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Sapakoff: Clemson, South Carolina football forecast for every game

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Sapakoff: Clemson, South Carolina football forecast for every game


The best thing about this Palmetto State college football prediction tool is it fits comfortably into any tailgate picnic basket.

Unlike pimento cheese, it won’t smell if left open until December.

But picking fixins is easier than picking games with more head coach extremes in the mix than at any time since John Heisman was coaching football and baseball at Clemson.

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Of South Carolina’s nine NCAA Division I programs, four have new head coaches: Coastal Carolina, The Citadel, Charleston Southern and Wofford.

Meanwhile, Buddy Pough with a Saturday night showcase opener against Jackson State on ABC, is in his 22nd season. And his last, per this week’s announcement that the Bulldogs’ winningest coach will retire after the 2023 season.

South Carolina’s Shane Beamer has presided over the most exciting, unpredictable, overachieving program in college football the last two years: Seven point-spread upsets, four of them as double-digit underdogs (the other 13 SEC teams combined for just five upset wins as double-digit underdogs).

Clemson’s Dabo Swinney is no less than one of the greatest college coaches in any sport so far this century. But he’s coming off a loss to South Carolina and a bowl loss for the first time since 2012.

A quick trip through the college football fever happening from Fort Sumter to Sassafras Mountain:

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South Carolina

Gamecock Nation saw Spencer Rattler’s ownership of the offense vault in the last three games of an 8-5 season. Progress continues, reflected in Rattler treating all the offensive linemen to Hall’s Chophouse gift cards earlier this month while accepting blame for a turnover-prone 2022 season.

“Total accountability,” Rattler said. “Trying to do too much.”

This is where Rattler’s previous up and down experience at Oklahoma and help from new offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains should come in handy.

“Being a quarterback you’re going to go through the success (and) you have to go through the adversity,” Rattler said. “And you have to take it all.”

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Easy wins: Furman (Sept. 9), Jacksonville State (Nov. 4), Vanderbilt (Nov. 11).

Furman is picked to win the Southern Conference. Rich Rodriguez in his first year with the other Gamecocks went 9-2 at Jacksonville State in 2022.

Harder wins: Mississippi State (Sept. 23), Florida (Oct. 14), at Missouri (Oct. 21), Kentucky (Nov. 18).

No reason to panic after a 2-3 start, not the way Beamer’s teams have finished the last two seasons.

Losses: North Carolina (Sept. 2), at Georgia (Sept. 16), at Tennessee (Sept. 30), at Texas A&M (Oct. 28), Clemson (Nov. 25).

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Steve Spurrier didn’t have to face Bulldogs and Vols this good.

Barometer game: Right away.

Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye is a great test for a defense in need of impact players to step forward.

Trap game alert: Mississippi State.

Will Rogers is a very good, very underrated college quarterback.

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Record: 8-5 including a bowl win in a year in which the Gamecocks don’t improve record-wise but make more strides as a program

Sapakoff: 'Without Dabo, Clemson is West Virginia' in realignment talk

Clemson

Why did three-time All-ACC defensive tackle Tyler Davis return for a fifth Clemson season?

Same reason why there’s so much enthusiasm around a loaded defense, Cade Klubnik’s first season as a starting quarterback and Garrett Riley moving from TCU to call plays.

“Why not have a chance to win the natty?” Davis said.

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The workable schedule has the two toughest opponents, Florida State and Notre Dame, coming to Death Valley.

Clemson, coming off 10-3 and 11-3 seasons, probably can afford one loss and still make the College Football Playoff for the seventh time in nine years.

Easy wins: Charleston Southern (Sept. 9), Florida Atlantic (Sept. 16), at Syracuse (Sept. 30), Wake Forest (Oct. 7), Georgia Tech (Nov. 11).

Try mixing a visit to Cooperstown into your Syracuse trip. Very nice that time of year.

Harder wins: at Duke (Sept. 4), at Miami (Oct. 21), at N.C. State (Oct. 28), Notre Dame (Nov. 4), North Carolina (Nov. 18), at South Carolina (Nov. 25).

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A much tougher second half.

Losses: Florida State (Sept. 23),

But revenge for Clemson in the ACC Championship Game

Barometer game: Game 1 of the split doubleheader with the Seminoles. 

