The Notes: South Carolina 17, Clemson 14
Clemson dropped to 73-44-4 all-time against South Carolina.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 24-of-36 passes for 280 yards and added 10 carries for 62 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
During the contest, Klubnik (3,041) broke his single-season career high of 2,844 passing yards set in 2023.
Klubnik (3,041) has now posted the 10th 3,000-yard passing season by an individual in school history. He passed Cullen Harper (2,991 in 2007) for 10th in passing yards in a single season in Clemson history.
The game marked Klubnik’s second career game with multiple rushing touchdowns, matching his two-touchdown effort against Appalachian State in September.
Klubnik opened the game’s scoring on a 13-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Klubnik added an 18-yard rushing touchdown on Clemson’s first drive of the third quarter.
With the two scores on the ground, Klubnik (seven) added to his career high in rushing touchdowns.
With 342 combined rushing and passing yards, Klubnik (3,478) entered the Top 10 in school history in yards of total offense in a single season.
During the game, Klubnik (7,340) became the sixth player in Clemson history to reach 7,000 career yards of total offense.
On his 15th completion of the game, Klubnik (609) became the fifth player in school history to reach 600 career completions.
Wide receiver Antonio Williams recorded game highs in receptions (eight) and receiving yards (99).
Williams’ eight receptions were the most by a Clemson player in its series against South Carolina since Justyn Ross’ nine receptions at South Carolina in 2019. Williams was also one yard shy of becoming the first Clemson player to record a 100-yard receiving game against South Carolina since both Ross and Tee Higgins reached the century mark against the Gamecocks in 2019.
Williams (66) has now posted the first 65-reception season by a Clemson player since 2020 (77 by Amari Rodgers).
Wide receiver T.J. Moore gained 65 yards on a career-high six receptions.
Tight end Jake Briningstool caught three passes for 35 yards.
During the contest, Briningstool (1,288) passed John McMakin (1,255 from 1969-71) for second on Clemson's all-time career receiving yardage leaderboard for tight ends.
Clemson has now scored at least one rushing touchdown in a national-best 87 of its 94 games since the start of the 2018 season.
Offensive lineman Walker Parks made his 40th career start.
Clemson has now rushed for a touchdown in 60 consecutive home games, the nation’s longest active streak. The last team to hold Clemson without a rushing touchdown in Death Valley was Troy in 2016.
Clemson recorded a season-high-tying three takeaways, its fifth three-takeaway game of the season.
The game was Clemson’s 61st of Dabo Swinney’s head coaching tenure in which the Tigers have recorded at least three takeaways. The Tigers dropped to 59-2 in those contests.
Clemson has now recorded multiple takeaways in four straight games for the first time since finishing the 2023 season on a five-game streak with two or more takeaways.
The sack was Parker’s 10th of the season. Parker (10.0) became the first Clemson player to reach double digits in sacks in a season since Clelin Ferrell in 2018 (11.5).
With his fifth forced fumble of the season, Parker matched the school record for caused fumbles in a single season (five by Brandon Maye in 2009).
The fumble recovery was Parker’s first of the season and the second of his career.
Linebacker Sammy Brown recorded his fifth sack of the season, forcing Sellers out of bounds for a loss on a first-quarter scramble.
Brown (5.0) became the fourth Clemson player on record to record 5.0 or more sacks as a true freshman. He joined Dexter Lawrence (7.0 in 2016), Tyler Davis (6.5 in 2019) and T.J. Parker (5.5 in 2023).
Brown (10.5) also became the seventh Clemson player to record double-digit tackles for loss as a true freshman. He joined T.J. Parker (12.5 in 2023), Myles Murphy (12.0 in 2020), Anthony Simmons (11.0 in 1995), Xavier Thomas (10.5 in 2018), Tyler Davis (10.0 in 2019) and Shaq Lawson (10.0 in 2013).
Brown’s first-quarter sack — Clemson’s second sack of the game — was Clemson’s 30th sack of the season. Clemson (31) has now posted 30 sacks for the 13th straight season. Clemson's last season with fewer than 30 sacks was 2011. Clemson and Alabama entered the year as the only teams in the nation to have posted at least 30 sacks in every season since the inception of the College Football Playoff in 2014.
Linebacker Wade Woodaz returned after missing the last two games and recorded his third sack of the season in the second quarter.
Cornerback Avieon Terrell forced his third fumble of the season in the third quarter. He has now recorded a forced fumble in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Linebacker Barrett Carter, who played his 50th career game, recovered the fumble. It was his first fumble recovery of the season and the third of his career.
Terrell became the third Clemson player to force three fumbles this season, joining T.J. Parker (five) and Wade Woodaz (three). It marks the first time in the Dabo Swinney era that Clemson has had three different players force three or more fumbles in a single season.
Safety Khalil Barnes recorded Clemson’s third takeaway of the game with a fourth-quarter interception.
The interception was Barnes’ career-high-tying third of the season and the sixth of his career.
Barnes has now recorded an interception in both of his career games against South Carolina. He now has three takeaways in two career games against the Gamecocks.
Barnes’ interception was Clemson’s 100th interception since the start of the 2018 season. Clemson (100) joined Iowa (109) as the only teams in the nation to record 100 interceptions since 2018.
Clemson dropped to 144-5 since 2011 when leading after three quarters.
Clemson won the turnover margin, 3-2. Clemson has now finished even or better in the turnover margin in an 11th straight game for the first time since the 2021-22 seasons.
Clemson dropped to 86-5 when winning the turnover margin since 2011.
Clemson’s second offensive turnover of the game on its final offensive play snapped a 13-game streak in which the Tigers had recorded one giveaway or fewer, Clemson’s longest streak on record back to at least 1981.
The 2024 season will end a nine-year streak in which Clemson had earned at least one home win against an AP Top 25 opponent, which entered the year as the nation’s longest active streak.
Clemson is now 12-2 against ranked opponents in Death Valley since 2015.
Clemson finished its 2024 home slate with a 5-2 home record, concluding Clemson’s 13-year streak of winning six or more home games, which had been the nation’s longest streak. It is still Clemson's 19th consecutive season with at least five home wins and is Clemson's 23rd such season since 2000.
Clemson dropped to 120-2 in its last 122 games when holding teams under 23 points (dates to 2010).
Clemson is now 39-12 in one-possession games since 2011, still the highest winning percentage in the country in one-score games in that span (.765).
The game was tied at halftime, 7-7. It marked the first time in the series that the teams were tied after two quarters since 1992.
Clemson and South Carolina met with both teams ranked in the AP Top 25 for the seventh time in series history. (Note: There were also two additional ranked games in which South Carolina was unranked in the AP Top 25 but ranked in another major poll.)
Clemson (No. 12) and South Carolina (No. 16) entered the game with the fourth-highest combined ranking in series history, trailing 2013 (No. 6 Clemson vs. No. 10 South Carolina), 1987 (No. 8 Clemson vs. No. 20 South Carolina) and 2012 (No. 12 Clemson vs. No. 13 South Carolina).
Clemson has now led the all-time series with the Gamecocks for 46,034 consecutive days (126 years, 13 days). South Carolina won the series opener in 1896 before Clemson evened the series in 1897. Clemson won the third game in the series on Nov. 17, 1898 to take a 2-1 series lead, a lead Clemson hasn’t relinquished.
Clemson faced its second SEC opponent of the season. Clemson has faced multiple SEC teams in 18 of the last 19 years, dating to 2006. The lone exception came in 2020 when the SEC opted out of non-conference play amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Captains for the contest were tight end Jake Briningstool, linebacker Barrett Carter, running back Phil Mafah and safety R.J. Mickens.