The University of South Carolina will face off against unranked Connecticut (7-5) of the Big East Conference in the Papajohns.com Bowl on January 2, 2010 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
It had been thought that the Gamecocks might draw 9-3 Pittsburgh as their opponent in Birmingham, but the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte chose the Panthers to play the North Carolina Tarheels instead … meaning Steve Spurrier‘s squad will play its bowl game against a basketball school.
Could this postseason get any more humiliating for USC?
After failing to get a bid to the bowl game it wanted (the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta), USC has now failed to draw the opponent it wanted (Pitt). Well, unless of course the objective here is to beat an inferior foe solely for the sake of notching a “W” in a bowl game named after a pizza delivery website.
In which case, hat’s off to USC Athletics Director Eric Hyman.
Anyway, USC will receive a $900,000 payout for making the trip … money we’re sure University leaders will immediately try to funnel into failed “economic development” efforts.
Speaking of economic development, USC barely broke even on last year’s trip to the Outback Bowl – selling only 7,200 of its 11,000 ticket allotment. The University had to eat roughly $250,000 in unsold tickets as a result.
Meanwhile, Clemson University – which missed its chance to play in the Orange Bowl after losing to Georgia Tech in the ACC championship game – will settle for a date with the Kentucky Wildcats in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. That game will be played at Nashville’s LP Field on December 27 at 8:30 p.m EST.
It will be a rematch of the 2006 Music City Bowl, in which Kentucky defeated Clemson 28-20.
Clemson is 15-16 in bowl games all-time, and is looking for its first postseason win since defeating Colorado 19-10 in the 2005 Champs Sports Bowl. The Tigers are 0-1 in bowl games under current coach Dabo Swinney.
South Carolina is 4-10 in bowl games, and is looking for its first postseason victory since defeating Houston in the 2006 Liberty Bowl. The Gamecocks are 1-2 in bowl games under Spurrier.
By Big Man December 7, 2009 at 7:22 am
Sic,
Do you have any idea how the money works in bowl games with the SEC? Look that up and you will see USC only gets part of the 900k from this bowl. The SEC is like the NFL in rev sharing with TV and Bowl money.
By Toyota Kawaski December 7, 2009 at 8:20 am
Stay home Fits this year and next
By Liberty For Me December 7, 2009 at 8:26 am
Awesome…I hope there are still tickets available for both of these awesome games….
If either of the SC teams loose..they should not be let back in the state
By Jeffy01 December 7, 2009 at 8:45 am
Womens semi pro bowling on ESPN classic will have a higher rating than the Pizza Bowl.
By twoodsnctigersgotcrapbeatenoutathem December 7, 2009 at 9:04 am
Few remember but for the 1988 Gator Bowl in which the payoff was $2 mil, an audit showed USC netted $90K after feting the players, trustees, and legislators to a week in Fla. Don’t count on more than 2 cents left for economic development.
By CNSYD December 7, 2009 at 9:54 am
LFM, “loose”? Are they tied up or something?
Toyota, you might want to change your handle with all the quality problems surfacing with your slant eyed brand.
By weighing in December 7, 2009 at 10:01 am
To FITS and Twood,
The money goes to the athletics department not the University itself, so spare us the economic development higher ed crap. Big man is correct, it works like a revenue sharing program. And it goes back to the Athletics dept. I’m sure all the other athletes are excited, since this is the biggest money making sport for any school.
Also, Sic, USC was a long long shot at the the Chick Fil A. No real fan ever thought we really had a chance there.
By Toyota Kawaski December 7, 2009 at 10:16 am
CNSTD you might want to reconsider the “mail room boy” as CEO experiment.
By Not Sayin', Just Sayin' December 7, 2009 at 10:49 am
Clemson got screwed, and I hate Taters as much as anyone, but that sucks. No matter how you cut it, four unranked teams will be playing in these bowls. Yay.
By OhNoNotAgain December 7, 2009 at 11:05 am
The Gator Bowl was in 1987.
If it had a seven figure payout, the $2 million was probably divided between the schools in it. $2 million payout back in that day was a TON and probably reserved for the New Year’s Day bowls.
That was New Year’s Eve back then. I remember, because I drowned my sorrows after the game with cheap champagne after while listening to a lounge singer named Fifi McQueen singing “Downtown” in the hotel bar in Jax.
I betcha the Gator Bowl would have loved to have us this year, particularly for this stupid Bowden farewell game.
By joebo December 7, 2009 at 11:34 am
The picture speaks 1000 words…
By ICEMAN December 7, 2009 at 11:51 am
Orange Bowl to Music City. My how the tigers have fallen
By joe morrison December 7, 2009 at 1:00 pm
i’m thrilled by the bowl bid. first of all, its a january bowl. second, its a game we should win. i was hoping for a crappy bowl game against an opponent we should throttle, instead of pitt or vatech. we have 4 bowl wins all time. the most prestigious is the freakin outback bowl. the first ever bowl we won was the carquest bowl. so ill take another bowl win however we can get it. gamecocks 52- huskies 17.
P.s. this site’s attitude towards carolina football seems completely out of touch with any kind of reality LOL. we have zero tradition,no accomplishments to speak of whatsoever. we are historically dominated by clemson and our all time sec win percentage against georgia, florida, and tennessee is maybe 10%. and we lost 2 out of 3 against vandy and were lucky to win that game this year. on the up note we played competitively against ga, fla, and bama this year and the fact is, we’d probably beat BCS teams cincinnati, tcu and boise state.
By CNSYD December 7, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Toyota, we will reconsider Dabo if his record at Clemson ever sinks to the record SOS has at USC. BTW I was driving back from Tampa yesterday and missed the Clemson-USC basketball game. Anyone know how that turned out?
By Mr. Bright Side December 7, 2009 at 11:37 pm
The ONLY good thing about the Gamecocks bowl bid is that it does give them a full month of practice time to get some of the underclassmen more reps in preparation for next year. Better to play in a late crappy bowl than an early one. It can’t hurt.
Although it does increase the probability of at least three Gamecock players getting into barroom brawls in Five Points by 38%.
By "It Kids" DFHS December 8, 2009 at 8:38 am
34-17
By Toyota Kawaski December 8, 2009 at 1:41 pm
CNSTD you are a typicall university of clemson shemale who loves to pull out the past when you get the dogsnoot beat out of ya so here is one go check the overall basketball record and let me know how that is.Of course 6 straight moves ya closer.
By CNSYD December 8, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Toyota the Jap, you cocksuckers always say the past does not matter, unless of course it is an argument you want to use. So what will it be history or no history? You can’t pick and choose.