Stretch will likely define season, starting in Starkville on Saturday
On Nov. 16, 1869, intercollegiate football was born in New Brunswick, N.J., when a team of 25 male students at Rutgers College hosted an equal number of counterparts from the nearby College of New Jersey in front of an estimated crowd of 100 spectators at 3 p.m. on a campus field.
The Rutgers team won the game 6-4, and understandably so. Since Rutgers was the host team, it established the rules the game was played under.
About a week later, Rutgers trekked roughly 20 miles to Princeton, N.J., and the College of New Jersey's campus for a rematch. Keen to the situation, the College of New Jersey decided it would now set the rules of competition, and did. The outcome also changed. The College of New Jersey — now known as Princeton — won the second game 8-0.
A third game between the two was planned for a unknown location, but professors at both schools protested it, eventually winning its cancellation and bringing an abrupt end to college football's inaugural season. But a maxim of the game, and of athletics in general, was clearly defined: Winning on the road is hard.
South Carolina hopes it can defy that standard over the next four weeks, as it faces three straight "true" road games in Southeastern Conference play starting with Saturday's trip to Mississippi State. It is a stretch that will likely define the Gamecocks' season and decide whether they return to Atlanta to play in their second straight SEC Championship Game as Eastern Division champions.
"I look at it as the hardest part of the season, coming up right now," said linebacker Quin Smith. He's probably right. There's precedence for what the Gamecocks are about to embark on, but not much. Since the SEC expanded to 12 members in 1992, only seven teams have played three consecutive "true" conference road games in a single season. USC will be the eighth.
But there is something USC can take solace in. Three of the seven teams — Florida in 1995, Alabama in 1996 and Georgia in 2005 — went on to win division titles, with UF and UGA winning the SEC Championship. Linebacker Reginald Bowens said he feels the time away from the friendly confines of Williams-Brice Stadium can help the Gamecocks reach the level of such teams.
"That's part of what makes champions," said Bowens of the road swing. "It's going to be a hard road trip, but the way we react to it is really going to show our season, how good we can be."
This is the third time in coach Steve Spurrier's career that his team has played three or more straight road games, and just the second time each game comes against league opponents. In 1987, Spurrier's first year as head coach at Duke, the Blue Devils lost four consecutive road games in the middle of the season. In 1995, Spurrier's Gators went 3-0 on such a stretch, culminating with UF's infamous 52-17 win at Georgia, which marked the first time a visiting team scored 50-plus points at Sanford Stadium in Athens.
Despite the rarity with which such a road stretch occurs, especially in a conference as competitive as the SEC, Spurrier said he wasn't upset or concerned when USC's schedule came out in the preseason.
"I never worry about the schedule," Spurrier said. "It is what it is. You play them one at a time. Here, there, Charlotte, wherever."
Smith said that at first, the Gamecocks looked at this part of the schedule with some trepidation. But now as they prepare to face MSU to begin the stretch, he said, they "look at it as more of a challenge."
"Just get out there and do it," Smith said. "We've heard it's a pretty hard place to play in."
Davis Wade Stadium, which seats just over 55,000, is the second-smallest stadium in the SEC — only Vanderbilt Stadium is smaller. But it has a reputation as one of the more hostile environments in the league for one reason. Well, one object.
The cowbell.
Noisemakers have been banned from league stadiums per SEC bylaws since the 1970s. The rule has even ended the traditional usage of the famed rooster call inside Williams-Brice during conference games. But the regulation has never done much for the fair people of Starkville. Cowbells have been a staple at MSU sporting events, especially football, since prior to World War II. As a result, Bulldog fans have long smuggled the illegal items into games.
This reality forced the SEC to amend its bylaws in 2010 on a trial run, allowing MSU fans to bring cowbells into the stadium as long as they agreed to only ring them at appropriate times. The measure worked, for the most part, and it was extended this spring at the league meetings in Destin, Fla.
Spurrier said he doesn't "think the crowd noise will affect [USC] too much" and that he isn't concerned about the cowbells creating an unfair competitive disadvantage for his team.
"They say it's a tradition there and coach (Dan) Mullen talked to his fans about not ringing them when the other team is at the line of scrimmage," Spurrier said. "So, everybody doesn't worry about it."
Spurrier's players, at least the ones on defense (MSU fans don't ring the bells when their Bulldogs have the ball), say they're somewhat looking forward to the atmosphere.
"I'm going to enjoy the experience," said spur linebacker Antonio Allen. "I know they're going to be ringing them bells."
USC hopes the bells are nothing more than a soundtrack to another victory, and one that would be historic for the Gamecocks. USC has tied a school record with four straight "true" road game wins. A victory in Starkville would set a new program mark, and would serve as Carolina's second on the road in conference play, a boon to the Gamecocks' chances of winning their division. It's rare for a team to make the SEC Championship Game without sustained success on the road.
USC became just the third team in SEC history last fall to win the East with a .500 or worse record in conference road games. The Gamecocks went 2-2 on the road in SEC play last fall, joining Tennessee in 2004 (2-2) and Florida in 1992 (1-2). With a 2-0 start with two more road trips remaining, the Gamecocks would be in position to, at worst, duplicate last fall's SEC road mark.
"It's an SEC run, and we've got to play tough," said defensive tackle Travian Robertson. "Our main goal is to win these games. We got a tough battle ahead of us, but we're prepared for it."
Playing on the road has been difficult for college football teams since the Ulysses S. Grant Administration, and it isn't about to change anytime soon. USC has an extremely tough task ahead of it over the next four weeks, starting with Mississippi State. But the Gamecocks believe they can handle it with "focus and poise" according to Allen.
They also, receiver Alshon Jeffery said, want to handle it at its fullest extent. Jeffery said he hopes the Bulldog fans don't ring their bells too much, but he does want them loud. He's looking forward to it, in fact. Why?
Said Jeffery: "Because I like to cease the crowd."