SCGamecock
Carolina Sandlapper
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2015
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We need to improve our recruiting west of the Mississippi. I'm all for playing Pac-12 schools yearly.. it's also a different 'style' of ball that I enjoy seeing SEC schools go up against. I know it's hard getting players to come all the way east for programs not named UConn, but it's worth a shot.SC and UConn is a big game but not a rivalry. Like someone else mentioned it is a measuring stick game. Mississippi State was becoming a rivalry but this year game did not really feel like it. So it was probably inflated due to the vocal fan base. Dawn and Vic seemed to like each other and Vic was always gracious to SC. Tennessee should be the natural rivalry game since we supplanted them from the top. However they have been dwindling in the middle of the conference since SC rise to power. Since we play UConn every year it may one day become a rivalry. I would love to play Baylor every year but they like to pick and choose when they play you. Dawn hinted at awhile go trying to schedule Baylor but they waited after A'ja left to play us for the first time. Maybe it was just a coincidence that it worked out that way.
Our OOC schedule should look similar to this every year:
1. Clemson
2. A North Carolina school (Duke, UNC or NC State now I guess)
3. A Big Ten school (Because we recruit heavily in the midwest, arguably our most important recruiting grounds outside of the southeast) or a school like Louisville or Notre Dame
4. A school west of the Mississippi, even better if it's Pac-12 (In the past we've had home & homes with Stanford, UCLA and USC.. would love to see an Oregon or Oregon State)
5. UConn (may as well continue it, right?)
6. Competitve OOC games against non-P5 schools (Temple, Gonzaga, etc)
Dawn does a really good job with our OOC, and if you look at our schedule for the last 5+ years it mostly reflects what I posted above.