The University of South Carolina football team slipped out of the Bowl Championship Series’ Top Ten this week after an underwhelming victory over unranked Florida – falling one spot to No. 11.
Meanwhile Clemson University climbed from No. 8 to No. 7 following its 55-31 evisceration of unranked Georgia Tech.
The Gamecocks (8-2, 6-2 SEC) will host in-state FCS foe Coastal Carolina this weekend – the first-ever meeting between the two programs – while Clemson (9-1, 7-1 ACC) welcomes in-state FCS rival The Citadel.
After that? It’s on … namely the 110th installment of Carolina-Clemson, in which Steve Spurrier’s squad looks to win five straight over the Tigers for the first time in the history of the series.
Right now that’s looking like a tall order, though …
After getting blown out by then-No. 5 Florida State last month, Clemson has been on a roll – putting up 154 points and amassing 1,701 yards over its last three games. And before anyone starts talking trash about the Tigers padding their stats against weak ACC schools, Clemson has won three of its last four games against the mighty Southeastern Conference.
Speaking of the SEC, two-time defending national champion Alabama remained atop the BCS standings followed by No. 2 Florida State. On the outside looking in? Ohio State and Baylor – both of whom are also undefeated this year.
This is the final year of the BCS – the controversial computer system created in 1998 to provide fans with a “true national championship game.”
Next year, a four-team playoff format will commence within the existing bowl structure – with six bowls (Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose and Sugar) alternating as sites for the semi-final games.
BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES STANDINGS (November 17)
1. Alabama .9914
2. Florida State .9661
3. Ohio State .8869
4. Baylor .8856
5. Oregon .7917
6. Auburn .7860
7. Clemson .7681
8. Missouri .7231
9. Stanford .6238
10. Oklahoma State .5890
11. South Carolina .5883
12 Texas A&M .5394
13. Michigan State .4646
14. UCLA .4615
15. Fresno State .4134
16. Northern Illinois .3729
17. Arizona State .3414
18. UCF .3033
19. Wisconsin .2907
20. Oklahoma .2760
21. Louisville .2664
22. LSU .2645
23. USC .1070
24. Ole Miss .1048
25. Minnesota .0604
17 comments
Why do these teams schedule patsies this late into the season? Will Williams Brice “sell out” again, even though the entire upper deck will be empty? Will the student section even bother showing up?
What team do you root for again? You say you are not a Clemson fan, but never say anything bad about them. When a post appears about a Clemson loss, you reference a past Gamecock player’s suicide. You know more about the day to day activities of the Gamecocks than most of their fans. So if you are not a Tigers fan (which is nothing to be ashamed of), whom do you root for and why do you hate the Gamecocks?
Probably just a troll, bro.
Or a brother troll, eh smirks?
I’ve been called worse.
That’s because I find Clemson fans a lot more tolerable than Gamecock fans.
YES!! Ain’t that the truth.
SOUTH CAROLINA SLIPS, CLEMSON RISES
As it should…
That’s because I find Clemson fans a lot more tolerable than Gamecock fans.
No argument from TBG.
It will not be five straight wins. It’s over, Cocks.
You and Dabo better hope not. I’m not foolish enough to tell you what is going to happen but I’m cautiously optimistic that USC wind that game, primarily based on the play on the line of scrimmage. Each of the past two years Clemson has flown high in the season and blown out lesser opponents — only to be brought back to reality by the Cocks.
“Win” that is
Speaking of lesser teams, WTF happen last week? That should have been a blow out, but hell no, Shaw was throwing like a girl.
It looked to me as if the Fla defense was changing the weighting of their line every play. They did a lot of substitution on the defensive line – all of them pretty good Freshmen. Many times, those Freshmen were making it into the Gamecock secondary. Add that to the fact that they were playing an impressive man-to-man, and that Shaw was ignoring his secondary targets, again, he waited too long to throw.
Of course, I could be wrong.
It’s still Florida, with the top defense in the SEC. We aren’t talking about Wake or UVA. Florida has great athletes but questionable coaching. Sort of like Auburn last year.
Keep pumping that sunshine OGOB.
I agree. While Clemson is definitely SEC quality, it must be remembered that on any given day, any SEC team can beat any other SEC team. My perpetual prediction for any Carolina-Clemson games is: “Clemson will win if they can – Carolina will win if they want to.”
A four-team playoff format?! Everybody’s gonna end up end up in the hospital,and the cheerleaders will have to play…