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The point is Southern Cal is the one with that name according to the national media.
Also, USC is one of the storied teams of the Pac 12, while I don't think that applies to SC in the SEC. (Speaking as a fan of another Pac 12 school)
So what percentage of Americans do you estimate are not familiar with Uni of SC and would not even think a person using USC *might* be referrinig to the Uni of SC?
I could understand your view if SC was not in a P5 conference.
That doesn't have anything to do with if Southern Cal 'owns' the USC abbreviation. Also keep in mind there are a lot of AMericans who are not big college football fans.
Southern Cal has not been that good in football the past decade and the PAC 12 is often considered the weakest P5 conference.
You are proving my point though....people who think Southern Cal 'owns' USC are people who have a high opinion of USC's football program or view it as elite in academics or think anything in California is better than something in 'The South'.
There was a person on this forum who lives in Denver who asserted that Southern Cal is a much cooler place to go to college than SC. That was totally based on CA being a blue state and SC being a red state.
I'm in Denver but if you are referring to me, I said no such thing about any school being a cooler place to go to college and neither did anyone else from what I've read on this thread.
I also think that people who follow college sports are making an unwarranted assumption that everyone follows college sports and bases their knowledge about schools around the country on that.
In any case, the point I did make remains valid, which is that when you google USC, you get California, not Carolina. I think that's pretty good evidence that more people associate that abbreviation with the school in California.
I'm not sure why you think SC doesn't get national tv exposure. SEC football gets more hyped up than PAC 12 football. SC plays UGA, Florida, Tenn and Clemson every year, and then some years will play Alabama, LSU, Auburn. I'm pretty sure you can see these games all over the country.
I don't agree that Southern Cal has a higher profile.
Things may have changed since I was young, and Mizzou bolted the Big 12 for the SEC (thus wrecking one of the most spirited college football rivalries in the Midwest) for the reason you outline - namely, the SEC is one of the "power elite" of the Bowl Championship Series conferences - but no, U South Caroiina wasn't featured on the TV college games I saw as much as U Southern Cal was, and the SEC games usually involved Alabama, LSU or Auburn over the other schools in that conference.
It's your prerogative to disagree, but it seems to me that the bulk of the anecdotal evidence presented here goes against you, and why it does matters little. Past reputations often linger on. Just ask any Penn grad who didn't go to Wharton undergrad. There's a strong popular tendency to treat Penn's undergraduate (and graduate) business school (the world's first, btw) as though it were a separate university. It's not, but for many years it enjoyed a much more exalted reputation than the rest of the university, and Wharton alums and its publicity machine played off that difference to its own advantage. The rest of Penn has since caught up with Wharton, but internally, there's still grumbling at that tendency for Wharton to portray itself as another university altogether.
(I know this topic fairly intimately, having worked in Penn's Office of University Communications from 1993 to 2004.)
I'm in Denver but if you are referring to me, I said no such thing about any school being a cooler place to go to college and neither did anyone else from what I've read on this thread.
I also think that people who follow college sports are making an unwarranted assumption that everyone follows college sports and bases their knowledge about schools around the country on that.
In any case, the point I did make remains valid, which is that when you google USC, you get California, not Carolina. I think that's pretty good evidence that more people associate that abbreviation with the school in California.
I was talking about another person in Denver. He views everything through a political filter.
I've already pointe out that Southern Cal registered usc.edu website before U of SC. That is why it comes up first in Google search for USC. Uni of SC comes up 2nd though, which indicates a lot of people would think of both colleges if USC is used.
I've already acknowledged there are people who probably think Southern Cal is an elite university academically because of US News and other rankings and that is why they think it owns USC.
Things may have changed since I was young, and Mizzou bolted the Big 12 for the SEC (thus wrecking one of the most spirited college football rivalries in the Midwest) for the reason you outline - namely, the SEC is one of the "power elite" of the Bowl Championship Series conferences - but no, U South Caroiina wasn't featured on the TV college games I saw as much as U Southern Cal was, and the SEC games usually involved Alabama, LSU or Auburn over the other schools in that conference.
It's your prerogative to disagree, but it seems to me that the bulk of the anecdotal evidence presented here goes against you, and why it does matters little. Past reputations often linger on. Just ask any Penn grad who didn't go to Wharton undergrad. There's a strong popular tendency to treat Penn's undergraduate (and graduate) business school (the world's first, btw) as though it were a separate university. It's not, but for many years it enjoyed a much more exalted reputation than the rest of the university, and Wharton alums and its publicity machine played off that difference to its own advantage. The rest of Penn has since caught up with Wharton, but internally, there's still grumbling at that tendency for Wharton to portray itself as another university altogether.
(I know this topic fairly intimately, having worked in Penn's Office of University Communications from 1993 to 2004.)
Ok, I'm willing to change my mind if you show me some polling on this topic. I think a majority or plurality of Americans would think of both universities if the context is not clear. A majority of Americans did not attend either university and SC is closer to a majority of Americans.
If the context is 'USC is an elite university academically' or 'USC's football program is a blueblood' then I would assume Southern Cal is being discussed. But this is only possible b/c I'm aware of Us News college rankings and I follow college football.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 07-27-2018 at 11:35 AM..
So what percentage of Americans do you estimate are not familiar with Uni of SC and would not even think a person using USC *might* be referrinig to the Uni of SC?
I could understand your view if SC was not in a P5 conference.
That's beside the point. Southern Cal is the one with the USC brand in the national media.
I'm sure most have heard of South Carolina. I watched chunks of some of its games too. I'd say it's more like the SEC's Washington State...some great years but it gets a fraction of the attention of other schools.
That's beside the point. Southern Cal is the one with the USC brand in the national media.
I'm sure most have heard of South Carolina. I watched chunks of some of its games too. I'd say it's more like the SEC's Washington State...some great years but it gets a fraction of the attention of other schools.
Often times the media has views which are nowhere near the mainstream of Americans.
I know a lot of the sports media refers to it as Southern Cal. That's where I picked up that nickname.
Unfortunately, at a high level, college football is a huge reason that a university get exposure.
I doubt 98% of the country would have ever heard of Tuscaloosa, AL if it wasn't for Bama's dominance in football.
Until two years ago, I had no idea that Southern Cal was a private college and I had thought it was in San Diego. A lot of people on the east coast don't have much knowledge of the state of California outside what the big cities are.
SC is in the most hyped up football conference. I don't think the football exposure argument for Southern Cal owning USC works.
An unfortunate truth is that most of what we hear about universities is about sports, and outside your own region it's the national media. They are the main influence over what most people think. They decided who was "USC" I assume generations ago, and it stuck.
Universities also have a lot of influence over that. If South Carolina used "USC" as heavily as Southern Cal does, maybe it wouldn't be owned so decisively.
But one is also much bigger than the other. Yours isn't maybe 80% the attendance, but it's small when you look at endowments or research dollars.
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