How many intangibles on the Gamecocks' side?

Will the Gamecocks flex their muscle at the right time again?

South Carolina travels to play Clemson this Saturday and which team do the intangibles favor?

The BIGGEST intangible Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney has going against him is a 5-0 losing strak versus SC.
With each loss to South Carolina, the pressure builds on Swinney exponentially.

When you are sitting under a five-game losing streak, every negative play is magnified, whereas you wonder if anything good that happens is going to be enough.

Another intangible is the game time. It is scheduled for noon at Clemson.

South Carolina has played at noon for two weeks in a row, and won both games.

And normally the fact that the game is at Clemson would be a major advantage for the Tigers, but South Carolina has played well on the road. Two of the Gamecocks' late-fourth quarter collapses on defense have been at home. All three have been at night.
And the team seems to play a little better on the road.
Clemson has not lost at home, but its tougher opponents have been on the road. And Clemson's last loss - at GT - was a midday start time. 

Another intangible in SC's favor is QB health. When Deshaun Watson was injured in an ugly Clemson loss at Georgia Tech two weeks ago, a season of anticipation to play a struggling Gamecock squad evaporated for the Tigers.

The Gamecocks, on the other hand, spent that Saturday defeating Florida, on the road.

And not only did USC beat Florida, The Gamecocks' once-putrid defense is actually getting some stops. It had four INTs last Saturday in a 37-12 win over South Alabama.

If Clemson QB Cole Stoudt has to play, as the Tiger's best option, how much will he by haunted by the game-changing INTs he has thrown this year?

If Watson plays how effective can he be, if he is still be affected by the severe injury he suffered at GT?

The Gamecocks have no such injury problems.

In that one day, what looked like a sure loss to Clemson, turned. That specter of bad luck seemed to envelope Clemson and the whispers of “Here-we-go-again” became audible.

Despite all of the things that don’t look good for Clemson, the odds-makers tell us the Tigers are 45. points better than South Carolina. But I would not put a lot of stock in that number.

Clemson may very well win the game, but it's going to take a lot of luck and plowing through some intangibles that as of late, seem to be on the Gamecocks' side.