Palmetto Bowl Set for Noon Saturday, Nov. 30

A point in the South Carolina Education Lottery Palmetto Series, remaining in the conversation for an at-large spot in the 12-team CFP playoffs and state bragging rights are on the line when the No. 16/14 South Carolina Gamecocks (8-3, 5-3 SEC) wrap up their 2024 regular season schedule by traveling to Memorial Stadium (81,500) to face the #12/12 Clemson Tigers (9-2, 7-1 ACC) out of the Atlantic Coast Conference on Saturday, Nov. 30. The game is slated for a noon kick.

OVER THE AIRWAVES: This week’s contest will be televised nationally on ESPN. Roy Philpott will handle the play-by-play with Sam Acho providing the color commentary. Taylor Davis will be the sideline reporter. The Gamecock Sports Radio Network features a pair of Gamecock Great quarterbacks in play-by-play voice Todd Ellis (33rd season) and analyst Tommy Suggs (52nd season). Chet Tucker is back for his second year as the sideline reporter.

GETTING TO THE POINT: The Palmetto Series points chase was rekindled in 2022. This year’s competition between South Carolina and Clemson is presented by the South Carolina Education Lottery. When the rivals face off this season, each school will earn points for a win with the overall winner taking home the Palmetto Series trophy and bragging rights. Started in 2015, the Gamecocks lead the overall Palmetto Series by a comfortable 5-1 margin. South Carolina has captured the first two points in 2024-25 behind wins from volleyball and women’s basketball. Both the men’s and women’s soccer matches ended in a tie and the women’s cross-country teams split a pair of events. Next up is men’s basketball, scheduled for Dec. 17 in Columbia.

SEASON SNAPSHOT: The Gamecocks are 8-3 overall and finished with a 5-3 record in SEC play. All three of South Carolina’s losses came to ranked opponents with two of setbacks not decided until the game’s final play. They opened the campaign with a hard-fought 23-19 win over Old Dominion, then dominated Kentucky in the SEC opener, winning by a 31-6 count in Lexington. With quarterback LaNorris Sellers sidelined in the second half, the Gamecocks were unable to hold onto a 17-0 first half lead in a heartbreaking 36-33 setback to No. 16/17 LSU, then bounced back with a convincing 50-7 rout of Akron to improve to 3-1. The Gamecocks dropped their next two contests to highly-ranked opponents, coming up on the short end of a 27-3 decision to No. 12/11 Ole Miss in Columbia, then suffering another gut wrenching defeat in a 27-25 loss at No. 7/7 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. They have responded with five-straight wins, including four-straight conference victories – first a convincing 35-9 dismantling of Oklahoma in Norman then, after an off week, scoring the game’s final 27 points in a 44-20 win over No. 10/11 Texas A&M. They pounded No. 24/25 Vanderbilt 28-7 in Nashville to become bowl-eligible for the third time in four years under head coach Shane Beamer, then recorded their third-straight win over a ranked opponent in as many weeks with a heart-stopping 34-30 win over No. 24/21 Missouri. South Carolina extended its winning streak to five-straight with a 56-12 rout of FCS Wofford last Saturday in Columbia. Clemson will be the seventh ranked opponent South Carolina will face this season, and the fourth in the last five weeks.

CAROLINA VERSUS CLEMSON: This is the 121st meeting between these two Palmetto State schools in a rivalry that dates back to 1896. The teams met every year from 1909-2019, making the Carolina-Clemson series the second-longest running consecutively-played series in college football behind only Minnesota–Wisconsin before the series was interrupted in 2020 due to COVID-19. The Tigers hold a 73-43-4 lead in the all-time series, including a 19-11-1 mark in Clemson and a 54-32-3 advantage in Columbia. South Carolina snapped a Clemson seven-game winning streak by winning in their last visit to Tigertown by a 31-30 score in 2022.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: South Carolina scored the only offensive touchdown in the game, a one-yard run by Luke Doty, but Clemson’s defense proved to be too much as the Tigers posted a 16-7 win in Columbia on Nov. 25, 2023. The Gamecocks could muster just 169 yards of total offense in the contest. Khalil Barnes returned a fumble 42 yards in the game’s first series and Jonathan Weitz added three field goals for Clemson.  

THE LAST TIME THEY MET HERE: The Gamecocks overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat No. 7 Clemson, 31-30 in the final regular season game of the 2022 season on Nov. 26 in Clemson. Spencer Rattler completed 25-of-39 passes for 360 yards and two touchdowns, Antwane Wells Jr. had nine catches for 131 yards and two scores and Mitch Jeter hit the go-ahead field goal with just under 11 minutes left in the contest. Marcellas Dial was the SEC Defensive Player of the Week after recording an interception and three pass breakups. He allowed just one catch for 11 yards while being targeted 11 times. But the star of the game may have been Carolina punter Kai Kroeger, who averaged 53.7 yards on seven punts, pinning the Tigers deep in their own territory several times. The Carolina defense held Clemson to just 336 yards of offense, including 99 through the air, and forced three turnovers.

STREAK BUSTERS: South Carolina broke a number of Clemson streaks with its 31-30 victory over the Tigers in 2022, the last time they played at Memorial Stadium:

* Clemson had won 40 consecutive home games dating to the 2016 season, tied for the eighth longest home winning streak in FBS college history and the longest by since 1991-98 (Nebraska-47). It ended the fourth-longest home winning streak in college football history by one coach.

* Ended Clemson’s 34-game home winning streak against Power-5 Conference schools.

* Ended Clemson’s 26-game home non-conference winning streak. South Carolina has the victory at both ends of that streak, having beaten the Tigers at Death Valley in 2012.

* Ended Clemson’s streak of 72-consecutive wins when gaining at least 200 yards rushing. The streak dated to the 2009 season.

* Ended Clemson’s 67-game winning streak when leading going into the fourth quarter.

* Ended Clemson’s 63-game winning streak when recording more first downs.