By Will Vandervort.

Moments after last Saturday’s win over Georgia State, Clemson quarterback Cole Stoudt stood up in front of his teammates and told his senior class’ story.

Clemson’s seniors have won 40 games in their four-year career, tied with only the 1990 Clemson seniors that went 40-8 in their four years in Tigertown. They have won an ACC Championship, finished ranked in the top 10 twice, in the top 25 three times played in two Orange Bowls and have beat top 10 teams in Auburn, Virginia Tech, Georgia, LSU and Ohio State.

They have even beaten every team in the ACC the last four years. But with all of those accomplishments there is one thing they have not done. They have not beaten South Carolina.

“We have accomplished a lot of things and have broken a lot of records, but it would be nice to finish out with a victory,” said Stoudt.

Clemson (8-3) has not beaten the Gamecocks since 2008, when Swinney was the interim head coach at the time. Since then, the Tigers have not even come close.

South Carolina has won each of the last five meetings by double digits, including by 10 and 22 points the last two times the game has been played in Death Valley.

“To be the first class to beat the Gamecocks in five years that would be a great accomplishment,” defensive tackle DeShawn Williams said. “It is not about us though, it is about the team. We are going to play hard because we know who we are going against.”

None of the players know the importance of beating the Gamecocks more than Williams. His father, Ronald Williams, played for the Tigers and was a part of two victories in the rivalry in 1990 and ’91. Williams also grew up in Clemson and went to nearby Daniel High School.

In those years, he seldom saw the Tigers lose to their archrival as Clemson had four-game winning streaks from 1997-2000 and 2002-2005. The Tigers also won in back-to-back games in 2006 and 2007. Starting in 1971, the Gamecocks did not beat the Tigers in back-to-back games until Williams was a senior at Daniel High School in 2010.

“I speak for my teammates and we have never been a part of a team owning us for five years,” Williams said. “We want to get that taste out of our mouths. Enough is enough. We have to make up our minds and just play.

“I have never been a part of something like this and I’m sure my teammates haven’t been a part of it. They have been doing something right so I have a lot of respect for them.”

This seems to be the year in which the Gamecocks might be their most vulnerable in the current streak. South Carolina is 6-5 through 11 games and has had its issues in losing big leads. Three times this year—vs. Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee—the Gamecocks lost two-touchdown leads in the fourth quarter.

“This is the game everyone wants to talk about. Everyone wants to end the streak. Everyone wants to focus on the rivalry game,” Stoudt said. “There are some people that will say they don’t care how the record goes, they just want to beat this one team. That’s what some fans will say.”

At least for this week, that’s how the Tigers are feeling, too.

“It is just one of those things that constantly hits you in the back of the head and it motivates you to want to do a little bit more and prepare a little bit harder,” Stoudt said.

It makes you get up in the middle of the room just after earning your eighth win and letting your teammates know what this game on Saturday means to you and the rest of the seniors.

“I have been on the sidelines for this game the last three years and it has motivated me to be ready even more than before and do what I have to do,” Stoudt said. “It is exciting that I will finally get the chance to go out and play in it.”