The Game Preview: Clemson Looks to Finish 25 Strong By Taking Down the Gamecocks in Columbia

Can Clemson Continue its Columbia Dominance?

That feeling has returned. What feeling you ask? It is the one where you carry all kinds of nervous trepidation into the game some refer to as The Palmetto Bowl. It might be a little unfamiliar to the younger generation, especially those who cut their teeth during Clemson’s dominant 2014-2021 stretch in the series when it wasn’t a question of if the Tigers would win, but by how much. 2022 should have added another win to the ledger, but the Tigers decided to forgo playing in the second half, blew their lead, and saw their epic home winning streak as well as the streak against their bitter rivals snapped in shocking fashion. We all know what went down last year when Clemson allowed LaNorris Sellers to run through, around, and by the Tiger defense in another shocking second half collapse. That guy is still in Columbia, and now Tom Allen has the task of getting his defense properly disciplined to do what, quite frankly, several teams have been able to do this season: contain Sellers the runner and exploit Sellers the passer.

Of course, that is easier said that done considering the heavy leaks the Tigers secondary have shown this season. While the Tigers have decent pass rush statistics for the year, they certainly have lacked a consistent four man rush as T.J. Parker in particular has had much less success getting home for sacks in 2025. The Tigers also lost one of their best pass rush threats when Jaheim Lawson went down with an ankle injury last week. His injury was about as unnecessary as the one Cade Klubnik suffered when the Tigers were up comfortably against BC. Be that as it may, Clemson should still have an advantage up front against a largely problematic South Carolina offensive line. They had that advantage last year too, but forgot the part about actually tackling the quarterback when they got to him.

In August, most folks probably felt this would be a battle of playoff bound giants worthy of the national stage. Now only Clemson is bowl-eligible, and barely so, while the Gamecocks will clearly make this their bowl game in every way, shape, and form in an attempt to offset a largely miserable season on their end. Clemson will have to meet what promises to be a desperate effort by the home team. Their fans will be in full throat unless the Tigers can find a way to build a sufficient lead as they were able to do the last few trips to Williams-Brice. Clemson is most likely looking at a lower end bowl on the ACC slate, and it will be even more of a sour consolation should they lose this game.

Clemson Defense vs. South Carolina Offense: Clemson’s defense has certainly played better football overall since the absolute debacle against Duke. It hasn’t been perfect, but the Tigers have mostly buttoned up their run defense and cut way down on the egregious busts in the secondary. South Carolina has been mostly putrid on offense this season, leading to the firings of both their offensive line coach and then their offensive coordinator, but they have played better as of late and are coming off trouncing Coastal Carolina last week. They are doing more to feature their horizontal quick game, which is an area Clemson has had problems with at times, and if they do provide Sellers adequate pass protection, he can deliver some big time throws.

While Clemson has struggled to muster a consistent running game this season, the Gamecocks have been even worse. It is imperative that Clemson makes U of SC throw the ball to win and take their chances in that regard. Missouri did this, and while Sellers had several big moments on his way to 302 yards passing, they eventually had too many negative plays on sacks to be able to keep up. If they are able to get any kind of conventional run game going with their backs and the occasional jet sweep, that will open up their entire playbook and allow Sellers to dictate the action.

Sellers still has some holes to his game, most notably holding on to the ball too long and sometimes being fooled by a post-snap shift in a coverage. He has taken a ton of sacks this season as well, and even for a man of his stature, that has taken a bit of a toll on his running this season. The Coastal game was probably the first one all year when the Gamecocks could clearly feel like their OL handled the other front handily, and that showed that Sellers can be the same lethal player that terrorized Clemson and many others last season. Clemson’s front has to show up right away and not allow the Gamecock OL to start finding belief after a brutal season as a whole. Sellers is not immune to seeing some ghosts now, and Clemson needs to do whatever it can to make that happen on Saturday.

