The South Carolina Gamecocks wanted to do something nice for community groups and military personnel this weekend for their makeup game against Akron, offering them free tickets.

However, that plan fell off the rails when tickets were made available to everyone for free, not just those groups.

That led to the South Carolina athletics department issuing a statement asking for fans to respect the intention to only issue free tickets to those specific groups (via WISTV.com):

The Athletics Department, In an effort to increase attendance and give our football team a more memorable experience in their final home game of the season, sent a link for complimentary upper deck tickets to various community groups and military personnel intended for their use only.  The Athletics Department hopes that our fans respect the intention of the offer of complimentary tickets to community groups and the military.  Tickets are on sale at the Gamecock Athletics Ticket Office.

Naturally, though, rival Clemson fans were quick to pounce on the free tickets, scooping them up and then tweeting about how they aren’t going to use them:

What a mess for South Carolina. Hopefully this doesn’t affect fan attendance against Akron on Saturday afternoon.