Bragging Rights
Posted November 26, 2006, 5:12 PM ET

It ain't bragging, if you can back it up...and in Carolina, the bragging rights have been determined for the next 365 days.

The South Carolina Gamecocks have been waiting for the breakthrough win of 2006.....on Saturday, the disciples of Steve Spurrier found it in Death Valley. Despite the tough, close losses to ranked teams all year, USC made all the plays down the stretch and finally eliminated Tommy Bowden's hold on the Palmetto state.

It was a great overall performance by South Carolina. It seemed to me that the better team won the game. The Cocks controlled the line of scrimmage and Spurrier's play-calling was brilliant. Even the "Ball Coach" hinted that it might be the game that turns around the series and fortunes of the Gamecocks' football program. Time will tell about that comment, but in two short years at the helm, USC has knocked off Florida, Tennessee and now Clemson...there is no question that USC fans feel that they are onto something good in Columbia.

And for the first time since 2001, the Palmetto champs reside in Columbia.

In the Tar Heel state, bragging rights are more divided than what you see to its southern neighbor. There is no question that Wake Forest has been the feel-good story....by the way, the Swiss are now 10-2, Atlantic Division champs and Jacksonville-bound this weekend for the ACC title game against Georgia Tech.

There is no doubt that the defending champs of 1-AA football can be found in the NC mountains where the App State Mountaineers are the #1 seed and fresh off beating up Coastal Carolina in the opening round of the playoffs.

But this past weekend there were a couple of games involving some serious bragging rights in the Tar Heel state.

I was able to witness the "Going Away Party" for UNC coach John Bunting. I like Bunting a great deal and I think he has been very classy in his unwanted departure from Chapel Hill. The good news for JB is that he walks away a winner against both NC State and Duke in his last two games.

The Heels bragging about beating Duke is hollow....both teams are brutally bad and both seasons have been total flops. But it is always good to beat your rival, regardless of the circumstances.....Plus, who wants to lose to winless Duke?

While both fan bases waved "goodbye" to the football season, both of them are anxious for the hoop season. Ironically, both UNC and Duke lost in hoops during the holiday weekend....but don't get used to it; they are both going to be loaded for 2006-07.

In Raleigh, the Chuck Amato watch continued as the Wolfpack hosted and lost to their bitter rivals to the East....as in East Carolina. Skip Holtz has the Pirates on the right track, and the win in Raleigh pushed their win total for the season to seven....and it also pushed the Wolfpack's losing streak to seven and their season ends with a thud at 3-9.

East Carolina will go bowling, while the Wolfpack will go looking for answers for their football program. You can feel two programs heading in the opposite directions....you can feel it and hear it with the coaches and the fans. The same holds true for UNC and Duke....in fact, I would go so far as to say that it might be true for South Carolina and Clemson, too.

That's the beauty of rivalries...if you win 'em, life is good and the outlook is always positive.....But, if you end up on the other side, there are tons of questions, serious doubts and cloudy futures. If you don't believe me, ask the fans at Clemson, Duke and NC State what the future holds in football and you'll hear all kinds of rumors, opinions and possibilities.

But in Columbia, Darth Visor has the Gamecocks on the fast track to success....same goes for former USC coach Skip Holtz at East Carolina, and even the Tar Heels are pumped because Butch Davis is the answer for turning around the program in a short period of time.

While all of this passion was brewing on a rivalry weekend on Saturday, another dose of bragging rights was waiting on Sunday. The Carolina Panthers continued their tradition of losing to the Redskins in Washington D.C.....Can anybody get a handle on the Panthers?

The loss to the Skins now makes Carolina an awful 0-5 lifetime against the Skins on the road. The overall record isn't much better as the Skins are now 7-1 against the Panthers. What is it when the Panthers see those guys...they just can't beat them.

When you add those weak totals to the fact that Carolina is 1-6 against the Dallas Cowboys in the regular season, it doesn't take long to realize why Panther fans are bugged by their Skin and Cowboy brethren when it comes to talking smack in the Carolinas and on my syndicated radio show.

Bragging rights are great when you have them....and "heaven forbid!" if you lose them. If you don't believe me, just ask the fans of the Panthers, Blue Devils, Wolfpack and Tigers...next year can't get here fast enough.

If you can back it up...it ain't bragging.