Then and now: South Carolina football

Four straight bowl wins, a 4-1 mark in its last five games against Clemson and a humongous home stadium in Williams-Brice Stadium. 

Those are a few things that may come to South Carolina fans' minds when thinking about the Gamecock football program. But that being said, things haven't always been the way they are now.

Here we reflect on the 'then and now' of South Carolina football.

Pay day increase

When former Lou Holtz began coaching the Gamecocks in 1999, the legendary head coach made $650,000 during his first year in Columbia. Fast forward several seasons later and Steve Spurrier is making a bit more. The Head Ball Coach was paid $4 million as his base salary in 2014, the eleventh highest amount in the country.

33 years between first-round picks

It’s safe to say that both George Rogers and Jadeveon Clowney both made marks at South Carolina. Rogers, who has a street in Columbia named after him, was the first Gamecock to be the No. 1 overall selection in the NFL Draft when the New Orleans Saints made him their top choice in 1981.Thirty-three years later, Clowney, most famous for ‘the hit’ against Michigan in the 2013 Outback Bowl, joined the club when he was the first player taken in the 2014 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans.

Williams-Brice grows larger

Today, Williams-Brice Stadium has an official capacity of 80,250 on gamedays, that wasn’t always the case. Like most old stadiums across the country, Williams-Brice has increased astronomically in size since its inception. When South Carolina hosted its first game in then-named Municipal Stadium, only 10,000 folks watched the Gamecocks win 25-0 against Erskine. Through the years, Williams-Brice has undergone several renovations and has seen its seating capacity change on numerous occasions.

Average attendance unchanged in last decade

The South Carolina football program has undergone drastic changes ever since Spurrier took over as head coach in November 2004. Still, the Gamecock faithful showed out, even in Holtz’ last season in Columbia. Despite only going 6-5 in 2004, South Carolina had over 80,367 spectators on average at Williams-Brice Stadium that season. That’s just slightly less than what the Gamecocks averaged at home this past year (81,381).

Changing up the style

In today’s day and age, uniforms are a huge part of the college football landscape. That said, the Gamecocks have kept their gameday attire pretty simple under Spurrier. Almost every Saturday, it’s guaranteed that the Gamecocks will wear a simple uniform combination involving only garnet and white. In recent years, the team’s use of the color black has been virtually non-existent with the exception of last year’s game versus Tennessee. That wasn’t always the case. Throughout the '80s, '90s and early '00s, South Carolina frequently wore black jerseys and donned black helmets in Hotlz’s final season in 2004.

Number of bowl wins: 20th Century vs. 21st Century

Like it or not, the South Carolina football program lacks a lot of historical significance compared to most of its fellow SEC members. Case in point: the Gamecocks didn’t win their first bowl game in program history until 1994 when they defeated West Virginia in the Carquest Bowl.

However, South Carolina is 7-4 in bowl games in the 21st Century and has won four bowls over the past four years.

South Carolina vs. Clemson: 10 years before Spurrier, 10 years since Spurrier

It’s no secret how much disdain both fanbases and programs have for each other in the South Carolina-Clemson rivalry. Beating the Tigers is such a big deal to Gamecock fans, and that’s one of the reasons why Spurrier is so well-liked around Columbia. Clemson holds the all-time series record against South Carolina (66-42-4) and went 8-2 against the Gamecocks in the ten seasons before Spurrier arrived.But since taking over as the Gamecocks’ head coach in 2004, Spurrier is 6-4 against the Tigers.