Gamecocks aim to earn third straight victory over rival Tigers
South Carolina entered this season expecting to play in December. More often than not, what the Gamecocks have accomplished to date would be good enough to earn a ticket to the Southeastern Conference Championship Game a week after the regular season ended. But it hasn’t worked out that way for USC.
“It’s just one of those years,” said coach Steve Spurrier. “The other team, Georgia, went 7-1. They won seven straight conference games, and we, unfortunately, lost a couple. That’s what happens.”
Just because the Gamecocks aren’t headed to Atlanta on Dec. 3 doesn’t mean they don’t have a championship left to play for. They do.
It’s Clemson week, after all.
“This is the game of the year for us,” said safety D.J. Swearinger. “Carolina against Clemson. State championship. There’s so much on the line right now.”
Perhaps more so than ever before. For just the fourth time in series history, both teams enter the game ranked in the top 25 — USC is No. 14, Clemson is No. 18. And in a series first, both teams enter with nine victories. The last, and only, time the Gamecocks won 10 games was in 1984, when they defeated Clemson in Death Valley for their 10th win. Clemson hasn’t reached double-digit wins since 1990.
“It would mean a lot to me. It would mean a lot to our whole team,” said defensive tackle Melvin Ingram, a senior playing in his final Carolina–Clemson game. “Beating Clemson and getting victory (No.) 10, it would mean a lot to our whole football program.”
Beyond the state title, the Gamecocks have a chance for history at stake on Saturday. A USC win would mark three straight triumphs over Clemson. USC hasn’t won three straight games in the series since 1968–70. The Gamecocks have only won three or more consecutive meetings between the two teams four times in history. Clemson has accomplished the feat 11 times.
“That’s the only game I look forward (to) on the season,” said receiver Alshon Jeffery. “I can’t wait to get out there and show them what we got. We’re going to give them our best shot, and hopefully we’re going to come out with a win.”
This year’s game is the third straight in which one of the teams is headed to a conference title game the week after. Clemson will return to the ACC Championship Game against either Virginia or Virginia Tech in Charlotte next week after winning the ACC Atlantic Division, its second division title in three seasons. Many in the state expressed optimism that, after Clemson won its division in 2009 and USC in 2010, both teams would enter the game this season with a conference title game in their futures. That failure for that to occur, and Clemson’s disastrous 37-13 loss to N.C. State three days ago in Raleigh, has dampened the national hype around the game a bit, if not the local buzz. But the lack of attention doesn’t seem to matter to those in and around the rivalry.
“I’m always excited about [Carolina–Clemson],” said USC associate head coach for defense Ellis Johnson, a Winnsboro native who coached at Clemson. “I have a lot of personal background associated with the schools and the high schools in this state and the football and so forth. I always think it’s a great game.”
Due to his time spent working at both schools, as well as his ties to both campuses as a South Carolinian, Johnson said Carolina–Clemson is “a tough game for me.” Even though it’s difficult, Johnson said when push comes to shove, it’s a game, and one he works as hard to win as any other one.
“I’ve got a lot of close friends up there. But it doesn’t have anything to do with preparation or the work you put into it in wanting to beat them,” he said. “Hopefully it will be a good game. We got a lot of work to do if we’re going to make it a good game. Hopefully it will be the kind of game everyone’s hyping it up to be.”
Like Johnson, tailback Brandon Wilds, a Blythewood native, has spent his entire life surrounded by the rivalry. He understands what makes it tick, he said, and that experience will be with him as he plays the Tigers for the first time.
“I’m from Columbia, so I know a lot about what the Clemson game means to USC fans,” Wilds said. “We’ll come out and be prepared.”
The intensity isn’t just reserved for fans, though.
“A lot of fans don’t know what it means to us to beat Clemson,” Swearinger said.
Spurrier said he would take 6-2 in the SEC — which is what USC finished at — every season. Most of the time, he said, it will be good enough to win the Eastern Division and head to the Georgia Dome.
This season, that wasn’t the case. So what was supposed to be possibly USC’s best team in history not only failed to win the school’s first SEC title, it didn’t even get a chance to play for it. In August, such a fate for the Gamecocks would have been envisioned as a colossal disappointment given expectations.
But that’s not the case. It hasn’t been ideal, sure, but it hasn’t been devastating either. Part of that is because USC has weathered so much adversity to even get to where it is. Part is because Georgia has won seven straight conference games and nine straight overall — feats Spurrier said deserve a division championship if accomplished.
And part of it is because the Gamecocks can still win a championship. Can still reach 10 wins for only the second time in school history — and can still get to 11 if No. 10 can be wrapped up before the bowl. Can still win a historic third straight meeting in the series.
Can still beat Clemson.
“We set a goal to win 10 games. It’s always a goal to beat Clemson to win the state championship,” Spurrier said. “Shoot, we got two huge goals out there this weekend, and I’m sure they’re probably in the same boat also. It should be a heck of a game.”