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Long after Steve Spurrier has departed the ranks of college football greatness, he’ll primarily be remembered for two historic feats as South Carolina’s all-time winningest coach:
Three consecutive 11-win seasons and perhaps more importantly, five straight wins over “that team from the Upstate” as the Head Ball Coach likes to call the Clemson Tigers.
Never before had the Gamecocks garnered “one for the thumb” against their Palmetto State rival prior to Spurrier’s arrival. In fact, four decades had passed since South Carolina last posted consecutive wins in the bitter 118-year series.
Part of the reason Lou Holtz’s tenure fizzled out in Columbia, S.C. was due to a pair of sizable losses to the Tigers — 63-17 at home in 2003 and the brawl-defined 22-point setback in Death Valley in his embarrassing final game as coach the following season.
Spurrier points to the signing of in-state playmaker Stephon Gilmore in 2009 as the day the balance of power shifted in the matchup. Gilmore, a multi-year starter at cornerback, never lost to the Tigers and quarterback Connor Shaw, the school’s wins leader, punctuated the dominant stretch with his 18th straight home win in his senior season finale against Clemson.
From 2009 to 2014, the Gamecocks beat the Tigers by an average of 16.8 points per game including four wins against Clemson while Dabo Swinney’s team was ranked inside the top 12. All-Americans Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins, despite being two of the most notable players in Tigers football history, never tasted victory against South Carolina despite an ACC championship and a BCS bowl win to their credit.
South Carolina-Clemson rivalry at a glance (since 2005)
- Gamecocks lead, 6-4, over last decade
- Seven straight games decided by 10 or more points
- All 10 contests nationally-televised
Rivalry’s memorable recent moments
- 2013 — Shaw completed his home career a sparkling 18-0 with his second win over Clemson, 246 total-yard effort and two touchdowns.
- 2012 — One of the most dominant single-game defensive efforts under Spurrier, the Gamecocks held Clemson to just 153 total yards and cruised to a 34-13 win. The Tigers were ranked No. 17 and won the ACC that season.
- 2007 — After missing on a pair of field goals earlier in the game, Clemson’s Mark Bucholtz gave the Tigers a 23-21 win at Williams-Brice Stadium with a 35-yard boot as time expired. It was Clemson’s ninth win in its previous 10 games in Columbia dating back to 1989.
Best performance (offense)
- After Shaw was a late scratch due to injury at No. 11 Clemson in 2012, second-teamer Dylan Thompson came off the bench to deliver in the clutch for the Gamecocks, throwing for 310 yards and three touchdowns during South Carolina’s 27-17 win. His first down run on 3rd-and-19 is a play Gamecocks fans still talk about during the program’s dominant five-year stretch.
Best performance (defense)
- During that same victory, SEC defensive player of the year Jadeveon Clowney set the program’s single-season sack record with 4.5 against Tajh Boyd as the Gamecocks shut down one of the nation’s top offenses, limiting the Tigers more than 200 yards below their season average.
