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Everyone knows what week it is. Like the clockwork of leaves changing or the sun rising, it is that time again.

“None of us should have to be motivated externally to play in this game,” Marcellas Dial said. “This is what we came to Carolina for.”

For the 120th time, it is South Carolina vs. Clemson week. Any and all hyperobles are welcome for the state of South Carolina’s annual Super Bowl, a 365-day rivalry across every discipline of life crescendoing in 60 minutes of football the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

This time, with the added storylines of Clemson trying to avenge last season’s 31-30 loss and avoid losing back-to-back games in the series for the first time in a decade, and South Carolina needing to win to guarantee bowl eligibility. Per the respective official rosters, there are exactly 100 players from the Palmetto state involved in this game, 52 Tigers and 48 Gamecocks. Lifetimes of growing up playing with and against each other intertwined at the Pop Warner, middle school and high school levels come out in this game.

But really, all of those notes are on the back burner.

“If you love college athletics and college football, this is the best week of the year,” Shane Beamer said. “It’s what makes college athletics and college football special. I’ve been a part of a lot of great rivalries in my time in coaching, but nothing is like this one.”

Welcome to rivalry week.

Matchup: No. 24 Clemson (7-4) at South Carolina (5-6)

Venue: Williams-Brice Stadium

Kickoff: 7:39 p.m. ET

Network: SEC Network

Broadcast team: Taylor Zarzour; Matt Stinchcomb; Alyssa Lang

Spread: Clemson -7.5

Over/under: 50.5 points

Clemson is playing its best football of the season right now with a three-game winning streak in its back pocket, but there is the caveat of it being three straight home games. The Tigers will hit the road for the first time since an Oct. 28 loss at North Carolina State, and are just 1-3 away from home this season.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik in particular has been significantly worse on his travels, throwing 14 touchdowns and only three interceptions at home compared to five touchdowns and four interceptions on the road.

His challenge will be even more difficult with his only 500-yard receiver out injured as Dabo Swinney confirmed Wednesday Beaux Collins would miss the game.

It leaves Clemson with limited reliable options in the passing game, but still an elite running game to lean on. Will Shipley and Phil Mafah have combined for 1,523 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns this season and both are averaging over five yards per carry.

There is not a lot of mystery to what Clemson is going to do. The Tigers are going to run the ball, try to lean on South Carolina up front and keep the ball out of harm’s way as much as possible.

“They’ve always had staples over there,” defensive coordinator Clayton White said. “They have two good ones, and the third back is pretty good. And also, you’ve got to be ready for the quarterback. Clemson football, that’s what they do. They want to pound you, and they want to get you sucked up and do all the play action stuff. But I feel like they’ve always had good backs.”

Speaking of Clemson traits you have come to expect, this defensive front is loaded again. One of the key surprises in last season’s upset win was how well South Carolina’s offensive line kept Spencer Rattler upright, and the front five for the Gamecocks might have an even greater challenge Saturday.

Jeremiah Trotter Jr. — a linebacker Rattler knows all too well after his pick six on the first drive of last year’s game — still anchors the defense with 5.5 sacks and 82 tackles on the year. His linebacker partner Barrett Carter does not have the same eye-popping numbers, but has been a mainstay all year and forms the other half of “the best linebacker tandem we’ve played all year” in Beamer’s mind.

Four different Tigers have at least four sacks this year in a group that even at Clemson’s lowest points of struggles still has not allowed more than 23 points in a regulation game since week one at Duke.

“The difference between the SEC and other conferences in my opinion is the line of scrimmage,” Beamer said. “And they have an SEC defensive line.”

Wes Goodwin’s defense has had a knack for not only taking the ball away, but scoring with it. The Tigers have scored four defensive touchdowns in 2023, all interception returns courtesy of four different players in four different games.

“I shot ourselves in the foot a couple times in that game last year,” Rattler said about his turnovers against Clemson. “I made it harder to come back with two turnovers. I’ve got to protect the ball at a higher rate, which we have been doing this year, knock on wood. I’ve got to go out there, protect the ball, play clean ball because that’s one of the best defenses in the country.”

Defensively, South Carolina essentially does what it did to a similarly-built Kentucky team last week. Take care of business in the box, prevent the opponent from powering down the offense into a one-dimensional running mode, and force a quarterback who has struggled on the road to beat you by pushing the envelope. Easier said than done, but there is a blueprint.

Take that defensive performance, add in a better offensive line showing than last week with more heroics from Rattler to Xavier Legette, and the Gamecocks have more than enough in the tank to keep Williams-Brice Stadium engaged for four quarters and ride the home atmosphere to another upset win.

Those muddy, malaised offensive possessions you saw for large swaths of the Kentucky game become the norm. Clemson’s defensive line is even better than the one that had South Carolina completely flustered for 2.5 quarters last week, and it does not take a lot to imagine a similar situation where the Gamecocks simply cannot keep Rattler upright long enough to establish anything offensively.

In turn the Tigers will be able to use Shipley and Mafah to keep their cards close to the vest, play a safe, risk-free game offensively and just trudge out of Columbia with a low key win.

Somehow, someway, South Carolina finds a way to get this done. It is not going to be a masterpiece, and nobody is looking for one anyway. Winning by one or a hundred would mean everything to this fanbase and program, and this time it will be a 24-23 South Carolina win.

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