Swinney vs. Beamer, Part II: Great Rivalry Brings Great Opportunity

Back in 2008, Dabo Swinney learned what Clemson's rivalry with South Carolina can mean for a coach.

He was serving as the program's interim and just hoping to get a chance at the full-time position. Well, he got more than a shot, because the Tigers beat the Gamecocks 31-14 in Memorial Stadium.

"I'm probably not here if it wasn't for the '08 game," Swinney said Tuesday. "Winning that game solidified the opportunity. I'll never forget that, ever."

Swinney said that win gave then-athletic director Terry Don Phillips "enough clout" to make Swinney the leader of the program. That decision has worked out well as Clemson has gone on to win two national championships, claim seven ACC championships and make six trips to the College Football Playoff.

But there was an incredibly dark time in the rivalry for Swinney. Following that 2008 victory, the Tigers didn't beat South Carolina again until 2014, a string of five straight losses. Swinney was on the embarrassing end of "five bombs" from fans.

It was a cloud hanging over him and the Tigers as they made their climb to what Clemson is now, a championship-winning program.

Once Clemson and Swinney got back on the right side of things in the rivalry, they still haven't fallen off.

Swinney has the longest losing skid by a coach in the history of this rivalry, and if the Tigers beat the Gamecocks on Saturday at noon, he'll have the longest winning streak at eight games as well.

What a wild rivalry-career arc.

Swinney's nemesis Saturday is still relatively new as a head coach in this rivalry. Shane Beamer was an assistant on former South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier's staff through four installments of this rivalry.

Last year was his first as a head coach, and Beamer was on the losing end of a 7-game skid in a 30-0 shutout of the Gamecocks. South Carolina wasn't equipped to take advantage of what was more of a down year for the Tigers as they went 10-3.

This season, Clemson is 10-1 overall and ranked 8th in the CFP rankings. South Carolina is 7-4, a tick better record-wise than they were a year ago in the Columbia meeting. But there's a better vibe on the Gamecocks, but South Carolina won 63-38 last week and ended Tennessee's quest to make the playoff.

Now Beamer gets a chance to do that two weeks in a row. That's just one of the many opportunities for him this week.

Not only can he spoil Clemson's season, but he can also be the coach that ends the streak. Do you think beating then-No. 5 Tennessee was a signature win? Getting by Clemson in Memorial Stadium, where the Gamecocks haven't played since 2018, and keeping history from happening will endear him to his fan base for decades, if not forever.

For Swinney, it's not as much about keeping that streak alive as it is about avoiding that sinking feeling of a loss.

"They're all bad. It doesn't matter if you lose five in a row or one in a row. When you lose this game, it stinks, period," Swinney said. "You can win 20 in a row. When you lose this game..there's nothing good about it.

"Same thing when you win it, it's great. It's been that way forever, ever and ever in a rivalry game and always will be."

The stakes. The bragging rights. The streak. The fact that both teams feel pretty good right now. It's welcomed juice to a rivalry that's been so one-sided and gives fuel to this fire for the fan bases.

You won't get much, if any, from the head coaches, though. This isn't like the old days when Swinney and Spurrier traded jabs or when it looked like Clemson enjoyed running the score up on Will Muschamp.

Swinney and Beamer are more alike than they are different. Both rely on strong cultural beliefs. They're huge competitors and want to win, but there's a ton of respect on both sides.

Swinney said, "Shane's done an amazing job...we've got to play well."

"I hate he's there. I hate competing against people I consider a friend ... it just is what it is," Swinney said Monday night during his weekly radio call-in show. "But you'd like it if they were somewhere else and not your rival. Game kicks off, you could care less. You just want to win."

Beamer said Tuesday that what Clemson has accomplished as a program under Swinney is difficult.

"I think if you look at them year after year, they just continue to get better as the season goes," Beamer said. "Another 10-win season for them. Another opportunity to win an ACC championship. That is not easy to do. I know everybody thinks you are supposed to roll the balls out and you are supposed to win every Saturday.

"They get everyone's best shot every single week in that league because of what they have done. To be sitting there with 10 wins again is remarkable and an opportunity to win another conference championship. They are extremely talented, as you know. They are extremely well-coached, as you know."

Ultimately, both coaches know that blocking, tackling, execution and making plays determine the next 365 days. But as Swinney proved in 2008 and as Beamer hopes to find out, at the heart of this rivalry is opportunity.

And because it means so much, what you do with that opportunity can define a coach well beyond just one game in November.

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