Clemson vs. South Carolina: Loss Will Prove Tigers Have Always Been Pretenders

The Clemson Tigers have one more chance to prove they haven't been pretenders all season, but South Carolina won't let the overrated ACC team escape without being exposed.

The Tigers appeared legitimate after taking down three ranked opponents in a row, but aside from Virginia Tech (another ACC team who hasn't beaten anyone either), all of Clemson's "signature wins" aren't very impressive at all now that we see who they've beaten.

Auburn has four losses, as does a now unranked Florida State. Essentially, they only have one quality win and losing two of their last three has let the world know just how overrated they are.

Clemson has lost by 14 or more in two of their last three games. They now have to go on the road against South Carolina in a game they have no shot in.

South Carolina suffered a huge blow when Marcus Lattimore went down, but they remain 9-2 and second in the SEC East.

Despite all of the adversity they've had to deal with, South Carolina remains at No. 12 and with less than 20 PPG allowed, Clemson can't hope to go on the road in front of a hostile crowd and come away with a victory.

They are 2-2 on the road this season and dropping to 2-3 will show just how seriously overrated they've been all along.

There was a point where it seemed as though Clemson's wins forced us to recognize them as a legitimate team, but as the season went on, the teams they took down got less impressive, as did Clemson.

Another big loss will silence the Clemson noise even more.

Clemson scored 35 points in seven of their first eight games. They haven't hit that mark in any of their last three games and can't take down South Carolina if and when they fail to do so again.