CLEMSON — Once again, Dabo Swinney and his Clemson Tigers look up and they are facing another great quarterback and wide receiver combination.

The 2023 football season has been the year of facing the top quarterback in college football for the 24^th-ranked Tigers, as they’ve gone against NFL prospects such as Duke’s Riley Leonard, Florida State’s Jordan Travis, Syracuse’s Garrett Shrader, Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman, Georgia Tech’s Haynes King and North Carolina’s Drake Maye.

The Tigers (7-4) have also seen some of the top wide receivers in the country. Miami’s Xavier Restrepo, who ranks second in the ACC, Florida State’s Keon Coleman, Georgia Tech’s Eric Singleton, NC State’s Kevin Conception, and UNC’s Tez Walker and J.J. Jones.

Clemson will continue this trend again on Saturday when it heads to Columbia to face rival South Carolina. The Gamecocks are led by All-SEC candidates Spencer Rattler at quarterback and Xavier Legette at wide receiver.

“They got some dude’s that can really hurt you, starting with their quarterback,” Swinney said.

Rattler ranks fourth in the SEC in passing yards per game (279.5). He has thrown for 3,074 yards this season, while completing 70.6 percent of his passes. He has thrown 19 touchdowns to seven interceptions.

“He has really played good football for them,” Swinney said. “Heck, he played great against us last year.”

Last year, Rattler led the Gamecocks (5-6) to a 31-30 come-from-behind victory in Clemson, snapping the Tigers’ 40-game home winning streak. He threw for 360 yards and two touchdowns, while completing 25 of 39 passes.

“He is a guy that plays with a lot of confidence. He can do a lot of things with his legs and his arms,” Swinney said. “It’s like I look up every week and I am seeing some quarterback that is going to play in the NFL.”

The Tigers also have to contain a wide receiver that will likely play in the NFL. Legette ranks second in the SEC in yards per game (107.9). He hauled in 65 catches for 1,187 yards and scored seven touchdowns. He is averaging 18.3 yards per reception.

“He is a superstar and, again, it seems like every week we look up and there is some freak outside that we are seeing,” Swinney said.

So far this year, the Clemson defense has passed all the challenges presented to them. The Tigers held Leonard in check, as well as Travis. Shrader was shut down completely, while King threw for just 129 yards and four interceptions.

The Tigers also held Hartman and Maye to career lows in terms of yards and completion percentage.

In its last three games, the Clemson defense has held Hartman, King and Maye to a combined 484 yards, while completing 42 of 97 passes (43.2 percent). The Tigers have allowed just 4.98 yards per attempt and have seven interceptions to three touchdowns.

On the season, Clemson is tied for third nationally in yards per attempt allowed (5.4), fifth in completion percentage defense (52.8), eighth in passing yards allowed (1,834), eighth in passing yards allowed per game (166.7), tied for 11^th in touchdown passes allowed (11) and tied for 11^th in interceptions (13).

Tale of the Tape: Clemson at South Carolina

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