South Carolina deals with offseason of Clemson talk

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina's Jonathan Alston couldn't go to the grocery store or walk down the street at home in Charleston the past several months without someone bringing up his team's biggest failure last season - the 63-17 loss to Clemson that closed a disappointing year.

"Old, young, it doesn't matter, they bring it up," said Alston, an offensive lineman.

Alston's long grown tired of the comments. For now, though, all he does is wave, nod or smile. "I can't say anything," Alston said. "I have to wait until that last game to prove myself."

As do the rest of the Gamecocks, haunted by Clemson's quick and complete domination at Williams-Brice Stadium last November. Guess that's what happens when you give up the most points ever in a state rivalry that's defined South Carolina sports for more than a century.

"I suppose I would hate to be on the other side of that," said Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, who threw three first-quarter touchdowns to get the rout going.

It hasn't been easy the Gamecocks, who start fall practice next week.

South Carolina receiver Taqiy Muhammad, a transplanted New Yorker who played prep ball at Michael Jordan's old high school in Wilmington, N.C., heard about the defeat from family members and friends. But don't blame them, Muhammad demanded it.

"I told them, 'Say something about the Clemson game,"' Muhammad said. "I want to remember it. It's not easy to forget, but I want someone to remind me everyday why I play this game and why I play for USC. And that's one of the things. You want to have a great season, but you want to beat Clemson."

That's something Muhammad hasn't done in his two seasons. Then again, that's something a lot of Gamecocks haven't done very much through the years - Clemson holds a 61-36-4 mark over them all time.

Even Lou Holtz, brought in to revive South Carolina, has faltered so far at gaining an edge over the state rivals in losing four of the five meetings.

The worst of them for Holtz and South Carolina came last fall.

Whitehurst struck for three fast touchdowns - all to wide-open receivers - that put the Gamecocks ahead 21-0 about eight minutes into the game and stunned the sellout, mostly South Carolina, crowd.

The Gamecocks attempted to make a game of it, soon after trailing 21-10 and on the more for additional points. But two more touchdowns by the Tigers put things out of reach.

By the end, with many Gamecock fans in the State Fairgrounds parking lot before halftime, Clemson had recorded the most points ever scored in this rivalry.

Holtz said after the game he was embarrassed as he had ever been in his career. The players also felt the sting and pledged to each other that a similar defeat wouldn't happen again, center Na'Shan Goddard said. "It's a long time until November," he said.

Clemson football lore pointed to a similar blowout, this time by the Gamecocks 56-20 in 1975, with forging Tiger resolve. The results certainly show that - the Tigers hold a 20-7-1 record over South Carolina since then.

Can the Gamecocks pull off a similar turnaround?

Goddard thinks they can. "We're been here for a while working hard," he said. "You can see we want to win."

Muhammad said the Gamecocks have to win back fans after the past two seasons. Both years, South Carolina was a victory from making the postseason, but ended with long losing streaks - five games in 2002 and four games in 2003 - to finish 5-7.

"We hit some mountains there," Muhammad said. "We can't let that happen again."

Especially when it comes to the Tigers.