USC and UNC are set to meet in Charlotte. But off-field, South Carolina always has my heart

We have a habit, in the South, of grafting greater meaning than is necessary onto college football games.

It’s not enough for a match-up between two foes from rival conferences to simply be contained to the field. Rather, we foist seemingly unrelated ideals onto big games. “Not only is our team better than yours, but our school is better, our town is better, the macaroni-and-cheese in our dining hall is better and our governor has a better haircut.”

Simply put, supremacy on the gridiron down here can serve as a sort of cure-all balm to soothe our egos and bolster civic pride. A symbolic planting of the flag, if you will.

And so, the Sept. 2 season-opening game between the University of South Carolina and the University of North Carolina at Bank of America Stadium in Uptown Charlotte has sparked debate on multiple fronts.

On the field, it’s a critical first tilt for the Gamecocks and Tar Heels, both of whom come into 2023 with high-profile quarterbacks (Drake Maye at UNC and Spencer Rattler at USC) and high hopes after solid seasons a year ago. The TV powers-that-be have certainly keyed in on the game’s potential: ESPN’s popular College GameDay show will broadcast from Bank of America Stadium on Sept. 2, and the game will be shown in a national, prime time slot on ABC.

But the on-field showdown between the South Carolina and North Carolina football teams has led to a larger off-field conversation: Which state, really, is the better Carolina?

Right off the top — and in an effort to cut down on the nasty emails — I’ll reveal my bias. I was born and raised in South Carolina and have lived here all of my life. I’ve worked at newspapers across South Carolina for 19 years, including in Columbia for the past decade. And when my soul passes on from this earthly realm, they’ll carry my body up to the Long Cane Cemetery in Abbeville. This, simply, is home.

Which is not to say I haven’t enjoyed visiting the Tar Heel State through the years. We love the mountains in the far western part of North Carolina, up around Highlands and Cashiers. We’ve snowtubed on Scaly Mountain, done the Biltmore thing in Asheville and been to countless Hornets games in Charlotte. I was there when the Rolling Stones rocked Bank of America Stadium in 2021 and when Guns N’ Roses tore it up at Wake Forest’s football stadium in Winston-Salem in 2017.

I’m not here to convince you that South Carolina is the better of the two Carolinas, because that’s ground that true North Carolinians will likely never cede. Rather, I want to share with you some of the small things I love about the Palmetto State.

It’s the moment my truck ascends the McKinley Washington Jr. Bridge, which soars above the Dawhoo River and connects me to Edisto Island. A trip across that bridge at sunset provides a perfect, sweeping view of the natural wonders of the South Carolina Lowcountry that would take the breath away from even the most jaded visitor. We’ve got an old house on Edisto Beach, one that sits up on stilts on a dirt road, and when I’m there I like to sit on the screened-in porch at night with a drink and listen to the waves crash near beach access No. 5, just a short walk away.

It’s lunch on a sunny fall Friday at True BBQ in West Columbia, across the Congaree River from the capital city. True is the kind of hole-in-the-wall barbecue spot that smokes ribs on a grill right out in front of the restaurant, and that smoke carries across town, its aroma drawing workers out of offices and residents out of their homes for a midday feast. I typically go for a Big Z barbecue sandwich with Pretty Lady sauce (that’s a mustard-based sauce, which I know makes you Tar Heels cringe) and some hash and rice, and an iced tea so sweet it will send you into a diabetic coma.

(Note from an editor raised north of the border: One of North Carolina’s greatest shames is that it doesn’t know the beauties of Carolina Gold sauce and a pile of hash and rice on the side. Tar Heels just won’t win this fight.)

South Carolina is Saturday mornings at the Anderson Jockey Lot, haggling with a vendor over the price of a good used leaf blower. And it’s fall weekends in downtown Greenville, having Mexican food and some cold libations at a sidewalk table as the well-dressed theater crowds hustle to the Peace Center for a play.

It’s nights under the stars at the Auto Drive-in in Greenwood, where $10 will get you a ticket to a first-run double feature, and where owner Tommy McCutcheon mans the grill himself, slinging cheeseburgers and corn dogs until after midnight.

It’s July evenings at Family Kingdom amusement park in the heart of Myrtle Beach, where sunburned families inevitably turn up after a day on the sand and dinner at a nearby seafood dive. You are not a South Carolinian, truly, until you’ve ridden the Swamp Fox roller coaster (hands up, of course) and been soaked by the waters of the log flume at Family Kingdom.

And, of course, South Carolina is Saturdays in the fall when the Gamecocks play at Williams-Brice Stadium, with tailgating at full steam in the State Fairgrounds and Olympia School and in Gamecock Park.

It’s those moments as kickoff approaches, with 75,000 people packed to the heavens, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with family and friends on one side and a booze-soaked attorney from the Pee Dee on the other, ready to explode at the first strains of “2001.”

Maybe the home team will win, and maybe not, but either way they’ll all be back again the next Saturday, when life in Columbia takes another turn.

Is South Carolina the better Carolina, in a larger sense? Oh, I don’t know about that. But it is my home, and it is my heart. And the result of a single football game will never change that.

But, boy, I sure hope the Gamecocks win on Sept. 2.