Opening point spread released for South Carolina-Clemson football rivalry game

No. 9 Clemson football is once again a betting favorite against South Carolina heading into next Saturday’s rivalry game, per opening lines released Sunday.

Clemson opened as a 16-point favorite against South Carolina on Circa Sports, an industry leader in sportsbooks, while the VegasInsider consensus line, which factors in multiple sportsbooks, favors Clemson by 14 points.

Either way, that is the closest spread for a Clemson-USC game in Death Valley since 2014 (Clemson -4.5). The Tigers previously closed as a 26-point favorite against South Carolina in Memorial Stadium in 2016 and 2018.

Overall, Clemson was favored by 20 or more points in four of five meetings from 2015 to 2019 before being favored by 11.5 points entering last year’s game.

South Carolina’s 63-38 win over No. 5 Tennessee certainly played a role in oddsmakers’ thinking. The Gamecocks (7-4, 4-4 SEC) looked unstoppable on Senior Day, with quarterback Spencer Rattler completing 30 of 37 passes for 438 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions and the offense racking up 606 yards after failing to reach over 300 in three of its past four games.

South Carolina’s 63 points were the most ever by an unranked team against an AP top five opponent in the poll era, per the school, and the 25-point win all but knocked the Volunteers (9-2, 5-2 SEC) out of College Football Playoff contention.

Clemson (10-1, 8-0 ACC) cruised past Miami 40-10 on its own Senior Day, with quarterback DJ Uiagalelei scoring three touchdowns and the Tigers defense allowing a season-low 98 total yards to the Hurricanes while also recording two turnovers and a safety.

Clemson, the ACC Atlantic Division champion, will also play ACC Coastal Division champion UNC in the conference title game in Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium in two weeks.

Next Saturday will be the 119th all-time matchup between longtime rivals Clemson and South Carolina, who first played each other in 1896. Clemson leads the all-time series 72-42-4 and has won seven consecutive games in the series dating back to 2014. That’s tied for the longest streak in rivalry history.

Dabo Swinney is also the only coach in Clemson history to win seven straight games against South Carolina. That streak started after his Tigers lost five straight rivalry games to Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks from 2009 to 2013.

Entering next week’s matchup, the Tigers have also won five straight games against the Gamecocks by 21-plus points and South Carolina hasn’t scored a touchdown against Clemson since 2018.

In the teams’ last meeting, Clemson shut out South Carolina and then-rookie coach Shane Beamer 30-0 in Columbia. South Carolina hasn’t been favored against Clemson since 2013.

Clemson vs. South Carolina game, TV info

Who: South Carolina (7-4, 4-4 SEC) at No. 9 Clemson (10-1, 8-0 ACC)

When: noon, Saturday Nov. 26

Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson

TV: ABC