(05-16-2020 12:25 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(05-16-2020 07:12 AM)XLance Wrote:  Are you suggesting that Clemson is a second rate University like Alabama is?
Granted, Clemson is not Carolina or UVa, but they are an anomaly in academic standings.
Clemson is the second state school in South Carolina, like NC State is to Carolina. Clemson is small for a state STEM, about half the size of the Univ. of South Carolina, much harder to get in, but with much better academic status than the State flagship. Only in South Carolina.

I re-looked at the USN&WR rankings and was surprised at how high Clemson was (#70). They're way ahead of Alabama (#153). You would think the University of South Carolina would be the "first choice" school in the state but Clemson is the highest rated. You would think it's because of football but Alabama's not the highest rated public school in Alabama either.

I've posted in other boards that I don't get Southern culture where girls wear dresses to football games. I'm sure most non southern fans agree with me and I'll bet a lot of non SEC southern fans not from Clemson do as well.

The other issue is most of the states down south just have too small population. What's the biggest city in Alabama? Birmingham. Who cares about them? Biggest city in South Carolina? Is it Charleston or Columbia? Who cares? If Ohio State goes 7-5, they're still the clear #1 school in one of the ten most populous states in the country. If Clemson goes 7-5, they're sharing a less populous state with the University of South Carolina for relevance. South Carolina and Alabama have no pro sports of any kind. You can say that's an asset but Ohio has pro sports and it doesn't hurt OSU. Georgia has pro teams and it doesn't hurt UGa. Florida has pro teams and the Gators still compete. If you're in Alabama or South Carolina, you win or you're not relevant, especially when you have more than one top school in the state. If you want to be relevant nationally you have to win but if you can't win at least be relevant regionally. It kind of hurts you if your "region" isn't that big.

Columbia is a pretty good sized city in the state of South Carolina, but South Carolina also has a pretty good sized fanbase in Charlotte as well because there are more business opportunities in Charlotte. In addition, Clemson has a pretty good sized fanbase over there as well. Check out Project Five-Thirty-Eight sometime, and you will get a better view of South Carolina's and Clemson's fanbase. Same thing goes for Alabama and Auburn as well.


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