Police say they aren’t sure when an orange tiger paw was painted on the field at Williams-Brice Stadium, but the vandalism appears to have come a year after someone did the same.
Joe Connolly, the Gamecocks’ strength and conditioning coach, tweeted a photo of the tiger paw, which was painted with four toes by the 10-yard line.
“They forgot the fifth finger!” Connolly said on Twitter, a reference to South Carolina’s five-year win streak over Clemson.
Capt. Eric Grabski, a spokesman for the USC Division of Law Enforcement and Safety, said police were investigating the vandalism, but they weren’t sure when exactly it happened. Officers think it happened within the last week.
Athletics spokesman Steve Fink said the university was “reviewing and evaluating” security procedures at the stadium and its other athletic facilities.
Campus police patrol the stadium, and Williams-Brice is equipped with gates, card scanners and cameras to keep people out during the off-season.
“We obviously patrol it like we would anywhere else on campus,” Grabski said.
The vandalism isn’t the first of its kind at Williams-Brice. In mid-April 2013, an orange paw marked the field, and at least two Cockabooses, luxury tailgating spots by the stadium, were vandalized with spray paint. “Go Tigers,” the paint on one read.