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After a colleague concocted a scenario for a close game, ESPN College GameDay analyst and Clemson player parent Kirk Herbstreit offered an uncharacteristically sharp if not accurate prediction for the Michigan/Michigan State rivalry match-up Saturday.

“I think it’s going to be one of those, ‘they (Michigan) did it, and it looked like they enjoyed doing it’ games,” Herbstreit said. “(Like) wow, that’s really getting bad.”

There was another forthcoming in-state rivalry contest that popped to mind upon hearing that assessment.

Here’s the part that’s either funny, ironic or confounding, depending on one’s perspective:

South Carolina arguably comes into this year’s clash with its best personnel during the Will Muschamp era. And yet it feels as if the Gamecocks have much less of a chance to pull the upset than in any of those previous meetings.

We often reference Clemson’s sum being greater than the total of the individual parts.