ESPN analyst identifies the 'massive' must-win for Clemson this season

Will Shipley helped the Tigers extend a lead in the second half over South Carolina last year, but the Gamecocks ultimately ended the seven-game run. ESPN's Greg McElroy sees the rivalry return to Columbia as a must-win.

by TigerNet Staff - Fri May 05 10:38:11 GMT-04:00 2023

ESPN’s Greg McElroy identified his must-win games of the 2023 college football season – and one will stand out to Tiger fans.

He sees Clemson’s rivalry grudge match in Columbia as No. 3 on his list this season.

“I think that is a massive game for the Clemson program and the perception of the Tigers moving forward,” McElroy said.

The Gamecocks ended a stretch of seven wins in a row for Clemson in the series (the most for either side) with a 31-30 victory in Death Valley last November.

While Clemson’s overhaul on offense and quest for a Playoff return dominate headlines, McElroy points to the South Carolina game for some redemption for the program.

“Dabo Swinney coming off the losses that occurred in last year’s season – goes and makes an offensive coordinator change, now Cade Klubnik – you’ve anointed him, brought in Garrett Riley, this is the year that you’re going to get things back going again in Clemson offensively,” McElroy said. “This has been a remarkably steady program. A program that would define a bad season as losing multiple games. Is the standard unfair in Clemson, South Carolina? Probably not. The standard is the standard. They set the standard by being elite from 2015 all the way until 2021. They just haven’t been maybe as consistent in the last two seasons.

“Either way, if they lose to South Carolina again this year, then you have consecutive losses to South Carolina and that would be a game – we know that rivalry, we remember how Steve Spurrier treated that rivalry, we remember how Dabo treated that rivalry – if for whatever reason they lost to their instate rival again, that would be a difficult thing to spin.”

A home rivalry loss as a double-digit favorite marked last season.

“Now Clemson is still a really good program, and I think anyone that says otherwise is probably either jealous or angry about what Clemson has become, but anyone that says Clemson is not still a legit program – I’m not sure they’re looking them like they look at every other team in college football,” McElroy said. “But to lose on your homefield to a team that hadn’t looked that good for the vast majority of the season and a team that had just had an emotional victory the week before (Tennessee) – you think maybe they’ll show up and be sloppy, but it wasn’t them that was sloppy, it was Clemson that was sloppy and mistakes and special teams mistakes by Clemson that ultimately allowed the Gamecocks to steal that one there in Death Valley.”

Clemson was listed as a 6.5-point favorite at South Carolina in a line released by BetOnline this week.