Trap game alert: N.C. State is never a trap game, but the Wolfpack has two weeks to prepare for a Clemson team coming off a trip to Miami

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Record: 12-2 including an ACC title and a playoff semifinal loss

Coastal Carolina

Having NFL quarterback prospect Grayson McCall back for a shot a fourth Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year award puts the Chanticleers in good position for a fourth consecutive bowl appearance.

But how quickly will Coastal Carolina adapt to Tim Beck and new offensive coordinator Travis Trickett’s offense are the key questions going into a tough schedule that starts at UCLA.

Record: 8-5 including a bowl game

The Citadel

Maurice Drayton has his work cut out: Not a single Citadel player on the two-deep All-Southern Conference preseason teams after a 4-7 season. Solutions include a strong, Citadel grad-heavy coaching staff and the mystery foes must deal with in preparing for a re-tooled offense.

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Record-setting season ticket sales show fans believe.

Record: 3-8

Charleston Southern

The Buccaneers’ new world includes new head coach Gabe Giardina, an assistant coach during the Jamey Chadwell glory years, a Sept. 9 game at Clemson and an odd Big South Conference-Ohio Valley Conference merger.

Alas, CSU coming off a 2-8 season was picked to finish ninth among 10 teams in the Big South-OVC preseason poll.

Record: 4-7

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Sapakoff: The ACC football case for Florida State, and for Clemson

S.C. State

The Buddy system includes four FCS playoff appearances and a glorious 2021 Celebration Bowl victory over Coach Prime. But the Bulldogs slipped to 3-8 in 2022 and need a quick mesh between veteran quarterback Corey Fields and Kevin Magouirk, in his first season back in the S.C. State offensive coordinator job he had from 2008-2012.

S.C. State plays host to The Citadel on Sept. 23.

Record: 6-5

Furman

The Paladins are strongest on an offensive line led by redshirt seniors Pearson Toomey and Jacob Johaning and in a secondary featuring cornerback Travis Blackshear and safety Hugh Ryan.

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The Southern Conference favorite, Furman went 10-3 in 2022 with a second-round FCS playoff shootout loss to Incarnate Word (41-38).

Record: 10-3 with a pair of playoff games again

Wofford

Shawn Watson as interim head coach led the Terriers to a 3-3 finish to make a 3-8 season taste better. Still a lot of work to do, both in Watson’s pro spread offense and on defense, where Wofford was seventh in the SoCon in scoring defense and total defense.

Record: 4-7

Presbyterian

The 111th football season for the Blue Hose, and another rough road. PC competes in the FCS Pioneer League, the nation’s only non-scholarship football-only conference. A 1-10 record in 2022 left PC dead last at No. 261 in USA Today’s final Sagarin poll of Division I teams.

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On the bright side, wide receiver Dominic Kibby had four 100-yard receiving games and looks like second-year head coach Steve Englehart’s top scoring threat.

Record: 2-9

Follow Gene Sapakoff on Twitter @sapakoff

2023 poll numbers

Where South Carolina’s nine NCAA Division I football teams were picked to finish in their respective conference preseason polls:

Clemson (ACC), 1st

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South Carolina (SEC), 3rd in SEC East

Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt), 3rd in East Division

The Citadel (Southern), 7th

Charleston Southern (Big South/Ohio Valley), 9th

S.C. State (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference), 3rd

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Furman (Southern), 1st

Wofford (Southern), 8th

Presbyterian (Pioneer), 11th





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South Carolina high school football scores: Live updates, live streams (11/8/2024)

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South Carolina high school football scores: Live updates, live streams (11/8/2024)


The 2024 South Carolina high school football season is in high gear and SBLive Sports is the place to follow of the live scoring updates and finals.

Follow the action get the most to date scores by tracking the SBLive South Carolina High School Football Scoreboard. We will have in-game score updates and all of the final scores from every corner of the state. You can also search for full schedules and complete scores from all of your very favorite teams.

Here’s a guide to following all of the South Carolina high school football this week.

