Both programs are trying to erase the memory of 2025 before this one's even played, and the Palmetto Bowl doesn't care how ugly the road here was.
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FRI NOV 27 · 11:00 PM CT
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South Carolina
Clemson
This year's edition arrives with an odd twist: Clemson still doesn't have a settled starting quarterback. Christopher Vizzina holds the edge after the spring game, with true freshman Tait Reynolds pushing hard enough that ESPN and outlets around the program flagged a QB battle that may not fully resolve until games are actually being played. Whoever wins the job will be doing it as Cade Klubnik's successor, having taken over for a three-year starter who's now off to the NFL. South Carolina, meanwhile, knows exactly who's throwing the ball. LaNorris Sellers is back for a fourth year in the program, and a lot of preseason chatter has him in the Heisman conversation.
That's the swing skill-position gap in this one. Sellers isn't walking in perfect - he threw 8 interceptions in an up-and-down 2025 - but he's a proven starter with three years of tape, including a 5,000-yard, 33-touchdown career arc. Clemson is trusting either a redshirt junior making his first career starts or a true freshman, in front of a home crowd that watched Dabo Swinney's team stumble to a 7-6 finish, its worst mark in 15 years. Swinney didn't dodge it afterward, saying flatly that the program "stunk" in 2025.
Both sides are selling optimism this offseason, and both have real reasons to believe it. Clemson still owns this rivalry lately, having won the last meeting 28-14, and it still leads the all-time series comfortably. South Carolina is coming off a 4-8 season that unraveled after a hot 2-0 start, with seven losses in eight games and a defense that couldn't finish fourth quarters. Whichever team finds its footing first in November decides who walks away with the Palmetto Trophy.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Clemson Tigers
The health report matters more than usual in a rivalry game like this, since both rosters are still working through post-spring competition for jobs, not just injury replacement. A clean bill of health for Clemson's offensive front would go a long way toward protecting whichever quarterback ultimately wins the job, while South Carolina needs its skill-position pieces around Sellers intact to take pressure off him.
South Carolina Gamecocks
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries to report
Clemson Tigers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries to report
By the time Friday, November 27 rolls around, both staffs will have had a full season to figure out who they actually are. Rivalry week has a way of making records irrelevant - South Carolina's 2-0 start to 2025 evaporated fast, and Clemson's preseason No. 4 ranking meant nothing once it opened 1-3. Neither team wants to be explaining another disappointing year on the Palmetto Bowl stage.
