When You Tell People You've Gotten into USC do you . . .

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
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<h2>Can we stop with any hostilities? Parts of this thread are like my Facebook friends all decided to jump on CC… I’m a USC student who was raised on SEC football. </h2>

<h2>On the abbreviation USC: I’ve never heard anyone call South Carolina USC. Maybe it’s because I grew up on college football and I’ve always thought USC a more prominent figure in the sport than South Carolina, but to me USC has always been the University of Southern California. And I feel like that’s the case with anyone even remotely educated in colleges/college football/college acronyms. </h2>

<p>On USC vs the SEC in football: How would you, as a USC person, feel if you were talking to a Cal person about how USC has a better football team than Cal, but then the Cal person suddenly realized they were at a loss, changed the topic to academics, and said, “HA! We’re better than you ACADEMICALLY!!!” Ridiculous, right? We’re talking about football, not academics. But I’ve noticed some USC fans like to pull this kind of topic-change/topic-merger on SEC fans. Now, I’m not saying the discrepancy in football between USC and any of the SEC powerhouses is as big as that between Cal-USC, but you get my point: Yes, sure, USC’s academically superior, which explains why I’m here as a student, but if we’re talking strictly football, keep it on topic: six national championships in a row and general consensus among sports critics is hard to argue against in terms of who’s superior at football, especially speaking strictly regarding the last 5 years or so. </p>

<p>It becomes less clear/less easily quantifiable when you start talking in terms of tradition/historically, but I’d still argue that the SEC schools have far more tradition, passion, and talent. Having lived oncampus in and gone to the games of both a major SEC school and USC, I can safely say SEC fans on the whole are far more passionate than any USC fans I’ve ever seen. And I’m not gonna go into the statistical nitty gritty, but at least of the SEC powerhouses has a strong winning record against USC in football. </p>

<h2>**Disclaimer: I’d love to see USC play Bama, or whichever SEC team is tops in a given season, in football. </h2>

<h2>Athletics as a whole: I have no doubt that, all sports tallied together, UCLA/Stanford/USC are on top, as stated by wheretonow on the top of page 3. </h2>

<p>Academics: USC is ranked higher than most SEC schools, but there’s no need to bash any of them, and titles like “third-rate” schools are completely unnecessary. Different schools serve the needs of different people. While I admit that it’s a nice ego stroke to be ranked higher and thought of as a “better school,” there’s no need to rely on names for the sake of an argument.</p>

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<p>I stand corrected. The Gamecocks have a whopping TWO men’s championships. I’ll bet I can count high enough to know the Trojans have a tad more than the Gamecocks…and I’ll bet the median math SAT scores are a tad higher for Southern Cal students, too. Envy on!</p>

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<p>Lencias,</p>

<p>I appreciate your sentiments, but I think you need to take a look at the course of the thread before jumping in. The original question wasn’t about football or academics or even “Team SEC”. The question was whether or not people recognize USC as Southern California or South Carolina.</p>

<p>Stoned, who I now understand is the resident ■■■■■, posted to claim that people in SEC country (specifically introducing the football argument) don’t know that USC refers to tbe Trojans. Now whether you love the Trojans or hate them, the notion that people in the south don’t know USC is utter bull. The rivalries between USC and Alabama of the sixities and seventies are classic and legendary. Any real football fan, espcially those hailing from SEC country, knows the Trojans very well. We’ve had crazed LSU fans take out billboards near USC, whining about the shared NC. We’ve had Tennessee fans literally rioting over Kiffin’s departure to USC. To suggest SEC fans aren’t aware of the USC Trojans is a flat -out lie. </p>

<p>Futhermore, why would someone who claims USC is a “non-entity” take the time to seek out this forum and post here? You do have to search for the University of Southern California, right? Clearly, despite all his blather to the contrary, Stoned is obsessed with USC.</p>

<p>Finally, as far as football matchups go, why is it always “Team SEC” vs. USC. I love the fact that USC is the benchmark against an entire conference. There is no denying the success of “Team SEC”, however those championship teams did not have to face USC and the AP felt USC was the better team when they shared the title with LSU . Every time USC has faced an SEC team in the BCS era, they have dominated. I find it interesting that most haters from “Team SEC” don’t lay claim to a particular school, but try to wrap themselves in the coattails of the conference. ( I think the notion of rooting for a conference is ludicrous. You think I would root for UCLA over the Gamecocks in the college world series? No way!) My guess is Stoned is a scorned lover from Tennessee or some other irrelevant school riding the coattails of the big boys.</p>

<p>As far as the academic rankings go, let it be noted that GA Girl introduced them specifically in response to Stoned’s ridiculous claim that half of USC grads are unemployed.</p>

