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Morris: 'Rivalry' borders on irrelevant for UGA
Posted on 09.12.08
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SOUTH CAROLINA AND its fans can talk all they want about a rivalry with Georgia. Sorry, folks, it is not there.
Saturday’s game at Williams-Brice Stadium might be the biggest conference game on USC’s schedule this and every season. Rest assured, it is just another conference game on Georgia’s slate.
You cannot have a full-fledged, hate-filled, bragging-rights rivalry when only one side is a willing participant.
USC-Clemson established long ago that it is a fierce rivalry. There is equal parts dislike by opposing sides for the garnet and orange. From Big Thursday to the ugly brawl of 2004, the rivalry has endured and flourished.
Football programs generally establish secondary rivalries, particularly those programs whose closest rival does not compete in the same conference. Florida and Florida State long ago established an instate rivalry. Florida also takes on Georgia, Tennessee and Miami as secondary rivals. Florida State counts Miami as a rival.
Georgia and Georgia Tech have been at each other’s throats for decades. Georgia Tech also counts Clemson among its rivals. Georgia, meanwhile, has established rivalries within the SEC against Florida, Tennessee and Auburn. South Carolina falls way down the list.
For USC, finding that secondary rival has been as difficult as establishing a consistent winner. Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State served the purpose when USC was a member of the ACC. In the three decades since, as USC bounced from conference independency to member of the SEC, no rivalry has been born.
There was every reason to believe that when Steve Spurrier came on board he could spark enough dislike between USC and Georgia to jump-start some sort of border war. Spurrier’s distaste for Georgia dates to his playing days at Florida, when the Bulldogs kept his Gators from winning an SEC championship.
When Spurrier became coach at Florida, he quickly made it known that beating Georgia was a high priority. Far too many times, he pointed out, a Georgia victory against Florida stood in the way of SEC supremacy for the Gators.
Once Spurrier got it rolling and began winning SEC championships with regularity, he gained a measure of swagger by poking fun at Georgia.
After Florida defeated Georgia 45-13 in 1991, Spurrier quipped: “Why is it during recruiting season they sign all the great players, but when it comes time to play the game, we have all the great players? I don’t understand that. What happens to them?”
Then, in 1995, when Florida played a rare game in Athens, Ga., — the game usually is played in Jacksonville, Fla., — Spurrier’s Gators pushed in a late touchdown for a 52-17 victory.
“We knew coming in nobody had scored fifty against them here, so that’s what we wanted to do,” Spurrier said. “This may be the only time in our lifetime that Florida plays here, so we wanted to make it memorable for the Gators.”
That is how you spice up a rivalry.
Perhaps it is because Spurrier has been humbled somewhat in four seasons at USC. Perhaps he has mellowed with age. Perhaps his swagger was chiseled away when USC lost its last five games last season.
Whatever the reason, Spurrier was not biting earlier this week when prodded about whether his dislike for Georgia has carried over to coaching in Columbia.
“No, not really,” he said. “We need to get into (SEC championship) contention before we start figuring out who’s our biggest opponent.”
There is one aspect of USC playing Georgia that at least counts toward making this annual game a rivalry: proximity. The schools are located less than 200 miles apart. USC’s roster is dotted with 19 players from Georgia, and Georgia has four South Carolinians on its roster.
“Since we’re so close, because some of the coaches have recruited the same players, you know the guys who are going against you. You know it’s going to be a good team you’re playing,” said Garrett Anderson, USC’s starting center.
“It’s a border rivalry, almost like Carolina-Clemson,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s to that caliber, but I think it could be.”
For USC-Georgia to attain rivalry status, USC must begin to consistently win more games like the one on Saturday. Then maybe Spurrier will start popping off about Georgia. Perhaps USC will climb over Auburn or Tennessee on Georgia’s rivalry list.
Then we might have a real rivalry.
Listen to Morris on Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM.
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