Thoughts on Saturday?

Seems pretty pointless to speculate. Seeing as we never seem to do what's expected of us but always find away to accomplish the unexpected.

Not confident. Think Clemson is just too explosive, as good as our defense is and as bad as theirs is, for Carolina to keep up. Doesn't help that Shaw won't be able to run with the foot injury. And the game is on the road, where Shaw hasn't played well to say the least.

Clemson's offensive line can't handle our D line, but it won't matter with the quick passing game. Similar to what happened in the LSU game - doesn't matter if Clowney and crew are unblocked, they aren't getting there if the QB is throwing the ball as soon as he hits his drop.

We have several key injuries with Shaw, Ellington and Clowney. This will hurt us, even if those guys play, that aren't 100%.

Shaw was able to run all over clemson last year and that helped us a lot. A 100% Clowney would force them to move a TE or RB to help block him, but they are going to let Thomas go 1v1 now, since Clowney is banged up. Ellington hurt his hand, which is significant for a WR.

We are also playing in Bumfrick, SC at night.

The silver lining is that their defense is garbage, we are going to be able to put up points regardless of Shaw/Ellington's status. The key here is how long our defense can contain them and getting pressure with just our front 4. If we can keep 6+ people in coverage, while getting to Boyd in less than 5 seconds with just 4 guys, we will dominate them.

Wouldn't it be funny for us to run 5+ all out blitzes this week when we've only run 2 all year? Clemson isn't prepping for that, b/c they are going off what what they've seen on film.

Overall, I'm confident we are going to win, but we are going to have to have one of our best games to do it.

I worry about our offense. Haven't seen it much since the Georgia game. At least smoothly

I'm confident in our defense being able to contain their offense and I believe Clowney will be ready to wreak havoc on their O-line since he will be rested.

I'm more worried about our offense even as bad as Clemson's D is. We need to be able to run the ball and control the clock. This will open up for some passes deep and possibly get some quick scores.

I want to see Ace run a kick back for a TD to take the life out of them like he did against Georgia.

Also hope we can limit the dumbass mistakes that lead to turnovers.

If we play like we are capable and have a complete game, then we roll. But you never know with this team playing on the road.

The closer to Saturday we get the more confident I get, which is the exact opposite of last year. Going into last year I was concerned that we wouldn't be able to contain their "explosive offense" even with our top 10 D, but we crushed them. The offense that they are bringing Saturday is the exact same thing we faced last year (same players, same plays, same "explosiveness"), with a weaker O-line. They have not faced a defense of our caliber all year, even including FSU (who has built their defensive numbers off the backs of a whole mess of crappy offenses). Home field advantage should be an issue though, so we'll see how it all plays out Saturday.

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As said above IMO the big question is will our offense show up for the game.....both our O and CU's D in terms of passing and rushing are poor this year, although our scoring offense and offensive passing efficiency has been rather decent. But if we come out struggling to get into any kind of rhythm offensively, we could make CU's defense look much better than their stats have shown, due to the emotional factor of the game.

Our defense will perform well versus Clemson IMO, but they'll still score some points. I expect 1 or 2 big pass plays off of some busted coverages of our secondary. But we will still limit their scoring output: question is, will our own offense be able to match it....

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A great game by the Gamecocks yesterday! My concerns were all answered and then some: our own defense played much better than even I expected: I guess the opposition Clemson played against all season long was truly on a lower level defensively than what we bring to the table, as CU's offensive juggernaut was effectively shut down, especially after the 1st quarter. They must have been living a lie all this season, after all. I just didn't realize how big that lie truly was....

Our own offense - even with the surprise start of Thompson - was more effective against CU's defense than theirs were against our defense. Dylan, Ace, Bruce, and Kenny all stepped up and showed that they were MORE than enough to match up against the Tigers' defense.

We in effect turned the tables on Chad Morris and Clemson, and kept their offense off the field while we wore down their defense and dictated the flow and tempo of the game. That basically showed Coach Spurrier's superiority over Morris and Swinney, like the professor showing the freshmen students how it's done. And regardless of location, the story was the same all over again...

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Keeping their offense off of the field was all we needed to do

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Understatement of the season. When they had 14 points at the end of the 1st quarter and had just had that long drive with 2 quick plays and the one long pass to Hopkins for the TD, I thought it was gonna be a shootout, which I was not confident in us winning. Then we have to settle for a field goal and it was really disheartening.
They had only scored less than 30 once all season, in the first game against Auburn before they knew they were bad. I was surprised we were able to hold them to 17 at home and especially after their game against NC State.