A rivalry lost? Former Gamecocks share their experiences facing Tennessee

Of the three SEC East rivalry games South Carolina football plays every season against Georgia, Tennessee and Florida, there’s something different about Tennessee week. The preparation is different, the energy in the stadium is different. It just feels different.

Or maybe there’s just something about the Gamecocks’ disdain for the color orange.

“Tennessee, you wanted to win that game,” said former wide receiver Moe Brown (2006-09). “You beat Tennessee, we ruined their season.”

Whatever it may be, USC’s rivalry with Tennessee has been a bitter one since the two programs faced off every season from 1992 to today. This year marks the last time the Gamecocks and Vols play a guaranteed game, with the conference divisions dissipating next season and the SEC planning a new scheduling model.

But a few former Gamecocks still have cherished memories of their victories, heartbreaks and the preparation leading into Tennessee Week.

“You have those memories there where it was personal,” Brown said. “And guys didn’t like losing to Tennessee. You felt that every year, to be able to have bragging rights for a year over the Volunteers.”

Since 2012, eight of the past 11 games against the Vols were decided by six points or less, and six of the past 11 were decided by no more than a field goal. The series is deadlocked 9-9 since 2005, and Tennessee managed to win all three games that went to overtime.

Former defensive tackle Gerald Dixon Jr. (2011-15) grew up a Tennessee fan, and his first college football game was South Carolina vs. Tennessee. He had some friends who played at Tennessee in college, and as a Gamecock took that rivalry a bit more personally — just for the bragging rights.

“Justin Worley and Cordarrelle Patterson, they were my high school teammates,” Dixon Jr. said. “ So it was fun seeing them play and getting to play against them.”

Dixon Jr. was a part of two wins over the Vols while playing at USC, in 2011 and 2012, though he didn’t play in the 2011 game. He said he remembers a lot about the atmosphere playing against Tennessee, that it didn’t matter if it was in Knoxville or Columbia — it was loud and it was feisty.

He said his friends from Rock Hill were in town during the 2012 win against Tennessee, and that was his favorite win because he not only played against some high school teammates, but also had family and friends there watching, too.

It wasn’t nearly as family-oriented for Brown, on the other hand, but the former receiver said he still remembers quite a few specific plays from when he played against Tennessee.

Brown said even though former head coach Steve Spurrier always said every week was the same, he said he could feel the difference between what a game week looked like before Tennessee compared to a nonconference game or an SEC West matchup.

Position coaches and support staff would make it clear, too, Brown said. He joked how one season former director of football strength and conditioning Craig Fitzgerald blasted “Rocky Top” the entire week.

During meetings, in practice, in the weight room, Brown said he could never escape the banjo.

“It would just be all ‘Rocky Top,’ ” Brown said laughing. “And so I still have traumatic PTSD, but it was definitely a great build-up to those games.”

Brown said Fitzgerald played other schools’ fight songs as well, but there was something about “Rocky Top” that just grinded him up a little bit more.

Unsure if an occasional South Carolina vs. Tennessee game will mean anything to future Gamecock fans, Dixon Jr. said he hopes this current USC team enjoys the rivalry they get to play in. He said that win or lose, they’ll always remember seeing Neyland Stadium, hearing “Rocky Top” and playing in that gritty, high-stakes rivalry game.

Both Dixon Jr. and Brown said it will be weird not watching USC and Tennessee play every season. To them, Tennessee might not have been their top rivalry game of the season (that went to Clemson), but knowing the history of these two schools, they said it’ll be an adjustment.

“We want to treat every game the same, but you also have to respect the energy that comes from these rivalries,” Brown said. “Because that’s why we come to play here. That’s why the fans come to the stadium and cheer us on the way that they do, because of just the level of competition and the mindset that goes into it.”

South Carolina 2024 football schedule

Dates TBD for SEC games

▪ Conference opponents: home vs. Ole Miss, LSU, Missouri and Texas A&M; away vs. Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky and Vanderbilt

▪ Non-conference opponents: home vs. Old Dominion (8/31), Akron (9/21) and Wofford (11/23); away vs. Clemson (11/30).