Warde Manuel compares resumes for Clemson, South Carolina with rivalry showdown looming

In the latest rankings from the College Football Playoff selection committee, No. 17 Clemson clocked in two spots ahead of in-state rival and No. 19 South Carolina. And the two arrived in the teens of the rankings with much different resumes.

While Clemson has mostly dominated a weaker ACC since getting throttled by Georgia in the opener, South Carolina has been a bit more volatile. Either way, not much separates the teams save for one win or loss either way — Clemson is 8-2 and South Carolina is 7-3.

“Well, both are coming off wins,” Manuel said. “The win by Clemson and South Carolina’s win versus Missouri. The difference, as you can see, Clemson has lost two games. They bounced back from that Louisville loss and had back-to-back road wins against Virginia Tech and Pitt. Significant loss to Georgia at the beginning of the season, but they’ve come back. Cade Klubnik has really controlled the offense and done very well. That run to end the game against Pitt was phenomenal. I just think they are playing good football as well as South Carolina.”

The question in ranking the two might come down to valuing mindlessly winning like Clemson had until stumbling against Louisville or the flashes of upside that South Carolina has shown.

The Gamecocks hold the best win of the two teams, pulverizing Texas A&M at home. But Clemson’s road wins clearly hold some weight with the committee. And given the two teams are mere spots apart in the rankings, there’s not much to separate them in the eyes of the committee.

Which should make it all the more exciting when the two teams face off to end the season, as the Tigers will also potentially be monitoring results around the ACC with a path to the title game still open.

“So it’ll be interesting to see — as you can see they’re very close,” Manuel said. “The committee feels that Clemson and South Carolina are very close to each other as it relates to how we see those two teams.”