If I’m looking at the half-full glass for Clemson, I’m seeing that Clemson’s defensive strengths line up pretty well with U of SC’s offense. The really prolific passing attacks, such as what Syracuse had before Angeli got hurt, and obviously Duke and SMU, were better equipped to exploit some of Clemson’s defensive issues. While the Gamecocks can and have certainly hit some big plays in the passing game, they are not nearly as efficient overall in that area and struggle mightily in pass protection (particularly when they are made one dimensional). This year’s Tigers are so much better if they are able to score first and get some type of lead. That did not help in the last two losses to the Gamecocks, but this year I feel it is absolutely essential. If either team gets up two scores, it could be a very ugly situation for the opponent as neither are particularly good at playing from behind. Even though the Gamecocks blew a huge lead to Texas A&M, Clemson doesn’t have its home fans behind any comeback attempt it might have to mount like the Aggies did.

Corian Gipson coming of age here towards the end of the season certainly is a major plus. Aveion Terrell is an All-Conference level corner and Ashton Hampton has rebounded from an up and down start to the season on the other side. Clemson’s safeties are still a bit of a question mark, but at least Jones and Barnes have been in position to make the plays even if they haven’t always made them. Sammy Brown has been outstanding and essentially never comes off the field in any competitive situation, which I fully endorse. It will be very interesting to see how Tom Allen schemes up this Gamecock offense. It stands to reason the Tigers will employ a lot more zone than Wes Goodwin chose to use, but how much disruption can the front provide without providing gaps that Sellers can escape through? Can the Tigers be physical on the outside to disrupt the WR screen game? Clemson has tackled much better as a unit this season compared to last, but there have still been some poor moments in that department as well. It will start with making the Gamecocks one dimensional on offense. The team that runs the ball the best is going to win this game barring some crazy turnover differential, IMHO.

T.J. Parker and Peter Woods have not had the dominant seasons many had thought they would (me included), but nothing would be better than to one or both to break out in this game and make one or two game wrecking plays. Parker’s strip/sack that got Clemson going last year is a great example of this type of moment. Many of Clemson’s big wins in Columbia have featured major defensive plays like Antuan Edwards pick six in 1997, Ryan Carter’s big pick six in 2017, and Khalil Barnes taking a fumble back for a score in 2023. If Clemson wins this game, there will likely be some heroic moment like one of those in there somewhere.

Clemson Offense vs. South Carolina Defense: Many of Clemson’s multi-year QB starters have been able to end their careers with a win in this rivalry. Rodney Williams came back from a very tough night in 1987 to go out a winner in the 1988 game. Nealon Greene finished his up and down career vs. U of SC with that 1997 victory. Charlie Whitehurst was famously unbeaten during his four year run. DeShaun and Trevor never tasted defeat to the Gamecocks. Only Tajh Boyd, who happens to be on this staff, can attest to how it must feel to have ended up with a losing record, including his final game in the rivalry. Cade Klubnik could run the risk of finishing 1-2 in this series should the Tigers not win Saturday. Klubnik was largely the bright spot in last year’s game for Clemson’s offense against a legit Gamecock defense, but his turnover in the fourth quarter when the team was in field goal range he acknowledges haunts him to this day. Clemson has had some good moments here and there with the 2025 run game, but there is not much to suggest that Clemson can lean on that run game to win this matchup. Klubnik has to be the better quarterback and attack what has been a suspect Gamecock secondary. Then, hopefully Clemson can attack the defense when it is more spread out to help against the pass the way they did at Louisville.

Clemson needs to be sharp, to say the least. The drops and missed assignments that have derailed a lot of third down conversion attempts as well as more fourth downs than you would like to remember simply cannot happen. The good news is Antonio Williams is fully healthy and has proven to be a difference maker for this offense since his return to full capacity. Cade is certainly a different level of confident when #0 is out there with him. Can that WR opposite T.J. Moore step up and deliver? Tristan Smith had a terrible night at Louisville and has seen his snaps go to Cole Turner as a result.

Clemson’s OL has been better in pass protection than run blocking by in large this season. It helps that South Carolina’s most disruptive force, end Dylan Stewart, will largely face Clemson’s steadiest OL in Blake Miller. Their other end Dylan Thomas leads the team in sacks and has benefitted from the attention Stewart warrants. Tristan Leigh played well last year in this game and will need to deliver another good outing.

