South Carolina football vs. No. 9 Clemson Tigers: Score prediction, scouting report

COLUMBIA — South Carolina football will end its rollercoaster regular season on the game fans wait for every year: the Palmetto Bowl rivalry matchup with No. 9 Clemson at the Tigers' Memorial Stadium on Saturday (noon, ABC).

The stakes are high — even higher than usual — for the showdown. The Gamecocks (7-4, 4-4 SEC) are coming off of one of the biggest upsets in program history over No. 5 Tennessee, and Clemson (10-1, 8-0 ACC) is looking for dominant win to make a late case for College Football Playoff contention. The Tigers dominated Miami 40-10 in Week 12.

Here's everything you need to know about the most divisive game in the state of South Carolina:

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History of the Palmetto Bowl

The South Carolina-Clemson rivalry began with the first meeting in 1896, which the Gamecocks won 12-6. The game was originally played in Columbia every year, and Clemson won 27-0 when it hosted for the first time in 1960. Since 1960, The Tigers have a 19-10-1 record against the Gamecocks at Memorial Stadium. At Williams-Brice Stadium, South Carolina trails 53-32-3.

Clemson, which leads the all-time series 72-42-4, is in the midst of the longest winning streak in the history of the rivalry with seven consecutive victories since 2014. The Tigers previously won seven straight from 1934-1940 and would break the record with an eighth win this year. The Gamecocks' longest streak came right before Clemson's with five straight wins from 2009-2013.

Clemson's questions at QB

The Tigers are having a weird year at quarterback. Starter DJ Uiagalelei has been benched twice — first when Clemson trailed Syracuse in Week 8 and again two weeks ago in a loss to Notre Dame — but has been largely consistent with eight games passing over 200 yards and five with at least 50 rushing yards. South Carolina's defense struggles with dual-threat QBs, which bodes well for the Tigers. The Gamecocks had their worst game of the season against Florida's Anthony Richardson, who put up 112 yards passing and 96 yards rushing in the Gators' 38-6 win.

The junior's biggest concern in the second half of the season has been turnovers. Two interceptions and a fumble got him benched against Syracuse, and he has thrown a pick in four of Clemson's past six games. Turnovers have been an issue for the Tigers as a whole with 12 in their past four games. They rank in the bottom half of FBS schools in turnover margin. The Gamecocks are in the opposite situation with quarterback Spencer Rattler, who has had one interception in the past five games after throwing eight in the first six.

Tigers boast rock-solid defense

Clemson's defense was impenetrable in last week's win over Miami, holding the Hurricanes to 98 offensive yards, 40 of which came on one play. The Tigers logged five sacks for a combined loss of 48 yards, held Miami to three third-down conversions on 11 attempts and added an interception. The defense is among the top 20 in the country and even better against in the run game, allowing an average of 318 total yards and 104 rushing yards per game.

The unit is anchored by sophomore linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., son of former NFL linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, who logged nine tackles, a sack and a pass breakup against Miami. He has 65 total tackles, six tackles for loss, five pass break-ups and five quarterback pressures this season. Myles Murphy and KJ Henry lead the pass rush with 9.5 sacks and 27 pressures between them.

Can Gamecocks replicate Tennessee magic?

South Carolina coaches and players might take issue with the term "magic," but that's what it felt like in Williams-Brice Stadium last Saturday when the unranked Gamecocks dominated No. 5 Tennessee 63-38. Everything went right, from Rattler's career-high 438 yards and six touchdowns passing to the defense's key stops against the most productive offense in college football.

The victory, South Carolina's first over Tennessee since 2018, was historic. The Gamecocks' 63 points were the most scored by an unranked opponent against a top-5 team and the most Tennessee has ever allowed to an unranked opponent.

It's hard to imagine it all coming together perfectly for a second week in a row, but no one expected it to happen against the Vols either. If we learned one thing from the upset, it's that anything is possible.

Prediction

Clemson 31, South Carolina 24: Though they won't perform as well as they did against Tennessee, the Gamecocks put up a respectable fight against Clemson. Rattler has another strong night, but Clemson's dual-threat offense overwhelms the South Carolina defense to pull away late.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina football vs. Clemson: Score prediction, scouting report