The South Carolina Gamecocks football team represents the University of South Carolina in the sport of American football. The Gamecocks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Steve Spurrier is the current head coach, and the team plays its home games at Williams-Brice Stadium, also known as "The Cock Pit". Currently, it is the 20th largest stadium in college football.
South Carolina's SEC tenure has been highlighted by an SEC East title in 2010, Final Top-25 rankings in 2000, 2001, 2010, 2011 and 2012 (AP No. 19, No. 13, No. 22, No. 9 and No. 8), and three wins over Top-5 SEC opponents (No. 4 Ole Miss in 2009, No. 1 Alabama in 2010, and No. 5 Georgia in 2012).
From 1953 through 1970, the Gamecocks played in the Atlantic Coast Conference, winning the 1969 ACC championship and finishing No. 15 in the 1958 final AP poll. From 1971 through 1991, they competed as a major independent, producing 1980 Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers, six bowl appearances, and Final Top-25 rankings in 1984 and 1987 (AP No. 11 and No. 15).
The Gamecocks have produced a National Coach of the Year in Joe Morrison, three SEC coaches of the year in Lou Holtz (2000) and Steve Spurrier (2005, 2010), and one ACC coach of the year in Paul Dietzel (1969). They also have three members of the College Football Hall of Fame in Rogers, Holtz and Spurrier. Carolina has 18 bowl appearances, with a 6-12 record.
Read more about South Carolina Gamecocks Football: Current Coaching Staff, Primary Rivalry, Secondary Rivalries, Bowl Games, Program Achievements, Award Winners, College Football Hall of Famers, George Rogers Wins The Heisman, Syvelle Newton Joins The "600 Club", Gamecock Traditions, Logos and Uniforms, Gamecocks in The NFL, Future Non-conference Opponents
Famous quotes containing the words south, carolina and/or football:
“The South is very beautiful but its beauty makes one sad because the lives that people live here, and have lived here, are so ugly.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“I hear ... foreigners, who would boycott an employer if he hired a colored workman, complain of wrong and oppression, of low wages and long hours, clamoring for eight-hour systems ... ah, come with me, I feel like saying, I can show you workingmen’s wrong and workingmen’s toil which, could it speak, would send up a wail that might be heard from the Potomac to the Rio Grande; and should it unite and act, would shake this country from Carolina to California.”
—Anna Julia Cooper (1859–1964)
“You can’t be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airline—it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1993)