Bowl goals dashed, what’s motivating South Carolina in season finale against Clemson?
The closest South Carolina-Clemson game of the last decade came between a Gamecocks team going nowhere and a Tigers team headed toward a national title game.
Deshaun Watson and Clemson came to Williams-Brice Stadium in 2015 with a No. 1 ranking and an undefeated record. It was a three-touchdown favorite to beat USC, a bunch led by an interim coach and coming off a loss to The Citadel.
Final score: Clemson 37, South Carolina 32
The Tigers improved to 12-0. The Gamecocks dropped to 3-9.
Four years later, some characters have changed — Trevor Lawrence has replaced Watson as Clemson’s star quarterback, Will Muschamp took over after Shawn Elliott’s interim run — but some storylines remain entering Saturday’s noon kickoff between the rivals in Columbia.
Clemson is undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings. South Carolina is 4-7 and won’t be in a bowl. The Tigers opened as 26-point favorites.
What is USC’s motivation for Saturday? What got the Gamecocks to make the Tigers sweat a bit in 2015?
“It was obviously a close game,” said USC sixth-year senior offensive lineman Donell Stanley. “They came here and they were ranked up there, undefeated, and our guys were ready to play. We came off a bad loss, but we put together a good game plan and everybody executed it and put ourselves in a position (to win).”
Stanley played in that game. And he was on Carolina’s roster the year before. In other words, he’s the only current Gamecock with a 0-5 record against the Tigers.
His motivation for Saturday is clear.
“I haven’t beat those guys yet and I don’t want to lose to them six years in a row,” Stanley said. “So I got to try and do something about it.”
South Carolina in ‘15 cut the Clemson lead to three with 12:19 left in the fourth quarter before the Tigers scored the next nine points to create enough separation and all but end the upset bid. Clemson escaped and went on to capture its first national championship since 1981.
The Gamecocks played spoiler for a while, but came up short in trying to ruin Clemson’s season.
They’re given a similar platform Saturday.
“Ruin it would be great, but their spot (in the CFP rankings) doesn’t really affect me,” said sophomore linebacker Ernest Jones. “I’m definitely trying to knock them out of that spot, though. That’s the goal, that’s what we’re coming in to do.”
Clemson has the nation’s longest winning streak at 26 games. South Carolina has lost four of five.
“It’s Clemson, everyone know what that means,” said senior receiver Chavis Dawkins, “so we just got to go out there and do our best.”
Regardless of result, the Tigers will play in next week’s ACC championship game. USC’s next game is Sept. 5, 2020, against Coastal Carolina.
“We don’t have another game,” Jones said, “but we’re playing a team that we just don’t fool with that much. So there’s extra motivation knowing this is a rivalry game and the last one for us.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 2:35 PM.
