If there’s one constant in the recent struggles for South Carolina against Clemson, it’s that the offense has struggled to find a rhythm.

Last year, the Gamecocks had just 207 total yards, including 81 rushing yards. Two years ago, it was 218 total yards, including 111 rushing yards. For context, the last time South Carolina beat Clemson, with Connor Shaw at quarterback, South Carolina had 318 yards, including 140 on the ground.

But if there’s one piece of optimism for the Gamecocks entering Saturday’s game at Clemson, it’s that South Carolina in recent weeks has its offense moving at a clip not seen for most of this season.

“They are doing a good job with playing with a lot of confidence and getting their playmakers the ball. I think they’ve found some things in the running game, and I think they’re good up front,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said on his Sunday media teleconference, according to audio posted by SportsTalkSC. “I think they’ve got a good offensive line, and (Jake) Bentley’s got a ton of experience. Very savvy and knowledgeable player. This will be a really good offense that we’ve got to prepare for.”

Two of the four South Carolina losses — Georgia and Texas A&M — were because of a lack of running game as the Gamecocks registered 54 and 76 rushing yards. But since that Texas A&M game, South Carolina has rushed for 224, 147, 147 and 238 yards.

At 6-4, South Carolina is in the market to upgrade its bowl destination, and snap the 4-game losing streak against Clemson, which opened as a 25.5 point favorite. Will Muschamp is also looking for just his second win over a ranked team since 2016.

Perhaps Muschamp needs to deliver a tweak, something that Swinney expounded on that he made to the program four or five years ago. He moved the Senior Day activities to the home game before the South Carolina game when Clemson hosts the Gamecocks. Between the rivalry and Thanksgiving, Swinney said there was too much emotion, and he needed to make a change.

“We had stunk in the game and needed to do something different and I felt like I needed to do something to help us,” Swinney said, referring to South Carolina’s 5-game winning streak at the time.

Trying something different is something Muschamp wants to be careful with in terms of planning and aligning his defense.

After Clemson made the change at quarterback from Kelly Bryant to Trevor Lawrence, Muschamp said there wasn’t a significant shift in philosophy or how the Tigers attack defenses.

“They do what they do and that’s what makes them efficient offensively,” Muschamp said on his Sunday media teleconference. “They play with a good tempo, they execute, it’s not like they have a vast playbook of different things they do. Generally, the really good teams that you face, they’re really good at what they do. They execute and put the ball in space with really good players that are hard to tackle. They do a very effective job at that.”

Muschamp was asked about showing new wrinkles on defense, something that Boston College appeared to do against Lawrence some new wrinkles. Would Muschamp consider doing that?

“Certainly, we try to give teams different things that we’re able to handle, and that we can execute and play fast with,” Muschamp said. “The question you get into yourself, we’ve got some youth at the safety position of guys that haven’t played a lot of snaps. So don’t trick yourself and ask them to do too many things and not execute to cut a guy loose. So let’s come up with some different things to keep them off rhythm. Certainly we try to do that every week. But don’t trick yourself, and that’s what you’ve got to start with first, because the worst thing you can do is cut a guy loose for a big play.”

The importance of the game is not lost on either program. Both coaches spoke of the historic importance and what it means to fans across the state.

“I don’t think you need to talk about it. Our guys will understand the importance of this game,” Muschamp said. “At the end of the day, when people find out you’re a South Carolina Gamecock, and find out you played at South Carolina, probably one of the first questions they’re going to ask you was, what was your record versus Clemson? Our guys understand that, we’ve talked about that, and they understand it’s a big ball game. They understand the importance to this state, to this university, and to your lineage as a South Carolina. It’s a really important game.”

Swinney is aware that this could deliver the second 12-0 regular season in 4 years.

“It means the same to me as it does for everybody else in this state,” Swinney said. “It means you’ve won the state championship and you live with this one for 365 days. It means we’re 12-0. We love nothing more than to be 12-0 and that’s not going to happen if we don’t take care of business this week. This is a goal of its own, a season of its own, and we’re excited about this time of year.”

For Muschamp, by some measures, the Gamecocks have exceeded expectations. But there are certain aspects of the job, like this series, that he’s yet to live up to expectations. The late-scheduled Akron game on Dec. 1 and the bowl game mean Muschamp could get to 21 or 22 wins through three seasons. For perspective, Steve Spurrier had 21 in his first three seasons coaching the Gamecocks.

Muschamp was asked about Clemson’s relative patience to allow Swinney, for example, to get to 10 wins in his third season, and then 14 wins in his seventh season.

“Patience is something I don’t have,” Muschamp said. “And I don’t want our fan base to have it either. I want them to be demanding and expect excellence. Regardless of whether we’ve done it before doesn’t matter. That’s where we want to take the program. The investment that we’ve made with our operations facility, the things that we’re doing in our program, the progress we’ve made in three years has been good. That’s not where we want to be. I have a higher expectation than they do, I can assure you of that. Having been a part of multiple conference championships and national championships, this staff and myself know how to get there, and we’re excited about our future. So I’m not a patient person, and I don’t want our fan base to be patient either.”