STATEWIDE SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD

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CLASS 5A SCORES | CLASS 4A SCORES

CLASS 3A SCORES | CLASS 2A SCORES

CLASS 1A SCORES

SCISA CLASS AAAA | SCISA CLASS AAA

SCISA CLASS AA | SCISA A

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2024 SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL SCHEDULES: FIND YOUR TEAM

Can’t make it to your favorite team’s game but still want to watch them live? You can watch dozens of South Carolina high school football games live on the NFHS Network:

WATCH LIVE ON NFHS NETWORK

We also invite you to visit the brand new South Carolina homepage on High School on SI, powered by SBLive Sports, for the latest news, highlights, analysis, scores, photos and information on South Carolina high school sports. Follow our live game coverage and read our feature stories, breaking news, the latest recruiting news, rankings and much more.

Follow SBLive South Carolina throughout the 2024 high school football season for Live Updates, the most up to date Schedules & Scores and complete coverage from the preseason through the state championships!

Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school football news.

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To get live updates on your phone – as well as follow your favorite teams and top games – you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App | Download Android App

— Mitch Stephens | mitch@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi



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ESPN's College Football Playoff Predictor has updated again. Here's where South Carolina stands

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ESPN's College Football Playoff Predictor has updated again. Here's where South Carolina stands


ESPN.com’s College Football Playoff predictor isn’t perfect because it applies analytics to a situation that ultimately will be decided by a committee of humans. But it does provide a nice guide and discussion piece about which teams have the best chance to make this year’s College Football Playoff.

Because of that human element, the predictor has been updating twice each week, once on Sunday to account for Saturday’s games and again after the latest CFP rankings are released.

[More for subscribers: What latest rankings mean for South Carolina’s College Football Playoff chances]

While the Gamecocks won their game on Saturday and got a lot of help from the teams around them last week, the logjam of SEC teams ahead of them in Tuesday’s rankings is still limiting their upside at this time.

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With the committee putting South Carolina behind fellow three-loss SEC teams Alabama and Ole Miss, the predictor currently gives South Carolina a 20 percent chance of making the 12-team field, which is three percentage points lower than its chances in Sunday’s update.

The Gamecocks do, of course, have one more huge opportunity to pad their resume when they travel to Clemson this weekend to renew the annual rivalry in what may be the biggest game in the matchup’s history.

Beat the Tigers, who are currently No. 12 in the CFP Top 25, and South Carolina’s chances of making the playoff jump to 46 percent, according to the predictor.

While that’s just under a coin flip, it’s also 12 percentage points lower than it was in Sunday’s update.

South Carolina is still very much in the hunt but is going to need to win and play very well against Clemson and get more help around it.

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[GamecockCentral: $1 for 7 days]

As a reminder, the CFP committee’s top 12 teams won’t correlate exactly with the 12-team field.

The CFP will consist of the top five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked at-large schools. The top four conference champions will receive the top four seeds and a first-round bye. The fifth conference champion will be seeded by its CFP ranking. If that ranking is outside of the top 12 it will be seeded 12th as the final team in the field.

The teams seeded 5 through 12 will fight it out in the first round with the winners advancing to the quarterfinal round to face the top four seeds.

The Gamecocks and Tigers are set for a noon showdown Saturday in Clemson.

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ESPN Analytics uses FPI to simulate the entire college football season 200,000 times. A committee model is applied to mimic College Football Playoff selections and seeding in order to generate a 12-team bracket for each simulation. The most likely CFP teams are provided for user selections. After user inputs, a likely bracket is generated and randomly simulated using FPI.



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The Verdict: South Carolina was built for this moment

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The Verdict: South Carolina was built for this moment


South Carolina football superfan Chris Paschal writes a weekly column during the season for GamecockCentral called “The Verdict.” Chris is a lawyer at Goings Law Firm in Columbia.

It will have been 44,592 days since Clemson students marched onto our campus with guns drawn when the Gamecocks take the field this Saturday in Death Valley.  Back in 1902, Clemson students were mad because of a cartoon that depicted a Gamecock whipping a Tiger.

They marched on our campus, ready to cause bodily harm, over a cartoon. For 44,592 days, Clemson students, fans, coaches, players, and administrators have done everything but declare war on South Carolina to ensure they remain the superior football program in the state. 

In 1902 there was more than just the cartoon. In 1902, Carolina beat Clemson.

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution put it best following the game: the Clemson Tiger “was so successfully tamed this morning by Carolina. Its tail was twisted and twisted by the sturdy ‘pig skin pushers’ of Carolina, and after two hours and more of hard battle it gave up further fight, for time was called and it became as tame as the proverbial lamb.”

