In the eyes of more than a few Gamecock fans, surely a rare silver lining of the pandemic is the thought of not having to deal with yet another drubbing at the hands of Clemson.

And even in the minds of some Clemson fans, the gap between the two programs is so large that there's some strong preference for playing Notre Dame over the Gamecocks if it came down to a choice.

Join Tigerillustrated.com subscribers on The West Zone message board!

Beyond all that, let's get down to the fundamentals of this rivalry game being in significant peril: