By Ryne Hancock
SouthernPigskin.com

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If it wasn’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all. Words from from the TV Show “Hee-Haw” yes, but in some cases this can sometimes be the truth.

Last week, I wrote an article that gave a Reader’s Digest version of the reason why Clemson Tigers football has been the equivalent of Charlie Brown’s inability to kick the football the last two decades.

And while that got a lot of good feedback, the question remains, what other Southern football programs are plagued by bad luck?

South Carolina Gamecocks

The Gamecocks have played football for 119 seasons. In that time span, the Gamecocks have won one minuscule conference championship, coming in 1969 as members of the ACC.

Not only that, South Carolina has been where the careers of national title winning coaches Paul Dietzel and Lou Holtz hit a dead end.

The closest the Gamecocks ever came to winning a regular season title in football was this past year, when the Gamecocks behind the play of Alshon Jeffrey and Marcus Lattimore helped the program reach its first-ever SEC Championship Game.

Duke Blue Devils

You may not realize this, but at various points in the 20th century, Duke football had one of the best programs in the South in the early years of the ACC.

Between 1953 and 1962, the Blue Devils won six ACC regular-season titles, including three outright titles in a row from 1960-62.

27 years later, a guy by the name of Steve Spurrier would lead the Blue Devils to a share of the ACC title.

A year later, Spurrier would be coaching at Florida.

The Blue Devils in the last 22 seasons have reached one bowl game and claimed zero conference championships.

Ole Miss Rebels

The only people that remember when Ole Miss was a perennial national title contender are people over the age of 55.

Between 1950 and 1965, the Rebels would win five SEC titles as well as a piece of three national titles under Johnny Vaught.

After the last SEC championship in 1963, Ole Miss would never reach the dizzying heights it reached under Vaught.

In 2003, the Rebels went into their matchup with LSU in Oxford and had a chance to reach Atlanta as the West Division champion.

They lost.

North Carolina Tar Heels

UNC is first and foremost a basketball school, laying claim to five national titles.

But during the 1990’s, Mack Brown (yes, that Mack Brown) took North Carolina to unprecedented heights on the gridiron, including a pair of 11-win seasons.

Then in 1997, Mack Brown bounced for Texas, won a national title there and became one of the best coaches in the country.

North Carolina football has yet to reach the heights that it once reached under Brown, with Butch Davis being the third different coach in the last 14 seasons.

Arkansas Razorbacks

For some reason, dark clouds hang over Fayetteville.

Since joining the SEC in 1992, the Razorbacks have played in three SEC title games, losing all three.

In 1998, the Razorbacks went into Knoxville with a chance to derail UT’s perfect season.

The result?

The fumble heard around the Volunteer State.

In 2009, Arkansas went into the Swamp and in the tradition of Clint Storner, Ryan Mallet would choke away Arkansas’ chance at an upset.

The same thing would happen the following year when then #1 Alabama came to Fayetteville.

Arkansas choked away another shot at an upset.

And the Hogs’ Sugar Bowl loss to Ohio State?

Let’s just say that there is a lot of questions surrounding the Buckeye squad that beat the Razorbacks.

So there are at times four most tortured programs. What’s yours?