How do South Carolina coaches talk to players about Clemson week? They don’t have to

South Carolina football team lives by the mantra “every week’s a season,” aiming to put maximum attention toward each week, whether it be against an FCS team or a top-ten foe.

But this week is different, no doubt. Clemson is a different beast.

One might wonder, does that change the way the Gamecocks talk about things going into it? Or do the coaches preach blocking out the noise.

Turns out, they don’t have to.

“I don’t know that you really need to talk about it a lot,” South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said. “Our guys will feel it. Our guys will understand the importance of this game.”

The Gamecocks have lost four in a row in the series, which followed a run of five victories that helped characterize the golden age in the program’s history. Now the Tigers are in command and in the midst of their own dominant run.

As of Sunday night, the line opened at more than 25 points.

The Gamecocks will have to try to solve a deeply talented roster, with their own squad banged up all over. The past two losses have come by 24 and 49 points.

Yet even with that state of things, the game takes on something more.

“At the end of the day when you’re a South Carolina Gamecock and people find out you played football at South Carolina, probably one of the first questions they’re going to ask you is what was your record vs. Clemson?” Muschamp said. “Our guys understand that. We’ve talked about that. They understand it’s a big ballgame. They understand the importance to this state, to their university and to you lineage as a South Carolina football player. It’s a really important game.”