South Carolina is scheduled to end the season at home against rival Clemson at noon on November 28, but not if one Gamecocks fan can help it.
Jay Selesky of Columbia, South Carolina has started on online petition to push back the start time of the rivalry game against the top-ranked Tigers because, quite frankly, South Carolina has played enough noon games this season.
“Noon games can be fun every once in a while, but not for more than half of the season,” Selesky writes on the petition’s website. “They leave less time for tailgating before the game, most college students are tired from getting up early to make the most out of tailgating, and the atmosphere of a [mid-day] game isn’t nearly what it can be during an afternoon game or night game.”
These are all valid points, but we all know none of that gets televised by the networks that shell out the big bucks to air games. Seleseky’s goal is to have the game moved back to the middle of the afternoon or early evening. South Carolina has had six games scheduled for a noon kickoff, including this weekend’s game against The Citadel and next week’s game against Clemson. Games against UCF, Missouri, Texas A&M and Florida were all scheduled for noon kicks as well. The noon timeslot has typically served as the appetizer for the rest of the day’s action and rarely features top matchups. South Carolina’s struggles this season have contributed in part to the plethora of noon kicks in Columbia.
“The Carolina-Clemson rivalry is one the most passionate rivalries in all of college football and giving the Gamecocks a noon game in their undeniably most important game of the year takes away the one thing that Gamecocks need the most right now,” Selesky states.
