I have followed Gamecock football for a very long time.  I attended all the home games from 1992-2014 and have watched countless classics.

I’ve watched enough South Carolina football to know one simple fact: our schedule is always hard.

Chris has never been shy about his feelings about Will Muschamp.

He spoke about them in detail last week and a few of his comments resonated with me and I wanted to share my thoughts.

I saw a lot of the feedback on Twitter and people rushing to defend Muschamp pointing out how hard our schedule is and has been.   

I feel the schedule has been the hot topic recently just because of how well Clemson is and has been doing.

There’s no way around it: Clemson has been killing it and it has been insufferable.

Carolina fans love beating their chests and brag about playing in the toughest conference but are so quick to hide behind “our schedule is so tough” when we have a lackluster season.  

I want to make it very clear that I like Will Muschamp.  I think he’s a tireless worker and a great recruiter. His players graduate and we aren’t seeing anyone get into trouble or any arrests. I love listening to his press conferences and hearing him break down aspects of our upcoming opponent.

But stop using the schedule as an excuse.  

I know some are going to say, “well Clemson wasn’t this good when Spurrier was here.” That’s true, but remember Florida won two national titles (2006 & 2008) in Spurrier’s first four years here.

We played both Florida and Alabama in 2009, who battled it out in a 1 vs 2 matchup in the SEC Championship Game.  I know everyone remembers playing Auburn twice the year they won the whole thing.  

Others will bring up how we swapped Arkansas for Texas A&M as our permanent West opponent.

Do you really need to be reminded of how Darren McFadden ran wild against us? Or how our defense could never stop Bobby Petrino’s offense?  Arkansas went to a BCS bowl game in 2011 as well.

Clemson played in the Orange Bowl twice (2011 and 2013), one of which Gamecock fans will always remember.

My point is, our schedule is always hard.  It always will be hard.  

Does Muschamp deserve a 10-15-year pass because of our schedule?  It isn’t going to get any easier. That is a product of playing in the best conference.

Yes, our rival has been playing at a much higher level and that doesn’t look to change any time soon.  Our first goal should be winning the Eastern Division and Clemson does not factor into that in any way.  

Also, you cannot hide behind the schedule when we lose to North Carolina and Appalachian State.  That whole argument is invalid.  

South Carolina will only play conference games this season.  There is no Clemson on this year’s schedule, but guess what?

This year’s schedule is still hard.