I’m more concerned with how Clemson handles the inevitable stunts and twists that they are likely to see. SMU’s front had a field day with these in that game. Clemson has five guys left that you figure they feel they can count on now, thanks to injuries. How the interior three handle their responsibilities is going to be a huge factor in how successful Clemson’s offense can hope to be against a defense that isn’t as good as last year’s but still capable. I’d rank Louisville’s defense slightly ahead of it but it is in that range with the Cards.

Clemson has taken better care of the football down the stretch and that has helped immensely during the 3 game winning streak. Both teams can ill afford to lose the turnover battle considering the challenges both squads are facing. You don’t go into this game with a combined 12 losses if you don’t have some serious warts to work around.

Garrett Riley’s offense has yet to break 20 points against the Gamecocks since he arrived. It is extremely unlikely anything less than 28 will get the job done this time around. Clemson’s better scoring defense in the last two power 5 games is a bit misleading, as both Florida State and Louisville squandered clear scoring chances with drops, missed throws, and/or missed kicks. That is a dangerous way to live, and the luck will run out sooner or later if you aren’t buttoned up. This isn’t the 2021 defense or even the 2023 defense that clearly showed it would not be threatened in any serious way by the Gamecock offense. Cade has played well the vast majority of the season since the GT game and is hopefully saving his best for last.

Speaking of quarterbacks, Clemson fans got their first real dose of Chris Denson against Furman, and his electric performance had folks buzzing to say the least. Some guys just let you know they are a different breed of cat almost immediately, and I would put Denson in that category. That said, he is still needing to add weight and is no doubt pretty limited in what he can faithfully execute, but if he is recovered from having his foot stepped on in practice, it would be very intriguing to see what could be used with him on the field. You are probably assuring you will get 1 on 1 coverage outside and safeties walking up if Denson is on the field. He got one snap against SMU and there was a terrible MA up front that killed the play, but he clearly showed if there is a gap to be had, he can exploit it and do serious damage. People can say “it was just Furman” but Denson was also operating with the end of the depth chart around him as well. We shall see…

Special Teams: You always have to be on high alert in this phase when you face any Beamer team. The Gamecocks are always primed to fake kicks, block kicks, and have a dangerous punt return man in Vicari Swain who has 3 punt return TDs this season. Clemson’s efforts against Louisville and FSU have given me a little more confidence that they can avoid disaster here, but this game figures to be pretty close like it has been over recent meetings and any swing play in this phase could be the difference. I’m still scarred by the fumbles by Phil Mafah on a gimmick kick return and Antonio Williams on a punt return that were huge factors in the 2022 loss. Nolan Hauser saw his made kick streak end last week, but hopefully that is out of the way because it may very well come down to his leg on Saturday. At least Clemson fans have seen Hauser deliver in the clutch and know he has range out to 55 or so. Clemson is much more risk averse than South Carolina in this area, but the Gamecocks have been burned a few times by their risky moves to go with some of those successes.

Overall: It is easy to make an argument for either team to win this game. South Carolina still has the guy who killed the Tigers last year and are at home. Clemson did flip the script on Spencer Rattler after his huge game in Death Valley in 2022 when they saw him again in 2023, so there is that. A lot of fans are probably just figuring this game will come down to who can suck the least given how the two seasons have gone. Clemson has to be able to win the turnover margin and be good defensively on third and especially fourth downs. If that happens, the Tigers should win. But there are so many question marks with Clemson’s injuries on the OL, as well as lingering concerns with the defensive backfield, to make you think Nyck Harbor will get loose for a huge play or Sellers will make a few of those hero runs when even a defensive tackle can’t get him to the ground. This is South Carolina’s bowl game and Clemson simply must meet the intensity and physicality at the jump and not allow the Gamecocks to set the tone the way so many teams from GT to Syracuse to SMU to Duke were allowed to do. Neither team has had that much success turning things around once it starts going awry. I picked Clemson to lose to FSU and Louisville and they delivered wins, so I’m hoping that trick works this time as well.

South Carolina 31-Clemson 27