Again: No. 3 Clemson Dominates No. 24 South Carolina 34-10 for Fourth Straight Year
“Never again will we be out-worked, never again will we be out-competed in a game like that.”
Those were the words of South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley from over the summer. His team was using the 56-7 beatdown last season against Clemson as motivation for the upcoming season.
“Never again” has been the battle cry for Gamecock fans and players all season. This improved 8-4 South Carolina team was confident that they would end the three-game losing streak to its rival in front of the emotional home crowd.
Bentley may have believed they were out-working Clemson all along, but Saturday night South Carolina was flat out out-played.
Again.
No. 3 Clemson handled its in-state rival No. 24 South Carolina 34-10 to win its fourth straight in the series and to finish the regular season 11-1.
“The game was one that I thought we controlled,” Dabo Swinney said after the 100th victory of his coaching career.
The Tigers finished with 469 total yards of offense and held South Carolina to only 207. Clemson managed to obtain 27 first downs and converted on 7-of-16 third downs.
Quarterback Kelly Bryant was 23-of-34 for 272 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.
The win gave the Tigers their fourth road win over a top-25 team this season, something that has never been done before in Clemson’s history.
South Carolina’s offense came out confident and managed to show the home crowd that they could move the ball to midfield against Clemson’s stout defense on its first possession.
Then, Clemson’s defense struck.
After a Will Spiers punt put the Gamecocks on their own 1-yard line, Bentley threw the ball right to Ryan Carter for an easy 12-yard interception return for a touchdown.
With that interception, Clemson scored a non-offensive touchdown in every road game this regular season. That bodes well for an offense that sometimes has trouble getting out of its own way.
The Gamecocks hung around for the first quarter completing four of their first six third downs to keep Clemson off the field. A few missed connections down the field prevented South Carolina from gaining any momentum or sustaining drives.
It was Travis Etienne and Tee Higgins, two freshmen, who got Clemson’s offense going in the second quarter. Etienne took a swing pass out of the backfield for 23 yards, then Higgins caught a pass over the middle for 24 yards.
In front of an emotional home crowd, South Carolina’s defense let their emotions get the best of them. A pass interference and a late hit out of bounds were costly mistakes that put Clemson inside the 10-yard line that drive.
The penalties set up a Tavien Feaster one-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0. Water bottles and other debris were then thrown from the South Carolina student section out of frustration.
It wasn’t even halftime.
The rout continued as South Carolina’s offense went three-and-out and Clemson’s offense put together a 10-play, 79-yard drive that featured three third-down conversions.
Bryant connected with Hunter Renfrow on a third-and-five for a six-yard completion, then with the freshman Higgins again on another third-and-five for 40 yards. Higgins finished with three catches and led Clemson’s receivers with 84 yards all in the first half.
“Tee was the spark,” Swinney added.
The final conversion came on a third-and-goal when Bryant found Renfrow for a touchdown to take a 20-0 halftime lead. Almost to rub it in, Clemson ran “Orange Crush,” the same play it ran to win the national championship last season.
Again, debris rained down from South Carolina’s student section. Swinney got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for stepping out of his coach’s box to complain about what the fans were doing. When he drew the penalty, it was the loudest that Williams-Brice Stadium got all night.
“I lost my poise,” Swinney said. “It was about the fifth time (trash was thrown).”
Clemson took a dominant 20-0 lead into the locker room. Brent Venables’ Clemson defense held the Gamecocks to 99 total yards and five first downs in the first half, four of them coming on third-down conversions.
The Gamecocks did not run a play on Clemson’s side of the field until a Bryant interception with 14:13 remaining in the game put the ball into Clemson territory.
Coming out of the locker room, the Tigers did not look back.
Etienne received the kickoff and made a nice return to give Clemson good field position at their own 39. On the first play from scrimmage, Renfrow struck again.
Renfrow caught a bubble-screen, made a nice spin move, and shifted free from about six different South Carolina defenders to score from 61 yards out to give Clemson a 27-0 lead. It was the longest reception of his career.
The redshirt junior came into the game with one touchdown catch this season. Saturday night against the Gamecocks, he had two.
“It’s that time of year for Hunter,” Swinney said. “He just seems to come up big in these types of games.”
Trayvon Mullen picked off Bentley on the ensuing drive to put Clemson back in business and send some fans wearing garnet towards the exits. Bentley finished with 126 yards on 16-of-29 passing, two interceptions, and one touchdown.
With around seven minutes left in the third quarter, the Gamecocks continued to shoot themselves in the foot. Bryant conceded on a third-and-long and ran out of bounds short of the first, but a Rashad Fenton unsportsmanlike conduct gave Clemson the first down.
The dagger came on fourth-and-seven when Bryant kept the ball himself on an option for 13 yards and the first down. Etienne scored three plays later to give Clemson a 34-0 lead.
The frustrations were still there for Gamecock fans, but there was hardly anyone left in the stands to throw bottles at that point.
“The biggest messages was to not let up,” co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. “The message at halftime was, ‘hey, it’s 0-0. Let’s squeeze everything we can out of these last two quarters.’”
Clemson cruised to victory from there. Aside from a couple of minor hiccups like Bryant and Hunter Johnson’s late interceptions and allowing South Carolina to score late, Clemson played a near perfect game in all phases.
The Tigers seem to be peaking in all areas at the right time as the regular season ends and “Championship Phase” continues.
“I do think that we are starting to play our best football,” Swinney said. “That’s where you want to be as you get into this final stretch here. You want to have confidence, you want to have depth, and you want to feel like you got some rhythm and momentum.”
Clemson now looks to finish strong and win its third consecutive ACC championship against No. 2 Miami on December 2nd, but tonight was all about the State championship.
This is the ninth time in series history that Clemson has won four in a row against the Gamecocks.
Again, the Tigers are heading back to Charlotte with its playoff dreams alive and well as potentially the number one team in the country.
Again, Clemson dominated South Carolina to notch another victory in the heated in-state rivalry.
“Well that was fun,” Swinney said.
“It’s great to be state champs.”