So things couldn’t feel worse in Gamecock country lately...

We lost a third game after a two touchdown lead to Clemson Lite, and to make things worse, the news broke the week after that Marcus Lattimore, the greatest Gamecock human, is retiring from the NFL after an injury suffered two years ago. 

Now we’re glaring at one of the worst seasons that many of us have experienced as students. The silver lining to the season will and has to be that we beat Georgia and Clemson, and here are a few reasons why we will still beat Clemson despite the previous letdowns of this season.    

1. Clemson sucks.
I just had to get that out of my system, it was too far into the article without saying so. But on a serious note, Clemson looks pretty bad this season. Luckily for them, the ACC is worse; for all the complaining the Tigers do about the SEC being overrated, they are definitely more thankful than ever this season that they don’t have to play SEC football. The Tigers have played rather awful football, but, fortunately for them, awful football equates to wins in their conference. It is a major disadvantage to Clemson to play the schedule they do because they are never ready for the physicality and speed differences that the Gamecocks bring. Clemson may be just as physical and fast, but if you are playing against slow and soft, you start to become slow and soft yourself. Clemson’s five games before facing the Gamecocks are: @ Boston College, Syracuse, @ Wake Forest, @ Georgia Tech, and Georgia State. Georgia Tech is the only game in there that Clemson needs a pulse to win. It’s nice to win a lot, but sure doesn’t prepare you for harder games, and the Tigers will come into the game like kittens. 

2. Clemsoning is real
As bad as the Gamecock season has been, we still can’t rival the Clemson ability of being a colossal letdown in the biggest moments each and every year. This year, following the Florida State vs. Clemson game, the term Clemsoning was trending nationwide. It was a dream come true for all Carolina fans. Even better was peeking into the Clemson Yik Yak to see the teary-eyed comments flow. FSU is a one-man team this season and Clemson played them without that one man. It took Clemson’s entire bag of letdowns and Dabo’s buffoonery to pull off that loss but we are all glad you did. Expect another Clemsoning moment this year in the state championship. 

3. The Gamecocks
play to the level of their competition. The way South Carolina played down at Jordan-Hare stadium vs. Auburn showed that despite youth, the team does not fear large opposing stadiums. Jordan-Hare is larger and louder than “Death Valley Jr” (Behind LSU). USC will play up for the game and this time let’s just get a three touchdown lead in the fourth quarter instead of two... just to be safe.