Nothing At Stake In Columbia Saturday? Hardly

Wednesday, Nov. 03, 2010

Morris: Nothing at stake vs. Hogs? Hardly

Ron Morris
The State Columnist

A LITTLE-KNOWN fact that should quell all this nonsense that South Carolina’s game against Arkansas on Saturday is meaningless: A USC win would clinch a share of the SEC East Division championship.

A championship trophy will be awarded to USC if the Gamecocks tie Florida for first place, according to SEC officials. That is because the SEC declares teams that tie for first place co-champions.

Tiebreakers are not used by the league to determine champions. They are used only to designate which team will represent a division in the championship game.



South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier looks up toward the scoreboard after a touchdown and extra point during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Tennessee at Williams Brice Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010, in Columbia, SC.

- Rich Glickstein /AP Photo

As a result, with a win over Arkansas, the Gamecocks will have a share of the championship clinched when they play at Florida in two weeks for the chance to win the East outright and play in the championship game.

So it comes down to USC recognizing a championship is at stake against Arkansas. For a program that can count its football championships on any finger, even sharing a title should be celebrated.

Order championship rings. Prepare a sign — “2010 SEC East Division champions” — to hang at Williams-Brice Stadium, where there is plenty of space to honor team accomplishments.

Sharing a title might not mean much at Florida, Georgia, Alabama or Tennessee, where they build rooms to house their football hardware, but at USC it should be a huge deal.

Of course, there is any number of other reasons a win over Arkansas is big for USC, which Steve Spurrier recognized Tuesday during his weekly meeting with the media.

“This game has tremendous importance,” Spurrier said. “Even winning eight, nine games in a season is miraculous, as you guys know. We’ve got a lot to play for every week.”

Spurrier’s use of the word “miraculous” might be a bit of a stretch, but “mind-blowing,” “astonishing,” “astounding” and “phenomenal” might fit if USC can extend its 6-2 season to eight, nine or 10 wins.

A win over Arkansas would be the next step toward USC reaching eight wins in a season for the eighth time, nine wins for the second time or 10 wins for the second time. Now, to sweep the remaining four regular-season games, win the SEC championship game and capture a BCS bowl-game victory would be, yes, miraculous.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Beyond attempting to clinch a share of the East, USC needs a win over Arkansas to complete an unbeaten and untied season at home.

No big deal, you say? Consider that USC has accomplished that feat only seven times previously. The Gamecocks could match the 1979, ’80 and ’87 teams with seven wins without a loss at home.

“For our guys to beat Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee in the same year right here at Williams-Brice is pretty neat, and we’ll see if we can finish it off trying to win seven home games this year,” Spurrier said.

Spurrier said that was the message he delivered to his team Monday, and it appears to have gotten through.

“Every game counts,” senior Patrick DiMarco said. “Even Troy and Clemson, the games that don’t matter in the SEC race, we want to go out there and win just for ourselves.

“We want to do things that have never been done before at the University of South Carolina. Winning 10 or 11 games, that’s a huge year, and we can definitely build the program up. So every game is important.”

Finally, USC needs a win over Arkansas as it continues to jockey for position in the bowl parade. Lest we forget, USC was 6-2 in 2007, lost its final four games and did not play in a bowl game. A season ago, the Gamecocks were 6-2 and dropped all the way to the Papajohns.com Bowl.

USC still can set its sights on a BCS bowl game or a Sugar Bowl appearance. A more realistic opportunity exists for USC to play in the Capital One, Outback, Chick-fil-A or Gator bowls. Any of those bowls would be great reward for an outstanding season.

But nothing would match winning the SEC East Division championship. At least a share of that title comes with a victory over Arkansas on Saturday. That alone makes it a meaningful game.