COLUMBIA, S.C. — After two great escapes, the wait is on for No. 17 Clemson and No. 19 South Carolina to tangle in the Palmetto state's biggest annual sports contest.
One thing is certain: Whoever comes out on top on Nov. 30 will have a resume the College Football Playoff committee will look at, and the biggest of regrets if what they've done still keeps them out of the 12-team field.
“We’re in the fight,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.
It may be a war of words for Swinney and Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer to convince CFP selectors either team deserves a spot in the postseason championship chase.
The Tigers (8-2) and Gamecocks (7-3) both needed dramatic, fourth-quarter comebacks in their last games to keep in the playoff conversation. Clemson was No. 20 in the last College Football Playoff ranking while South Carolina was a spot behind at No. 21.
It's unclear how much either of the teams' latest victories will lead to upward movement when the CFP's latest rankings come out Tuesday night.
Clemson squandered a 10-point lead at Pittsburgh in the second half and trailed 20-17 in the final minutes before quarterback Cade Klubnik broke off a 50-yard touchdown run with 1:16 to play for a 24-20 victory.
South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers did Klubnik one better, twice rallying the Gamecocks from deficits in the final quarter. The last was on an inside pass to running back Raheim Sanders for a 15-yard TD with 15 seconds left in a 34-31 win over then-No. 24 Missouri on Saturday night.
Both Clemson and South Carolina face in-state FCS opponents from the Southern Conference this weekend and neither is expected to stumble before the frenzied, yearly finale for the rival schools.
The Tigers face Citadel while the Gamecocks play Wofford. Neither game has a betting line featured on the BetMGM Sportsbook's website.
Should Clemson win its second straight rivalry game in two weeks, it would have taken down perhaps the hottest team in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference, who have so far won four straight — three over ranked opponents — before this week.
A pair of South Carolina wins would mean six in a row to end the season, including wins over Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Missouri and the Tigers, all teams who've been in the Top 25 much of the season.
“It’s real here,” Beamer said in the celebration of the Missouri win. “We got culture here. You saw the way our guys believe in one another, continue to fight for one another as well.”
Ah, but then come the regrets and the “if onlys” of errors and mistakes from earlier in the season.
Clemson fell at home on Nov. 2 to Louisville 33-21, a defeat that despite a 7-1 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference could keep them out of the league championship game should No. 11 Miami (5-1 in the ACC) and No. 13 SMU (6-0 in the league) win out and advance to Charlotte to try for the trophy on Dec. 7.
“We had a chance to control our destiny," Swinney said. “So we need a little bit of help.”
South Carolina held fourth quarter leads over then-No. 16 LSU before falling in the final minute, 36-33 on Sept. 14. Four weeks later, the Gamecocks led at Alabama 19-14 entering the final period before losing 27-25.
Win one of those games and South Carolina is among the pack of two-loss SEC teams elbowing each other for a playoff berth.
Linebacker Debo Williams said he's human and can't get away from thinking about what could've been. He believes those close losses have made the team “even hungrier.”
″All we can do is take care of our business,” Swinney said. “We got a chance to finish 10-2.”
All the Tigers and Gamecocks can do is win out and hope. Whether it's enough to play for a title is out of either teams' hands.
