COLLEGE FOOTBALL ZACH LENTZ

The 3rd ranked Clemson Tigers have a week off before they play their final game of the regular season.

That final game means a little more.

In fact, that final game not only means a little more, it means everything. In fact, that final game is a goal all by itself because that final game is against South Carolina.

“It’s going to be great,” Columbia native and Tigers’ safety Denzel Johnson said. “I grew up in Columbia my whole life. I have a lot of family and friends there and everything so I can’t wait for that game.”

The Tigers will not wait long before turning the page to the Gamecocks.

“Sunday (is when Clemson starts thinking about South Carolina),” co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. “Actually, Coach Swinney just talked about it, all the focus. Obviously, it’s 1 of our goals.

“We have 5 goals for our season and it’s a goal of its own. The guys look at that list of goals all year long and they know how important this is. Our guys know what we have the potential to do after this — after the South Carolina game — but Coach (Dabo) Swinney makes it very clear to our guys that all of our focus is into this game.

“We want to go out and play our best game and not really think about anything else. I expect us to have 2 weeks to get a good plan together and get some of these guys who got banged up healthy and go down there and play our best game of the year.”

The Tigers are playing their best football of the season heading into this week’s open date, the upcoming South Carolina game and subsequent ACC Championship game.

According to the players, they are focused on 1 thing and 1 thing only — beating the Gamecocks.

“We have a lot of momentum, but we can’t just be focused on the ACC Championship,” running back Travis Etienne said. “We’ve got South Carolina ahead, we have to focus on them. We got a good 2 weeks and a great week to get prepared and get ready for them to the best of our ability. So we just have to look ahead at a 1-game season and have that mentality.”

“They really don’t like us”

It took starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence only 1 game in the rivalry with South Carolina to find out how little the 2 teams care for each other.

As a true freshman last season, Lawrence torched the Gamecock secondary to the tune of 393 yards on 27 completions. But the 1 thing he took away from his 1st game against the Gamecocks was how little the team, and the fans, like the Tigers.

“I guess the competitiveness of the game is just different, with the rivalry,” he said. “It was my 1st year in college and I did not experience anything like it (in high school). They really don’t like us, especially the fans.

“So, it is a fun game. There is a lot of juice behind it. It is always fun to play in a game with some emotions. It is a lot of fun and it is cool to look forward to a game like that at the end of your schedule. We have a had a great year up to this point, but we have another game, an SEC (opponent). We can really put an exclamation point on this season.”

The game will take place Nov. 30 on the SEC Network. The Clemson broadcast can be heard on WCOS (1400 AM) or on the TuneIn Radio phone app.