College Football
No. 2 Clemson Defeats Rival South Carolina 56-35
Clemson’s offense exploded for 744 yards on Saturday to defeat South Carolina 56-35. Trevor Lawrence passed for 393 yards and a touchdown. Travis Etienne would run for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Tee Higgins would catch six passes for 142 yards and a touchdown. Overall, the Tigers looked great on offense but would have a rare night where their defense didn’t play like usual.
South Carolina’s starting QB Jake Bentley had one of the best games of his career passing for 510 yards and five touchdowns. The Gamecocks found success in the first half moving the ball through the air and only down 28-21 at halftime. However, Clemson’s defense would shut the Gamecocks down in the third quarter and effectively ice the game in the fourth quarter with a Travis Etienne rushing touchdown.
Clemson Review
Honestly, I thought the Tigers were going to blow the Gamecocks out by even more. I think if Clemson gets the touchdown called back before halftime this game would have been worse for South Carolina. Clemson’s offense was humming tonight and basically doing whatever it wanted to against the Gamecocks.
However, this was one of the worse performances from the defensive, notably the secondary. I expect teams to test Clemson’s secondary moving forward after this sloppy performance. Clemson’s pass rush was neutralized for most of the night due to South Carolina’s gameplan. Thankfully, Clemson held strong when they needed to and secured the win. Next week, no. 2 Clemson will play Pittsburgh for the ACC Championship.
South Carolina Review
The Gamecocks played as well as it could have on offense. Jake Bentley was able to find star wideout Deebo Samuel on three occasions for touchdowns to go with 210 yards receiving. On a rare night where the Tigers were vulnerable, South Carolina took advantage but left some points on the table. Two fourth and goals inside the opponent’s territory and no points as each of those drives ended in a turnover on downs. Head Coach Will Muschamp knew he needed touchdowns to keep up but the Clemson defense held strong. Still, 600 yards of offense against this Clemson defense is no easy feat so hats off to South Carolina for the effort.
On defense, the Gamecocks were already down on bodies for depth and suffered injuries throughout the night. Expectedly, the Tigers hammered the Gamecocks on almost every drive for points. I don’t think there would have been much different if the Gamecocks were at full strength on defense. Clemson was hitting on all cylinders for much of the night. Next week South Carolina hosts Akron for a makeup game due to Hurricane Florence.
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Photo credit to David Platt via Flickr.
