The Clemson vs. South Carolina rivalry game hasn’t been missed in years
It has been a given for more than a century that the Clemson Tigers would play their in-state rival South Carolina.
As a matter of fact, the annual rivalry game has been played every year since 1909.
The rivalry between Clemson and South Carolina runs deep, as the annual grudge match has found its place as the final game on the regular season schedule for the two programs and serves as a regular expectation for fans of both teams as they spend the entirety of the season talking trash and holding bragging rights leading into the big weekend.
There’s no doubt that the Clemson-South Carolina series is one of the most heated rivalries in the nation, but there is growing thought that we could see major changes coming to the 2020 College Football season and that may even extend to the Palmetto Bowl.
Is Clemson vs. South Carolina in jeopardy for 2020?
Stadium’s Brett McMurphy released his latest survey of College Athletic Directors from around the country and the vast majority of them believe the season will be delayed in some way, shape or form.
According to McMurphy’s survey, which received 115 responses, 45 percent of Power-5 Athletic Directors believe the 2020 season will feature a conference-only schedule with a delayed fall start. 22 percent of the Power-5 ADs believe the season will start on time as scheduled and just 8 percent believe we’ll see a 12-game schedule that is delayed until later this fall. Only 3 percent of Power-5 ADs believe there will be a 12-game spring season and 11 percent responded saying they believe there will be no College Football season in the 2020-21 academic year.
That overwhelming response of Athletic Directors who believe we will see a conference-only schedule (nearly 75 percent of FBS ADs in total) should give off some red flags that we may not see some of those regularly-scheduled non-conference games.
Could that apply to the Clemson vs. South Carolina rivalry game?
While we all want to see the Tigers and Gamecocks match up on the field, it’s going to be a simple waiting game at this point to see what can be worked out. Clemson and South Carolina are geographically close to one another, which is certainly a positive, but it still remains to be seen what a conference-only schedule would do to the rivalry game.