Dabo Swinney: No. 1 Clemson won’t be awed by ACC title game

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.

The Tigers finished off just the second undefeated regular season in program history (1981) with the win over SC. The Tigers will enter this contest as the No. 1-ranked team in the country, they have yet to lose a game and their spot in the College Football Playoff is looking very cozy.

USC claimed the Pac-12 South title and advanced to the conference championship game on December 5 against North champion Stanford.

For the past five years, this used to be one of those lopsided rivalries, where the South Carolina Gamecocks wound up beating the Clemson Tigers and competing for a national title.

The Carolina-Clemson Blood Drive is held annually the week before the rivalry game and comes at the start of the holiday season, when blood donations typically decrease.

The Tigers, though, have rolled on offense – they’ve had seven straight games with 500 or more yards – behind sublime sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson.

The Tigers’ defense, though, didn’t let the Gamecocks capitalize on the mistakes. “The second thing is we’ve got four games to play for the national championship”.

With South Carolina falling to The Citadel a week ago and No. 1 Clemson coming to Williams-Brice coming to town, many questioned how the Gamecocks would fare.

SC answered with its first touchdown of the game.

“What a throw, are you kidding me”, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.

Eric Mac Lain is lost for words about as often as it snows in Miami, and yet the young players for whom he blocks have the ability to twist the tongue of an elder statesman and Clemson’s senior offensive lineman.

The Tigers committed three turnovers, resulting in a couple of SC turnovers and the defense gave up 402 total yards of offense to the Gamecocks, but they picked up the win.

For South Carolina, their biggest task to contain quarterback Deshaun Watson. Gallman coughed up the ball after a hit by Skai Moore, then Watson mishandled an exchange with Gallman that Dante Sawyer pounced on.

Barrett put the cherry on top with a 17-yard touchdown run, ending his day with 19 carries for 139 yards and three touchdowns to go with 113 yards and a touchdown on 9-of-13 passing. The Tigers are just 4-6 against the spread in their last 10 games and 2-2 ATS on the road this season.

No. 14 FLORIDA STATE 27, No. 10 FLORIDA 2: In Gainesville, Florida, Dalvin Cook ran for 183 yards and two touchdowns, Roberto Aguayo kicked two long field goals for Florida State.

Williams reached the feat in 67 games becoming the fastest player in the NCAA Division I era to eclipse the mark edging out former Bison Adnan Hodzic.