Hamilton: USC vs. LSU has everything but a primetime kickoff

COLUMBIA The shame of it, and were being greedy here, is that its not a nighttime kickoff.

Its easy to selfishly want more, more, more given how things have so easily and quickly aligned.

ESPNs College GameDay has posted up in town to spotlight a noon game between South Carolina and No.

16 LSU.

Theres roughly a dozen regular-season Saturdays annually and it can only be at one each weekend.

Its also only its eighth trip here, the last a decade ago.

The Notre Dames, the Alabamas, the Michigans of the world have their numbers called so often that breaking into the rotation requires an act of providence.

So its a big deal.

Even if ESPNs Paul Finebaum described it is as one of the more bizarre GameDay choices in its history.

Thats certainly debatable.

Whats unassailable is that its another stop on whats already been a rollercoaster start to the season.

And it remains an undefeated one for USC (2-0, 1-0 SEC), even if this is only Week 3.

That leaves open all kinds of possibilities.

Its not the case without an about-face at Kentucky , however.

That reversed the perception of a team so badly pummeled in the court of public opinion that some diehard fans started prepping for basketball season.

Those same fans are now going all-in for football, eagerly hoping to stay in that lane for the next few months.

South Carolina, by virtue of the win at UK, is also the first team to lead the SEC standings in this divisionless era that includes Oklahoma and Texas.

Once more, it's merely Week 3 and USC and UK are the only teams to have played a conference game.

But bragging rights are bragging rights, even when its simply being forever the answer to a trivia question.

Let all that marinate.

Whats manifested over the last week is pretty incredible, all things considered.

The only dampener is that noon start.

Imagine the environment had the scheduling gods (i.e., the lords of ESPN or the SEC or whomever) deemed to give this game a later slot.

The LED lights encircling the seating bowl at Williams-Brice Stadium wouldve illuminated a charged scene.

The tops of palmetto trees throughout the state mightve popped off the moment 2001 started to thunder.

The place will still be lit.

But, man, it couldve been an all-time environment.

By the way: It bears repeating that the song used to announce USC for the past 41 years is actually Richard Strauss 1896 composition Also Sprach Zarathustra.

That little ditty was made popular by the 1968 movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey." Its referred to simply as 2001.

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What happens now? Charleston County School District takes first step to implement state-mandated book ban rule Former USC quarterback Tommy Suggs saw Elvis Presley open up a couple of shows to it in 1977.

He figured if it was good enough for the King, then it was good enough for the Gamecocks.

He championed the composition for four years until the school relented to use it when the Gamecocks took the field.

Gamecocks, ESPN confirm Dawn Staley as GameDay guest picker There are alternate realities where Moody Blue or Burning Love resonated more with Suggs.

Thankfully we dont live in those worlds.

Besides, Suggs made sure 2001 is the entrance in perpetuity by becoming its official naming sponsor.

Yes, you can sponsor a teams entrance.

Well, I created it, Suggs said, Im the one that found it, I did it.

And so its now officially known as the Tommy Suggs 2001 Gamecock Football Entrance.

Per details of the arrangement, itll remain that way no matter where USC plays its home games from now until the end of time.

That, like GameDays visit, is a big deal.

Meanwhile, everything else surrounding USCs game with LSU (1-1) is electric.

Its the kind of buzz that masks a lot of realities.

Dont let coach Shane Beamer fool you: The team that took it to Kentucky wasnt the same one that looked so ham-fisted against Old Dominion .

Something season-shifting and perhaps even bigger than that happened between Aug.

31 and Sept.

7.

Weve yet to decipher what that was, leaving lots of questions.

Was the real Gamecock rookie quarterback LaNorris Sellers against UK or ODU? Which defense is the Gamecocks actual defense the one that strangled UK or the unit that let the Monarchs complete 9-of-18 third-down attempts and its lone fourth-down try? The old saying is that teams experience their most growth between the first two games of the season.

Perhaps thats the case.

Well find out soon enough, adding yet another level of juice to the LSU game.

Regardless, anything now seems possible for the Gamecocks (one more time: its only Week 3) if only for one dynamic week.

And everything has fallen perfectly into place for not just a big-time game on a big-time stage, but a big-time spectacle.

Everything, that is, except that kickoff time.

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