Clemson Tigers vs. South Carolina Gamecocks

The Tigers visit the South Carolina Gamecocks Saturday afternoon and are now offered as 17.5-point road favorites. Watson will take them one at a time.

Really, after a play like that, is there anything else you can really do?

“All we’ve gotten done so far is in the rear-view mirror”, Swinney said Tuesday.

COOPER’S FINALE: South Carolina’s 1,000-yard receiver Pharoh Cooper is playing his last game, saying he intends to give up his final season with the Gamecocks for the NFL. Looking like the version of itself many expected the entire season, No. 8 Ohio State thumped No. 10 MI 42-13 at the Big House.

The Tigers seemed to be putting another promising drive together to start the fourth quarter, but Scott fumbled after a short reception from Watson and the Gamecocks had a short field at the Clemson 26.

That’s how important the Clemson-South Carolina matchup is to the head coach of the top-ranked team in the nation.

Clemson also equaled its record-long winning streak of 15 in a row dating back to last season and originally established between 1947-49. In the Gamecocks’ other games against the No. 1 team, they lost 27-0 to Maryland in 1955, 38-10 to Florida State in 1991, 52-25 to Florida in 1996 and 24-14 to Florida in 2009.

Smith recalls how hard the 1981 Gamecocks made it for Tigers – and he knows this current team understands it won’t be a walk in the park. If you’re a Gamecock faithful, here is where you may want to turn away from these ugly stats: 107th overall in scoring offense (20.9), 107th in offensive third down conversion (34.59), 99th in yards per game (350.5), and 84th in total defense (425.6).

The Tigers’ defense, though, didn’t let the Gamecocks capitalize on the mistakes. “Our mood of our football team is very good if you can imagine that to happen”. Clemson has the advantage in nearly every aspect of the game except possibly special teams.

Well, that’s exactly what Watson did here, hitting the Dab after he scorched his rivals.

“One of the staples before the game was they shoot, I think, half their attempts are 3-point shots”, said USC guard Duane Notice. The Gamecocks last opened with six straight victories in 2003-04, when they started 8-0 and won 18 of their first 20 en route to a 23-11 season. But with the Gamecocks failing to do anything on their next two drives, including a 4th and long pickup on a keeper by Orth that was ruled just short with 1:43 left, the Tigers were able to ice it with a 36-yard field goal with 1:27 remaining and get the win.