COLUMBIA, S.C.- Tyler Brown will never forget his first taste of the rivalry matchup with the Gamecocks.
Growing up a Clemson fan in Greenville, the freshman wideout is plenty familiar with the animosity between the two fan bases. Something that makes the Tigers' 16-7 win on Saturday night mean a little bit more.
"Growing up always not liking these guys," Brown said. "I just appreciate the rivalry. Brings a lot of excitement to South Carolina and I love it. I loved the atmosphere, they got great fans. They have supportive fans. You gotta love to play under those bright lights like that."
"Great respect for South Carolina but growing up a Clemson fan, you dream of moments like this. Just having that Palmetto Bowl trophy in your locker room. I feel like we owed that senior class another trophy with how they went out last year. I felt like they didn't deserve that so I am glad we got it back for them."
While this was Brown's first time playing in the longstanding rivalry game, that did not stop him from hearing about last year's loss that snapped the Tigers years long home winning streak.
"All year, since the game happened," Brown said. "I got some guys that go to USC and they bragged about it every day. Every chance they can. But big respect to them, they got a great team. We just had a better day."
Heading into Saturday night, the Tigers had won just once away from home all season, and the environment they faced inside of Williams-Brice was the most raucous they'd seen this season.
"A lot of stuff I can not say here and a lot of middle fingers," Brown said about the crowd. "This type of rivalry game there is always that type of hostility. You thrive on it, or you let it take you down. And we just seen through it and prospered."
Brown led the team with 5 catches for 40 yards, as the Tigers were held to just 100 passing yards on the night, and while the young receiver readily admits there is a little more juice involved with this game, that doesn't change how the team prepares for the annual matchup.
"At Clemson there is a standard," he said. We don't practice any different than we would for a national championship game or the first game of the year. We're going to be us at the end of the day and we came out with the W."
Clemson also faced a different kind of adversity last week. On top of the receiving room being ravaged by injury, the team also experienced an outbreak of the flu. However, as always, there was a next man up mentality, and Brown could not be more proud of the fact that the team was able to push through.
"We had some guys out this week, just that flu sickness hitting us," Brown said. "Having those guys out definitely hit us hard but at the end of the day we had to keep going with or without them. We want them, of course, but next man up."
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