The 40-year itch

Perhaps no other statement better illustrates Clemson's dominance over South Carolina than the following one:

The last time the Gamecocks beat the Tigers in back to back years, the Beatles were still together.

(The band was done well before Nov. 21, 1970, when South Carolina won 38-32 in Columbia to claim its third consecutive win in the series. But officially, the breakup didn't occur until the New Year's Eve in 1970.)

That's astounding, and that's a heck of a bragging right Clemson fans can hold over the heads of their feathered friends.

Tigers fans have plenty of smack-talk ammunition apart from the 40-year "trend."

-- They have a 65-38-4 advantage in the series.

-- They have earned four-game winning streaks in the series four times since 1980 (2002-2005, 1997-2000, 1988-1991, 1980-1983).

-- They love the fact that, even as their team slid down to the Gamecocks' level in the 1990s and beyond, they still won 10 of 12 games in the rivalry from 1997 to 2008.

-- They love the fact that, even though Tommy Bowden never pushed through and delivered greatness during his nine-plus years in Clemson, he won seven of nine games against Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier.

-- They love the fact that the numbers 63 and 17 were completely meaningless before Nov. 22, 2003, but were forever stitched (or maybe branded) into the rivalry's fabric after that date.

All that stuff underscores the decades-long domination that has unfolded in the rivalry, but Clemson fans don't have to bother with remembering numbers in their search for effective smack-talk fodder.

Just say "Beatles."

We beat your butts in Columbia last year!

Beatles.

We're SEC East champs, and the ACC stinks!

Beatles.

Have fun in Shreveport!

Beatles.

See? It's quick, easy and effective.

That's why Saturday's game is a big, big deal.

It's big for Dabo Swinney, whose offseason will be made considerably more unbearable if he becomes the first Clemson coach to lose back-to-back games to the Gamecocks since Frank Howard (1968 and 1969).

(Swinney, by the way, was two days old on the date of Howard's 1969 loss to the Gamecocks.)

It's big for the fans, who fear the Gamecocks taking the upper hand not only in football, but in the overall sphere of athletics.

Here's how the Tigers have fared over the last 40 years when faced with the prospect of losing back-to-back games to the Gamecocks:

1974-W 39-21
1976-W 28-9
1980-W 27-6
1985-W 24-17
1988-W 29-10
1993-W 16-13
1995-W 38-17
1997-W 47-21
2002-W 27-20
2007-W 23-21

If the last rites are administered to this extraordinary bragging right late Saturday night, it'll be a hard day's night for Clemson.

No links today. We'll close with this cool picture from the 1963 game, courtesy of The State:



LW