Let the chippiness and pettiness of South Carolina-Clemson 2017 resume, and not a moment too soon. Bulletin board material is one thing that makes college football rivalries uniquely special.
South Carolina absolutely remembers Clemson’s curtain call ending to last year’s rivalry game
The Tigers had a cool moment at the expense of the Gamecocks in 2016. Memories aren’t short.
Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports
The reference here is to a move Dabo Swinney made while Clemson was blasting South Carolina, 49-7, at home last season.
Already in garbage time with the likes of Deshaun Watson, Wayne Gallman, and Mike Williams sitting the bench, Swinney inserted all three back into the game after a timeout for a curtain call exit that the Tigers legends certainly deserved.
It appears it’s a moment that Carolina players have not forgotten.
This rivalry is already heated.
It’s a regular in-state cacophony of hatred. Look no further than the all-out donnybrook that went down in 2004 when both teams cleared benches and fought to the point that multiple police officers had to get involved.
Or the much smaller fracas back in 1983.
And this rivalry certainly does not take time off in the offseason.
From early 2017:
“We have the young talent here to win a national championship,” said South Carolina QB Jake Bentley.
Clemson linebacker commitment Jake Venables, a member of the 2018 class who happens to be the son of the Tigers defensive coordinator Brent Venables, fired back.
But Clemson players aren’t exactly taking these comments personally.
For South Carolina, they can prove supremacy in state and have a curtain call of their own on senior day, if they can pull the upset of the Tigers that is.
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