Clemson offensive guard Maverick Morris loved last year’s 56-7 win over rival South Carolina. Why?

“We scored 56 points. It was fun,” he said.

It was a lot of fun for the Tigers, who scored on eight of their 12 possessions that night in Death Valley, while racking up a record 622 yards against the Gamecocks. The 49-point margin was the second largest in the history of the rivalry and the biggest since the 1900 Tigers beat South Carolina 51-0.

“That was a statement,” O’Daniel said.

The statement, according to O’Daniel, was not to South Carolina, but to everyone who was watching. It proved how good they could be when everyone put their best foot forward.

“It was our best game of the season,” he said.

O’Daniel was right, it was. Not only did the offense play its best game, but the defense did the same. They limited Carolina to 218 total yards, including just 107 through the air. The Gamecocks were just 4-of-13 on third down and recorded just 14 first downs, three were aided by penalties.

South Carolina’s lone touchdown that night came off a trick play. In other words, the Gamecocks could not stay on the field with the Tigers.

“We have always heard how Clemson beat Carolina 63-17 that one year or whatever it was so it was great to say I was a part of (last year’s) team when that happened,” O’Daniel said. “Now going forward, we have another opportunity to contribute in another rivalry game, it is very exciting.”

Of course that other opportunity comes Saturday night in Columbia where the Gamecocks are still sour about the Tigers’ win, and are hoping to avenge themselves when things kickoff at 7:30 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.

South Carolina players have said they have waited for this game ever since the clock hit double zeros on the scoreboard last year in Death Valley. They have publically come out and said they are just as good as Clemson and what happened in 2016 will never happen again.

South Carolina center Alan Knott said the Gamecocks were deeply offended when Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney called a timeout so he could give a curtain call to Deshaun Watson, Mike Williams, Wayne Gallman, Jordan Leggett, Ben Boulware and all the others in their final home game in Death Valley.

“That kind of was not very good sportsmanship, in my opinion, but that’s fine,” Knott said to Hale McGranahan of SEC Country. “We’re going to get our revenge on them this year.”

While Knott and the Gamecocks continue to stew over last year’s game, the Tigers are looking forward to this year’s contest.

Clemson defensive lineman Christian Wilkins was asked about quarterback Jake Bentley’s comments from last May when the Carolina quarterback said, “Everyone knew they were not that much better than us or better than us at all.”

“If that’s how he feels, that’s how he feels,” the Clemson defensive tackle said. “I understand he has to try to be the leader for his team. Even when things were as bad as they were last year for them going against us, he still has to be a leader regardless.

“So I mean he has a right to his own opinion. He’s going to have to now try to prove that they’re not that much worse than us this year.”

This year’s game already sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun, too.