Gamecocks look to ‘rivalry’ game at Clemson
Although South Carolina coach Will Muschamp has been involved in the Florida-Florida State rivalry as the head coach of the Gators, he harkened back to his two stints as an assistant at Auburn when asked to compare the Gamecocks’ rivalry with Clemson.
The two teams meet up Saturday at Clemson with the No. 2 Tigers (11-0) looking for their fifth consecutive victory over the Gamecocks (6-4).
Muschamp said this game is like the Auburn-Alabama Iron Bowl in that there is no professional team in the state to draw away attention. Neither is there an NFL team in the state of South Carolina to draw attention away from the Palmetto State clash.
“You are either on one side or the other,” Muschamp said. “There are not a lot of fans from other universities in our state other than South Carolina and Clemson. That, to me, is what is unique.
“I would probably say the same for the state of Alabama. You’re either Auburn, or you’re Alabama. That’s what would make this unique to me.”
Clemson leads the series by a comfortable 69-42-4 margin and has won four consecutive meetings since ending a five-game losing streak in the series with a 35-17 win in 2014.
The Tigers got by with a 37-32 win in 2015, but the last two games they have posted a 56-7 rout in 2016 and 34-10 win last year. Only the last two were under Muschamp, who was asked if he planned to bring up those games with his players.
“I think more than anything, we went up there our first year and had some guys that flat out didn’t compete, and that wasn’t going to happen again,” he said. “That was our message to our football team, about competing.
“That’s the situation we were in, that first year unfortunately, that’s why we are here. You have to continue to coach through that and continue to build the culture that you want in your organization. We are much better now than we were then.”
Still, beating the Tigers, who are poised for their fourth consecutive appearance in the College Football Playoff, shapes up as a monumental task for the Gamecocks. The Gamecocks are coming off a 49-9 win over Chattanooga that made their bowl eligible, but the five games leading up to that were all one-possession affairs.
Since a 27-13 win over Syracuse on Sept. 29, Clemson has won its last six games by an average score of 50-8.
The Gamecocks do go into the game with a quarterback who knows what the rivalry is all about. Junior Jake Bentley will be making his third start against the Tigers.
“Not only is he better, we are much better around him,” Muschamp said. “Much better on the offensive line, much better at the receiver position, much better at the running back position.
“We are better overall. It’s not just one person’s responsibility to go out and play well. It’s everyone’s responsibility. We are better around him.”
