NCAA football preview: The battle of South Carolina
On Saturday 27 November, the rivalry between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Clemson Tigers will be renewed for the 108th time. The no. 18 ranked Gamecocks have already wrapped up the Southeastern Conference (SEC) east division and
the Tigers will be looking to increase their bowl bid with a seventh win.
Clemson’s season so far
The Tigers began their season with a two-game winning streak over opponents North Texas and Presbyterian. Clemson’s offence was clicking over these two games, scoring 93 points combined in the victories.
The jubilation did not last long as Clemson lost in overtime to the still undefeated Auburn Tigers on 18 September which began their three-game losing streak. Not only did the Tigers lose to Auburn but the
Miami Hurricanes and North Carolina Tar Heels also kept the Tigers caged.
After the loss to North Carolina, Clemson started another mini winning streak with wins coming against Maryland and Georgia Tech. The Tigers started to roll but their momentum was quickly squandered as they
lost to Boston College on 30 October.
A win against North Carolina State on 6 November brought them back into the winners column but the emotional loss to Florida State two weeks ago kept them at .500.
The Tigers got back above .500 last weekend with a victory over Wake Forest which leads them into their season finale this Saturday.
South Carolina’s season to date
The Gamecocks opened the season with a three-game winning streak over Southern Mississippi, Georgia and Furman, allowing less than 20 points on defence in each victory.
A loss to Auburn in week four burst their bubble but a victory over former number one ranked Alabama a week later gave the Gamecocks confidence and life.
Whatever confidence they gained quickly disappeared when the Gamecocks lost to a depleted Kentucky team, 31-28. South Carolina followed it up with a two-game winning streak to get back on track. Tennessee
and Vanderbilt both fell victim to South Carolina’s clicking offence and stingy defence.
Arkansas defeated South Carolina on 6 November but the Gamecocks clinched the SEC east division with a victory over Florida on 13 November. Last weekend’s victory over Troy was a tune-up for this weekend’s
battle against Clemson and their SEC Championship game against Auburn.
The rivalry
It has been ugly at times to say the least. In 2004, Clemson and South Carolina were involved in a bench clearing brawl which included helmets swinging, players getting kicked and resulted in both teams missing their respective bowl games that season.
The rivalry has since calmed down but it still has potential to be explosive.
"I think we have a good, healthy rivalry with Clemson now," said coach Steve Spurrier according to espn.go.com. "I don't sense in any way that could happen with the coaching staffs in place and the players
that are in place now," he continued. "I don't think there will be a lot of trash talk. I don't think there will be late hits. I think it will be a good, clean, hard-fought game and that's the way it should be."
Due to the in state battle between these teams, it is very likely that these players have met before in high school football or with their respective teams growing up.
"These players really have a lot of respect for each other. They are competitors. They are going to line up and compete and when the game is over they're going shake each other's hands and that's the way
you've got to do things," Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said to the Associated Press. "Things spill over outside the stadium but the players have a genuine respect for each other."
This game has proven to be one of the best rivalries in college football and it should not disappoint fans on Saturday.
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