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Jake Bentley on Clemson: ‘Everyone knew that they weren’t that much better than us or better than us at all’
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If you happened to miss last season’s South Carolina-Clemson game, here are some stats the Tigers dominated from the matchup. Final score 56 to 7, first downs 41 to 14, total yards 622 to 218, passing yards 372 to 107, rushing yards 250 to 111, yards per pass attempt 10.3 to 3.7, Deshaun Watson vs. Jake Bentley touchdown passes 6 to 0.
Despite those numbers, South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley recently said he believed Clemson wasn’t ‘better than us at all’ after that game. Interesting take.
Here are Bentley’s full comments on the subject.
“We just didn’t play well that week,” Bentley said. “That’s our big quote going into this year. Just, we felt like we got outworked. So our big thing is never again we will be outworked. Never again will be out-competed on a game like that. It all stems from that game. Because at the end of the game, everyone knew that they weren’t that much better than us or better than us at all. It really just lit a fire in everybody. Since that week, everyone has worked harder and wanted it more.”
Apparently his father, South Carolina running backs coach Bobby Bentley, isn’t quite buying into all that talk. Coach Bentley offered up his thoughts on the divide between the two schools, stating it was the Gamecocks’ job to close the gap moving forward.
Jake & @bobbybentley on the #Gamecocks trying to close the gap with #Clemson & how the rivalry game’s providing motivation @foxcarolinanews pic.twitter.com/LKOW4ogvkL
— Aaron Cheslock (@AaronCheslock) May 24, 2017
It makes sense that South Carolina’s quarterback would be saying these things to motivate his team this summer. The Gamecocks will need some confidence this offseason as they work to improve enough to challenge the Tigers on the field, but until that happens — Clemson has won the last three games in the series, it’s tough to argue the two programs are on even footing heading into the 2017 season.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
