The stakes for South Carolina-Clemson just got a lot more interesting: ‘It is the best rivalry’

South Carolina took care of business on Saturday. Then massive chaos happened, and things just got a lot more interesting next Saturday afternoon.

On a day where the Gamecocks celebrated senior day with a 56-12 win over Wofford, a lot of craziness took place in college football, especially for teams in front of them in the College Football Playoff rankings.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, here’s a quick breakdown of what happened on Saturday:

No. 5 Indiana lost to No. 2 Ohio State

No. 7 Alabama lost to unranked Oklahoma

No. 9 Ole Miss lost to unranked Florida

No. 14 BYU lost to No. 21 Arizona State

No. 15 Texas A&M lost to unranked Auburn

No. 16 Colorado lost to unranked Kansas

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With a trip to the upstate to face No. 17 Clemson next week, the Palmetto Bowl just became much more important … maybe even one with CFP implications at stake? Whether you want to believe it or not, it certainly could end up being that way. Both teams got what they needed, which was for other teams to lose around the sport, and now it sets up a big date in Death Valley.

“It will be great that it is two ranked teams. It is a great rivalry. It is the best rivalry in college athletics, in my opinion, just because of what it means to all sports in this state,” head coach Shane Beamer said.

“I think it is great for the state of South Carolina that you have two ranked teams playing a meaningful game at the end of the season. It should be that way every year. I love being a part of this rivalry and have a ton of respect for Dabo (Swinney) and consider him a friend.”

Depending on what happens when the next CFP rankings come out on Tuesday, South Carolina and Clemson could both be ranked inside the top 15. It’s a real possibility considering how many teams in front of them lost this weekend. If that proves to be the case, it would be the first top 15 matchup between the two in-state rivals since 2013.

Either way, this will be a ranked-on-ranked game with a lot more on the line than just state pride and a shiny trophy. There have been plenty of great duels between these two programs. However, the 121st edition of this game on Saturday could be the biggest in the history of this rivalry.

But for Beamer, at least right after beating Wofford on Saturday, he planned to enjoy the Gamecocks’ final home win before worrying about the inevitable hoopla that will come this week.

“I am not going to go home and immediately pull out the iPad and start breaking down Clemson football. I will be in the office about 7 a.m. tomorrow morning do that but that is a normal Sunday for me,” Beamer said. “We will get back to work tomorrow. We are going to celebrate the heck out of this one and enjoy this one. Recover tomorrow. Learn from this one because there is a lot to clean up from tonight. Offense, defense and special teams, we need to be a lot better than we were tonight. … I will be jumping out of bed early tomorrow morning and can’t wait to get to work.”

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For the players, they understand just how important this game will be. Especially for the ones who grew up around the state, it’s a rivalry that runs very deep. Even without gigantic stakes, it always feels like everything is on the line when it comes to winning and losing.

“It’s very exciting. I mean, it’s Clemson,” said LaNorris Sellers, who will make his first start at quarterback in the rivalry. “We’ve just got to go into practice and have a good week in practice. If you’re going to have a good game, you’ve got to have a good week of practice.”

There will undoubtedly be plenty of talk surrounding this game in the days leading up to kickoff. Both teams, players and coaches, will hear repeatedly about the implications and what this game could mean. Regardless, the goal will remain the same for the Gamecocks: win the game at hand.

“I mean, it’s Clemson week. I think everybody knows what the time is,” Boogie Huntley said. “Just kind of go at it how we have been this whole season. We’ve been doing something well, especially this back half. And so just keep being who we are. Try and go 1-0 every week. Just execute and dominate.”

With a win, South Carolina will have won nine regular season games for the first time since 2013. Also, in line with that same year, another win would mark six straight for the Gamecocks. More importantly, a win would only strengthen their playoff chances, something that seemed to be a pipe after a loss to Alabama to move to 3-3 on the year.

Ultimately, though, none of the hypotheticals or dreams of chasing something greater will matter if they don’t take care of business.

“We are having a good November right now and it can be a great November depending on how we finish this thing next week or whatnot,” Beamer said. “That has really been the mentality that nothing matters if you don’t win football games so what do we have to do to go 1-0. After that, we have done all we can at that point. We are 8-3 because what we have done or haven’t done. Now, we have a chance to go try and win nine games and see what happens.”

South Carolina will battle against Clemson on Saturday at Frank Howard Field at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff will be at noon on ESPN.

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