Carolina upset Clemson who at the time was led by John Heisman and was considered one of the great southern football powers. I think that too probably had a little something to do with the hostilities and hurt feelings coming from the Clemson students. 

[GamecockCentral: Subscribe for $1 for 7 days]

For the 121st time this Saturday, it will be Carolina and Clemson playing a football game against each other. And while we are past the days of armed invasions, you can’t help but think this Saturday’s showdown may be the most consequential in the series’ history.

There have certainly been big matchups in years past. I am not discounting 1987. I am not overlooking 1979. I understand 2011-2013 featured some great teams. But this coming Saturday, both Clemson and Carolina will still be alive and in contention to bring home a national title.

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The chances for both are not significant, but they are legitimate. For the first time in the entirety of the rivalry’s history, both Carolina and Clemson fans can hope that with a win over their hated rival they are one step closer to a playoff berth, which means one more step closer in the quest for a national championship. 

Hopefully, the players donning the garnet and black won’t think similar thoughts as they run out onto the field for what should be a cold but sunny day. This game to the players needs to be about one thing: beating a team they are better than.

In continuing the list of firsts, for the first time in roughly a decade, South Carolina will have what I consider to be the better football team when they kick the ball off against Clemson. I think we have a better defense, I think we have a better offensive line, I think we have skill position players that are just as good as Clemson’s (if not better), and I think we have the better quarterback.

But that is what I think. I am an attorney. I am a fan.  Clemson players won’t just roll over because I declared we have the better team. In fact, I expect this Dabo Swinney-led Clemson football team to fight like hell in an effort to keep their thumb still firmly on top of us. 

Like Clemson fans, I think Clemson football players and coaches also think it is their birthright to beat the Gamecocks. And why shouldn’t they?

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Clemson has won eight out of the last nine against Carolina. They have danced on our sidelines in the fourth quarter to Sandstorm, they have talked about how they think they will dominate us; they have talked about how we aren’t the real USC nor are we the real Carolina.

Underneath this façade of respect and admiration for this year’s Carolina team, Clemson fans (and I assume players) quietly assume 2024 will be just like most other recent years. They assume the moment will be too big, they assume the ghosts of years past will be too much, and they assume that by about 3:30 in the afternoon, Carolina will have once again not been physically or mentally strong enough to defeat Clemson. 

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But I also think these assumptions, which often manifest themself in a holier-than-thou arrogance, stem from a small shred of doubt and fear that has crept into their minds. Carolina fans had no idea Clemson was passing the Gamecocks as a football program until it was too late. From 2009-2013, Carolina won five straight over Clemson. They assumed Clemson and their bumpkin coach were finally second fiddle to the Gamecocks. They ignored Clemson’s recruiting successes, they explained away Clemson’s double-digit win seasons as illegitimate due to being in the ACC, and they watched Clemson build a juggernaut that had passed Carolina in a very real and lasting way by 2014. 

All it took was one whipping in 2014 for Carolina fans to realize that Clemson was now on a path that would destroy Gamecock hopes and dreams for many years to come. That feeling of “oh, crap” that Carolina fans felt in the few weeks leading up to the 2014 Clemson games, I wonder if Clemson fans are feeling that very same thing leading up to this Saturday’s game.

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Maybe the thought of Carolina passing Clemson as a program hasn’t even crossed their minds. Maybe it is absurd that I would mention that in this column. Maybe by the final snap on Saturday, Clemson will have soundly defeated Carolina and made me and so many hopeful Gamecock fans look foolish. 

Or maybe Harbor, Kennard, Stewart, Hemingway, Sanders, Knight, Emmanwori, Sellers, and so many other Gamecock stalwarts are capable of handling business and showing we do have the better team.

A win this weekend could be program defining. It at the very least could be season defining.

Is Shane Beamer and this Gamecock program always a bridesmaid but never the bride?  Or is this team going to let this state and this nation understand that this is a new type of Gamecock football program?

We won’t know until Saturday, but I will be in Clemson cheering Carolina on, with the hope – the belief – that we will see that latter. Let’s tame the tiger once again into the proverbial lamb.

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Forever to thee. 



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