Clemson Football: Bless Your Hearts – Them Edition

This week, in “Bless Your Heart”, we talk about THEM. You might hear them referred to as the school in the Midlands, the university of second choice, the feathered brethren, the coots, the chickens, the arch-rival of Clemson football. Whatever you call a South Carolina Gamecock, we hate it.

Now let me start with a preface to this entire piece.

There ARE sensible Gamecock fans. Some of my closest friends and family pull for South Carolina. Heck, I’m married to one. And I am sure that as sensible Gamecock fans, they are pleasantly surprised with the absolutely shocking result in last week’s thumping of Tennessee.

These particular fans were able to see Marcus Satterfield call the literal game of his life (63 points in 10 actual drives) and Spencer Rattler play a near-perfect game (an astonishing 30/37 for 438 and 6 TDs). That game got everyone excited and chatting at the proverbial water cooler this week.

This group of fans also knows that, while there is a chance lightning could strike twice, this team could easily revert back to what happened 2 weeks ago at Florida. So, while hopeful, they are realistic that Clemson can win as well.

To these Gamecock fans I say, I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving, have a Merry Christmas, and good luck in the bowl game. I’d also advise that if you are one of the aforementioned sensible fans, stop reading right here. The rest of this is not meant for you.

This is entirely written for the Gamecocks fans that let their mouths write checks the team couldn’t cash from 2009-2014. It’s for those who trashed Clemson for being #1 but ONLY winning by 5 in 2015. This is for all of those Gamecocks who were convinced that 2016 would never happen again, that they would win convincingly in 2017, that 2018 was almost a win because they threw for so many yards, and that they would cement Beamer’s legacy in year one with a win in 2021.

Just like all those years, I see an awful lot of confidence coming from the feathered brethren and history may just repeat itself.

In 2013, I walked out of that god forsaken wasteland of a DMV……..sorry, stadium in Columbia. Clemson had just lost its 5th game in a row. They had literally given the game away with 6 total turnovers, including 2 in the redzone, and 2 muffed punts. It was par for the course that season.

I had never seen Clemson win against SC while I was in college, managing to be the only one of my siblings to go 0 and 4 against the Chickens while I was at Clemson (thankfully, grad school was a different story). But while I was seething in anger and wondering at the time why we gave this guy Dabo a shot as a head coach, something happened.

I rounded the turn style leaving the stadium and was greeted by 2 lovely students who had definitely had more than their share of hard liquor that evening. The 2 ladies shoved “5 Bombs” basically in my eyes and yelled “(expletive, it starts with an F) CLEMSON” and “EAT (expletive, the poop word) TATER”.

I remember that night. I remember those 2 women.

Since then, I’ve always taken a little moment after the last 7 Palmetto Bowl wins to pause and remember that these 2 lovely ladies have gotten to witness the foundation of their favorite football program crumble right in front of them. I’m not mad at them, nor would I say anything to them if I saw them today. But that won’t stop me from relishing another win tomorrow with the thought of those 2 (and others like them) having to sit through another (few) years of Clemson dominance.

This game means a lot to a lot of people. But for Clemson fans, I always encourage them to take notes of these loud groups of fans and Gamecock “media”. Bookmark the tweets, screenshot the posts and texts, save the podcasts.

This is not meant to be a trash talking article but rather a reminder to “be prepared” to the Clemson fans. You spent 5 years dealing with the reality of Carolina having the upper hand so don’t let up on them should Clemson win its unprecedented 8th in a row in this rivalry.

If any sensible Gamecock fans are out there reading this, should Clemson win, I would steer clear of my next article. It will be trash talk, BELIEVE that.

But as for now, here’s a few thoughts on the actual game.

Clemson football fans are wondering if the South Carolina game was an aberration

It comes down to this: was last week an aberration or not? Tennessee rarely brought more than 3-4 and seemed to be content with letting Spencer Rattler throw the ball deep. Let’s see if he can have another near perfect performance with the likes of Carter, Bresee, Simpson, and Trotter bearing down on him. I tend to think the result might be a little different this week.

Offensively, Clemson needs to run the ball. SC has a run defense in the 100’s and despite the amazing outcome last week, the Gamecocks have given up 38 points to both opponents in the last 2 games. I think Clemson will be able to exploit that again.

One more thing I just thought about: Clemson fans, remember when South Carolina won 4 in a row? What did they tell us prior to that game? If I remember correctly, it was “FEAR THE FIN”. They would hold a “4” up with their fingers to their heads like a shark fin.

Well, Saturday should mark the day we tell the Gamecocks to “Fear the Fins”……and put an emphasis on the plural.

Bless your heart, Sout…..meh you don’t need that.

Go Tigers.