South Carolina football: Gamecocks need to continue ACC rivalries
By Jacob Elsey
South Carolina football needs to go back to ACC roots to improve as a program.
The South Carolina football program announced this morning that it has scheduled two future matchups with ACC foe North Carolina State. The meetings are slated to take place in 2030 and 2031, with each team hosting one game at its home stadium.
NC State becomes the fifth ACC opponent to be featured on a Gamecocks’ future schedule, joining in-state rival Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech. All of these meetings will be played between 2021 and 2037.
Renewing these ACC matchups is important on many levels, as the meetings revive old rivalries, impact recruiting, and provide the fanbase with high profile viewing entertainment.
Despite playing in the vaunted SEC, continuously scheduling ACC foes can help the Gamecocks take the next step as a program. Here’s why.
TRADITION
Outside of Georgia, South Carolina’s most played opponents all hail from the ACC. The Gamecocks have played teams like North Carolina, Wake Forest, and Duke more than they have Tennessee, Florida, or Kentucky.
These rivalries go back to the creation of the Atlantic Coast Conference, as South Carolina was one of the league’s founding members in 1953. The Gamecocks’ only conference title came as a member of the ACC in 1969, and they had a 1965 title taken away by the league for admissions issues.
The Gamecocks left the conference in 1971 with some bad blood, but most have buried that hatchet over the last 50 years.