What Gage Cervenka remembers the most about Clemson’s trip to Columbia in 2017 is not the Tigers’ 34-10 victory at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Instead, it was all the trash and water bottles the student section was throwing at them. It got so bad, head coach Dabo Swinney was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he ripped the officials for continuing to allow it to happen after Hunter Renfrow was hit in the back with a Coke bottle following a second-quarter touchdown.

But Cervenka understands it. He knows the Gamecock fans don’t like them and “the feeling is mutual,” he said.

“I think they were cracking down on it. But we’ll see how their officials and their university officials and all that take care of that,” he said. “But I’m not worried about it. A bottle can’t hurt me in a game, so I’m just worried about between the plays, just blocking the guy in front of me. That’s all I’m worried about.”

South Carolina officials are trying to crack down on the students throwing their trash at opposing players. Against Florida earlier this year, they weren’t happy with several blown calls that may have aided in the Gamecocks’ loss to Florida. Eight students were ejected and arrested when water bottles and white towels were thrown on the field.

After the Florida game, South Carolina’s new president, Bob Caslen, said incidents like the Florida game were “unacceptable” and anyone else found throwing objects onto the field will lose their athletic ticket privileges for a year.

Clemson safety Tanner Muse, whose brother Nick plays for the Gamecocks, says the trash throwing incident from two years ago in their game and what happened in the Florida game last month does not represent the entire South Carolina fan base.

“I just thought it was not the best thing for the stadium and for the fans,” he said. “I know that not all of their fans are like that. There are a lot of good people from that area. You can’t let one bad egg ruin the whole batch, so you just move on.

“You accept that things happen, but at the end of the day there are a lot of good people there. So, we are looking forward to being in that atmosphere and hopefully nothing is on the field.”

Hopefully, Muse is right. Hopefully, the incidents above have taught the South Carolina students a lesson and that their actions make their entire fan base look bad. Hopefully, Caslen will stand behind his words because odds are, the students will be very tempted to throw trash at the guys wearing orange on the football field come Nov. 30.

After all, they don’t like Clemson, and the feeling is mutual from the Tigers.

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