The Clemson Tigers dominated in-state rival South Carolina from start-to-finish in Columbia, winning their sixth-straight against the Gamecocks.
It didn’t take long for Clemson and South Carolina fans alike to realize that the Gamecocks were in over their heads Saturday afternoon in Williams-Brice Stadium.
The Tigers were methodical on offense and the Gamecocks couldn’t get anything going against Clemson’s stout defense, resulting in a 38-3 Tiger victory.
With the win, Clemson improved to 12-0 on the season and increased its winning streak to six over in-state rival South Carolina.
Tee Higgins got the scoring started with 6:58 left in the first quarter on 10-yard touchdown reception from Trevor Lawrence following a Derion Kendrick interception. Higgins caught his second touchdown of the game with 3:46 left in the first on a 65-yard bomb from Lawrence.
Lawrence would find Ross on a 16-yard fade touchdown in the second quarter and BT Potter would add three points on a 46-yard field goal as the first half ended to give the Tigers a 24-3 lead.
From that point on, Clemson never looked back and cruised to yet another impressive victory.
Here’s a look at the stat leaders and our analysis from the Tiger win Saturday afternoon.
Stat Leaders (Via ESPN):
Passing- Trevor Lawrence (26-of-36, 295 yards, 3 TDs)
Rushing- Trevor Lawrence (8 carries for 66 yards); Travis Etienne (15 carries for 51 yards, 2 TDs);
Receiving- Justyn Ross (9 catches, 111 yards, 1 TD); Tee Higgins (3 catches, 101 yards, 2 TDs)
Clemson had 527 total yards of offense, South Carolina had 174 yards.
Analysis:
First of all, it should be mentioned that the Clemson football fanbase absolutely showed out for this game. Williams-Brice Stadium was 50/50, maybe even in favor of Tiger fans. Just a pan of the stadium shows just how much orange was in attendance and that’s an absolute credit to Clemson football fans, and a telling sign of the state of the South Carolina football program.
As far as the game goes, it was exactly what we thought would happen coming into the contest.
Clemson was more talented and the Tigers had more depth. As a result, they took control of the game early and never looked back.
South Carolina had one drive- that resulted in three points- in the first half where we saw the Gamecocks throw all kinds of different looks at the Tiger defense and use the running game to move the ball down the field. After sucking Clemson in with the running game, South Carolina used play-action on 3rd-and-short for a gain into Tiger territory. The Gamecocks were forced to settle for a field goal, though, and that was the only time we would see them as a threat to score a touchdown.
One player you have to give a ton of credit is Trevor Lawrence.
Lawrence did an excellent job in the passing game and connected for three first-half touchdowns. He also led the Tigers in rushing and had a couple of drive-continuing runs to lead the Clemson offense.
The Tigers will now turn their attention to the Virginia Cavaliers for the ACC Championship game. A win will put Clemson back in the CFB Playoff for a fifth-straight season.