Throw the Records Out...Not so Fast
CLEMSON — “You can throw the records out. The records don't matter. This is Clemson-South Carolina." Those words were spoken by head coach Dabo Swinney, but are they true?
We always hear the phrase, “You can throw out the record books when these two teams get together.” However, while there have been some upsets in the series, usually the team with the better record comes away with the victory.
The team entering the game with the better overall record has a 24-9-1 record in the series since 1981. That computes to greater than 70 percent over a 36-year period. Four times during that era both teams had the same record.
However, nine of the last 14 years the team with the better overall record entering the game has lost. For the history of the series, Clemson has a 45-18-3 record when it enters the contest with the better record, a 70 winning percentage. Clemson has had the better record in 66 of the 116 previous meetings. The teams have had the same winning percentage entering the game 11 times and Clemson has a 8-3 record in those situations.
The Tigers enter the 2019 matchup with the Gamecocks with not just a slightly better record, the two teams are not even in the same universe. The Tigers enter the game with a perfect 11-0 record, looking forward to a fifth straight appearance in the ACC Championship and a fifth straight berth in the College Football Playoff. While the Gamecocks enter the game with a 4-7 record and are guaranteed to spend bowl season at home on the couch.
But even with his team holding a decided advantage over the Gamecocks, with ESPN's FPI giving the Tigers' a 92.6% chance of winning the game by an average score of 41-19, Swinney still believes that the Gamecocks will come ready to play.
“You are going to have both teams excited to play and both teams have an open date and two weeks to prepare, so none of that stuff matters," Swinney said. "All that matters is what you do those four quarters and nothing carries over, good or bad. You gotta earn it on the field that day during those four quarters, not anything this year or last year.”
Swinney has a full understanding of how important this rivalry is to the people of South Carolina. Even after making the move from Alabama to South Carolina, it did not take him long to understand how headed the rivalry was.
"I realized it my first spring here. I was recruiting that spring and I realized it was no different than living in Alabama,” he said. “When I was living in Alabama and coaching at Alabama, half of the people are happy to see you when you're out recruiting and half of them aren't. It was an easy transition for me because I was used to an in-state rivalry. Right out of the gate I realized right away how big a deal it is to people in this state. It's fun to be a part of a great rivalry."
“Again, I’m just thankful to be able to be a part of a game like this in college football. I just think it is really cool,” said Swinney, who is 6-5 against the Gamecocks as the head coach at Clemson. “You look around the country and it is a special week. Alabama-Auburn, Florida State-Florida, Michigan-Ohio State, Mississippi State-Mississippi, Virginia Tech-Virginia, Georgia Tech-Georgia, those are all really fun games that I think really make kind of the essences of college football.”
