South Carolina went to Clemson on Saturday night as a 25.5-point underdog. It turned out much worse than that.
Despite an otherwise relatively strong second half of its season, the Gamecocks never posed much of a threat against the Tigers in a 56-7 loss.
While Will Muschamp’s team had exceeded expectations in winning six games, the Tigers were considered underachievers by virtue of having lost a game to anybody not named Alabama. With a playoff spot still there for the taking for Clemson, catching an even more motivated-than-usual in-state rival for a night game in their building was not ideal for the Gamecocks.