
Since Holtz was punted to the tv screen….
Spurrier is 2005 7-5,8-5,7-6,7-6,9-5(5-3 Sec and wins SEC East),11-2,11-2. Is this a dynasty, that will sustain itself after Spurrier leaves? I don’t know . He certainly isn’t drawing those Offensive game plans up with a crayon. Brilliant tactician.
As for the USC baseball program ….. it was a winner long before SOS arrived to revive the football program. “After decades of lackluster performance on the diamond, South Carolina’s fortunes quickly changed with the hiring of former New York Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson in 1970. Since then, the Gamecocks have been regular NCAA Tournament participants, making 29 Regionals and ten College World Series appearances. Carolina owns a 32-18 all-time record at the College World Series and is 126-57 in NCAA Tournament play. Carolina holds the NCAA Tournament record of 22 consecutive wins, and the CWS record of 12 consecutive wins”
At the end of the day SOS has made a huge difference in the SEC both at Florida and USC. When he is gone it will hurt USC. What’s the likely hood that another Urban Meyer type success shows up to replace him and continue?
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“What’s the likelihood that another Urban Meyer type success shows up to replace him and continue?”
That was easy. Zooker is to Spurrier as Butch Jones is to Brian Kelly
http://bustedcoverage.com/2013/07/16/ron-zook-works-at-a-bank-photo/
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Irritant because SOS is temporary. Regardless of post Visor success, they have a long way to go to reach “rival” status IMHO. Being an SEC East foe like UT, Vandy, KY, Ole Miss, Missouri…yes. But not “rival”. In fact, I suspect UT, Missouri and USCe will rotate the “big division foe game” slot other than Florida based on those programs’ ups & downs.
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Let’s just beat them this year. Ranking rivals is fun but we are the hunted in this matchup. The chickens have fried us two of the last three, and we gacked one up during their highlight reel show in Athens.
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I think “sexy” is good description. It means it’s hot rivalry now, but not meant to last. I’m not talking about this game just because it’s one of the first ones. Remember how exciting this game seemed before we played them last year? It’s going to be the same this year. We’re both in the top 10. This is a big deal, for now at least.
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I don’t see the Chickens sustaining the level of success they’ve had recently. Just getting SOS was a huge coup. I think most SEC fans didn’t think it could, would or should, happen. But it did.
I think if Grannie had retired after ’02, Skip would’ve been their coach.
Recall that when they hired Lou he was going to keep the seat warm while Skip Holtz got acclimated with big boy football and then Grannie Lou was to retire. Unfortunately for Skip, Grannie Lou held on for one too many seasons until he had to demote his own son to protect his job. A year later Grannie retired and Darth Visor was looking for a gig and a golf membership at Augusta. Skip skipped town zippity quick when he was about to be fired.
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Bottom line in my mind; including the past three years, South Carolina has beaten us 5 more times than Kentucky has.
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I think Blutarsky just out-Spurriered Spurrier by making a direct comparison of the OBC and Phil Fulmer.
That’s some next level stuff there, good sir.
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Let’s not kid ourselves, either. We straight up gave them two of those games. The one last year was obviously a bloodbath. But two years ago in Athens, we gave up a defensive TD, a Special Teams TD, and gave them the ball inside our 25 twice. And lost by 3.
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This whole ranking the rivalries exercise goes both ways. The Florida fans of my era (turn of the millennium) counted us third or fourth on the rivalry scale, behind Tennessee, FSU, and maybe even LSU. We may have moved up the ladder recently, but it seems many Georgia fans were unaware of the nonchalance of gator fans toward UGA.
Every matchup certainly has its own personality. For me, South Carolina was always expected to be a hardfought close game, regardless of the relative talent on the teams. I had a great deal of respect for their fans’ loyalty despite their product being remarkably lousy, outside of the solid efforts put forth against us. Since leaving college, one particularly bad loss in this series cost us a spot in the SECCG and most likely the BCSCG in 2007. Couple that with the offensive heckling of a buddy’s wife as we exited the thrashing last year in Columbia, and they have moved out of my respect zone and into my hate spectrum. Alls I know is at least for a few afternoon hours on 9/7, the Cocks are my number one and only rival.
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I must hang out in a alternate Jacksonville.
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Perhaps I should clarify, that to be Florida “students” from the millennium era. I believe Spencer Hall would agree with me. Similar to what Ruteger said above, rivalry rankings are often a function of when you were introduced to fandom (and also a function of geography, ie Columbus Dawgs hating Auburn more, Dalton Dawgs hating Tennessee more, etc.).
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I would agree with that assessment and add that most Flarduh “students” are not the Ole Florida Crackers but the children of northern transplants with no ties to the flagship school until they enroll as 18 year olds.
Georgia has a fair amount of that too but the monolithic Dawg culture in Georgia seeps down to transplants faster than in the Sunshine State where there are 3 schools with huge followings.
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Those alternate places are a trip. Like Birmingham ALABAMA.
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Sexy is a big word. Rivalry, definitely since South Carolina has finally decided to devote themselves to something beyond mediocrity. Sexy? Not yet.
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Sexy? Well, there was the little Native American stunner from SC I met at the Pike house in ’79…
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South Carolina is the new Tennessee. Only, they don’t have any SEC or National Titles.
Gotta give em props, they’ve turned the series. We’re chasing them now after 3 losses in a row. It’s a “gotta have” game in ’13. Esp. b/c of #schedulememe
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Please GOD, hear our prayer. You said you would give us the desires of our hearts. This is the desire of the heart of the BULLDAWG NATION. We will be obedient to your commands as you ask.
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Losing 3 in a row is what is fueling this. Start beating them and we won’t feel the same. Agreed, pretty much the same as UTK.
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It is flattering that everybody always wants to claim that there is a rivalry going on with Georgia.
The reality is that, while most schools have one rival, we have three: Tech, Auburn, and Florida. The rest (So. Car, Clemson, UT) are pretty far away from achieving rivalry status.
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Maybe I’m not objective because I was born in Columbia (still think the city’s a dump, though I do love me some Lizard’s Thicket), but I think the rivalry is coming on strong now that there’s balance and we’ve been in the same conference for a while.
I must say I have some trouble hating South Cackalacky fans. I admire them for their loyalty through so many bad seasons, and don’t believe they have the offensive smack-talking swagger of people from The Barn or UF or even UT, despite the attitude issues of their coach and some recent players. I was at the game two years ago, and mostly sensed relief, not braggadocio, from the Gamecock fans around me as I left the stadium.
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