USC Game cocks

USC Game Cocks

One of the things that I've wanted to do while we're down here is attend a college football game. There are lots of colleges in South Carolina and a good deal of them have football teams. Last weekend we went and saw the Citadel Bull Dogs take on the Furman University Paladins. The kickers in college ball can't kick like the ones you see in the pros, so there are few field goals and lots of 4th down attempts from say the 35 yard line. In the Citadel game the game was tied after regulation time. Ties are decided by alternate opportunities from the 25 yard line. Each team gets the ball and tries to score just like regular play, but when they run out of downs the other team gets a chance. After the first round a 2 point conversion must be attempted on a TD. The Bulldogs and Paladins went 3 rounds. One of Marjorie's colleagues is an alumni from Furman. The Paladins won. Their cheer is FU.

This weekend Marjorie had a conference in Columbia where the USC Gamecock play. They are taking on the Vanderbilt Commodores. There are 2 major college football teams in the state, the USC Gamecocks and the Clemson Tigers. Clemson is near Greenville about another hour or so away from Charleston. Both of these teams have produced NFL stars. Currently, Troy Williamson from USC was drafted in the first round this year by the Minnesota Viking replacing Randy Moss as the long ball threat. Daunte Culpepper the Viking quarterback has already thrown him 2 touchdown passes in this his rookie season.

This year the Gamecocks have acquired coach Steve Spurrier who took the Florida Gators to many winning seasons. However, Spurrier has not been able to get the Gamecocks in stride this year and the lowly Vanderbilt Commodores are surging which makes for a great game.