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<p>@LegacyMom:</p>

<p>Yes, I know that this is about whether USC is Southern California or South Carolina, the subject is stated in the title, but if you yourself take look at the course of the thread on page 2 and a little bit of page 3, it (predictably) derailed into USC vs SEC fanboys on both sides of the fence hurtling names and rushing to get defensive. I was merely trying to settle this. </p>

<p>But if you want to continue that particular “sub-course” of this thread, one that you yourself had nothing to do with the question on hand but still mentioned in the second to last paragraph of your previous post, heck, I’ll stake a claim to a particular SEC school: As some who used to live in Tuscaloosa and was raised on Bama football, I could easily argue Bama vs USC and have before, but the SEC as a whole (well, maybe just the SEC West) has dominated the football scene for the last few years, there is no doubt about that, so we scale out the argument a bit to include all the schools and to counter silly “Pac12 > SEC” arguments. And none of the “Team SEC” teams have had to face USC in the title game the last few years because USC was on probation, and frankly, in the condition its been in the last few years, either Bama or LSU would’ve crushed them. Another reason it often becomes “Team SEC” vs USC is because, for whatever reason, some people try to say the Pac12 is better than the SEC, and as the traditionally “best team in the Pac12,” USC is called upon to be the “poster boy” in that argument. Chip Kelly at Oregon - not a laughable team, you must admit - has flat out admitted that the SEC simply has a different level of players than the Pac12. <a href=“http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2011/oregons-chip-kelly-inferior-sec/[/url]”>http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2011/oregons-chip-kelly-inferior-sec/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also, Bama is 5-2 against USC in football historically. </p>

<p>USC is a great school. It’s great at academics, it’s great at football - as someone who values academics and grew up on college football, it’s the perfect school for me, I love it. I just wish people would stop being blinded by school pride at times and stop going off on programs of comparable awesomeness, academic or athletic. </p>

<p>Fight On and Roll Tide.</p>

<p>(But agreed/fair points on the academic stuff and such.)</p>

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<p>Lencias,</p>

<p>That is the whole point. I don’t see anyone here going off on specific SEC schools. I see one “Team SEC” guy with an axe to grind with USC. And I see Team SEC guy making ridiculous charges and deflections about OJ, buffoons, cheating etc, while USC people are responding with facts about the USC record — both academic and athletic. I specifically cited the great rivalries between USC and Bama from the seventies as the reason Southerners know USC. I think most informed USC fans have deep respect for Alabama and the great matches we had in the past. But I think it is ridiculous when people hang their hat on an entire conference. Do you think I woul ever use UCLA’s basketball success to trash talk people from North Carolina or Duke? Nonsense.</p>

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<p>Fair points, LegacyMom. =]</p>

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<p>…but they are third-rate schools.</p>

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<p>So much jealousy here :P</p>

<p>USC football will take on anyone, anywhere, anytime. We would love to schedule more quality out-of-conference opponents, including those in the SEC, but for some reason they always refuse to play us. No idea why…</p>

<p>As for the name of the school, depends on where I am. I usually say USC first, then Southern California if they need clarification. Never Southern Cal, that’s just wrong. If I’m around LA, then I’ll just say SC.</p>

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<p>

As someone who grew up in NC and has spent a fair amount of time in Tennessee, I can vouch that many if not most southerners do indeed refer to the university in Columbia, SC as USC. </p>

<p>Whoever said that USC-Columbia also refers to itself as simply “Carolina” is also correct, though that is generally popular only among students/alums of the university and something that greatly irritates virtually everyone in NC.</p>

<p>That said, many southerners are at least vaguely familiar with the USC in California due to its historic football performance.</p>

<p>

I actually once met a southerner who believed UCLA was in Louisiana.</p>

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<p>Team SEC also leads the US for probation. Only Vanderbilt has escaped NC2A wrath.</p>

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<p>I don’t claim to be the authority on all college stats, but this is the board for the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. People who frequent this forum take the time to be informed on the stats for THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. </p>

<p>And - lol - Cal Arts??? Really??? On what planet does that school fall in the same league as Harvard, Stanford or even USC???</p>

<p>I hate to break it to you, but USC DOES make the list with Stanford, Yale and Harvard. For the last 3 years in a row, USC is in the Princeton Review’s Top 10 Dream Schools.</p>

<p><a href=“http://ir.princetonreview.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=454373[/url]”>http://ir.princetonreview.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=454373&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Now, I’m sorry if the prospect of speaking highly of a university and citing her accomplishments bothers you. For someone who “doesn’t care”, methinks thou doth protest too much. Guess what I do when I don’t care about something? Well, for starters, I don’t seek out a website about it! Here’s a suggestion: If you really don’t care, DON’T POST HERE. Every time you do, you just show us all how envious you really are.</p>