“Listen, I don’t want to take anything away from the great environment of college sports,” he said. But he’s also aware of how bad the worst-case scenarios can be. We’ve dealt with it a lot over the years.”īyrne doesn’t want to be the No Fun Police when it comes to discouraging one of the oldest celebration traditions in college sports. … Obviously it’s something that’s really important for us as a university. But until it happens to you on a regular basis, I don’t think it becomes as big an issue for you. “Georgia, it’s been a challenge for them. “Obviously, Kentucky in men’s basketball, it’s been a challenge for them,” Byrne said. By its very makeup, that’s a committee predisposed to ratchet up the disincentives for fans invading the playing surface. Athletic director Mitch Barnhart is on the committee that was appointed by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey last fall to address postgame safety, along with Byrne and Georgia AD Josh Brooks (whose school is next up to be stormed in football, should the two-time national champions ever lose again). Kentucky is the basketball equivalent of Alabama in the SEC-the perennial power that tends to bring fans out of the stands after a loss on the road. “I think there’s better education we can do.” “Is there a way to do some fines in a little more creative way? Some of those things are being discussed right now that may get everybody’s attention,” Byrne said Wednesday. But other ideas are being bandied about this week at SEC spring meetings. “I don’t know how much support has,” Byrne said. Coming off consecutive non-winning seasons, LSU beat Alabama 32–31 in overtime. Last year, after losses at Tennessee and LSU, an Alabama player and staffer were involved in confrontations with fans who came on the field: Tide receiver Jermaine Burton struck a Tennessee fan in Knoxville, and staffer Evan Van Nostrand needed security to get off the field in Baton Rouge after being accosted by an LSU fan. The Crimson Tide has been on the wrong end of field stormings the past seven times they’ve lost on the road, dating back to the Kick Six game at Auburn in 2013. If your school is in the third camp, the idea doesn’t sound quite so radical.Įnter Greg Byrne, Alabama athletic director. If your school is in either of the first two camps, you’re probably not in love with the rule revisions that could include taking away a home game from any school that violates the SEC sportsmanship policy by storming the field or court.

That’s always fun.When it comes to the outlook on fans storming the football field or basketball court, the Southeastern Conference membership can be divided into three groups: those who do the storming after an upset win, those who aspire to do the storming but haven’t pulled off a sufficiently huge upset and those who are stormed upon. Now they get a bowl trip out of the deal. The Gamecocks have been steadily taking steps forward this year. 28.Ĭongrats on the solid improvement with this season, South Carolina. One other realistic possibility for South Carolina is that the Gamecocks land in the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl on Dec.

It seems plausible that South Carolina could end up in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Dec. They’re not a great team, they don’t have a great record, and there is a slew of SEC teams ahead of South Carolina as everybody prepares for the upcoming bowl season.īut there will be a bowl for the Gamecocks. The Gamecocks probably aren’t going to a great bowl game this season. So, where might South Carolina end up for their bowl game? South Carolina bowl projections: Gamecocks might play in the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl Notable bowl projections previously left the Gamecocks out in the cold because of the expectation that they’d fail to get six wins. South Carolina wasn’t expected to be here. It’s been a rough year at times for Beamer and South Carolina, but some steady improvement throughout the season has helped the Gamecocks defy the odds and make it to six wins with one regular season game left remaining on the schedule. In his first year with the South Carolina Gamecocks, Shane Beamer has led his team to bowl eligibility after beating the Auburn Tigers. Shane Beamer and the South Carolina Gamecocks secured bowl eligibility by beating the Auburn Tigers Saturday evening.

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