By Will Vandervort.

People, especially South Carolina fans, keep asking me what is the difference in the 2015 Clemson Tigers as opposed to the 2014 South Carolina Gamecocks?

I ask them, “Do I really need to answer that?”

In 2014, USC returned a team that for the most part returned a lot of offensive weapons, but had to deal with the fact several key starters on the defensive line, at linebacker and in the secondary were gone due to graduation or early departures to the NFL. That defense was among the best in the country for three straight years and played a huge role in why the Gamecocks had the best three-year run in school history.

But, before the season started, I had a conversation with my uncle who is a life-long South Carolina fan. It was in July, and we talked about the upcoming season and what his expectations were for his Gamecocks. He played football and had coached at a few different levels so he knows a thing or two about the game.

He told me, the Gamecocks would go no better than 7-5 in 2014 for these reasons – they had a brand new defensive line and a brand new secondary.

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