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

The Seminoles (10-2) won their third consecutive game at Florida Field – the first time that’s happened in the history of the storied rivalry.

Steve Spurrier, the team’s coach since 2005, resigned in mid-October, leaving Elliott to clean up the mess from a program that won 11 games each season from 2011 through 2013, but has gone 10-15 the past two years.

71 Three-and-outs have been forced by the Clemson defense this season, the most in the nation.

“Practices were kind of slow and it took time for us to get our momentum going practice”, Chatkevicius said. Here is my preview of the battle of the Palmetto State. Clemson has a 50-32-3 lead in the series in games played in Columbia and a 67-42-4 lead overall.

It looked like Clemson would put this one on ice early in the second half as they scored on a Watson 30-yard keeper, one play after a fumble was (controversially) overturned, to make it 21-3.

The ultimate prize comes in January if the Tigers get into the national championship contest.

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. In the 3rd quarter, both teams scored 14 points, and in the 4th the Tigers scored six points.

The Tigers’ defense, though, didn’t let the Gamecocks capitalize on the mistakes. The past three games, they’ve combined to have 16 players in double figures. That type of play is a tip of the cap to Swinney and defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

Center Jay Guillermo thinks SC will regroup, saving its best for its final game of the season.

When you are 13th in the SEC in total defense (90th nationally), allowing 422.1 yards per game, and just gave up 350 rushing yards to a FCS school, how do you stop an offense that has gained at least 500 yards total yards in each of the last seven games?

The Tigers stayed close into the fourth, aided by Jason Smith 77-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter which he twice tipped back to himself. If the Gamecocks are to pull of an upset, Cooper has to get heavily involved as well as speedster RB Shon Carson. On the sixth play of the drive, Deshaun Watson coughed up the football and SC got their hands on it at the Clemson 40 with 1:54 to go.

SC has hit its lowest point in years, but the Gamecocks hope to salvage something from a lost season when they host bitter rival Clemson on Saturday. The odds are low but if SC is to have any chance, they need to take advantage of any opportunities that they may come across.

Still, Leggett insists the Tigers will approach the rivalry game with the same work ethic as they’ve shown all year.

The Tigers remained unbeaten and no doubt among the top four teams in the College Football Playoff rankings, if not No. 1 when Tuesday’s updated rankings are released.