Gamecocks knew the run was coming and still couldn't stop it

Will Shipley ran for 128 yards against the Gamecocks.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Nov 28 00:07:52 GMT-04:00 2021

COLUMBIA – The brake lights were visible from the press box as early as the middle of the third quarter as fans began to leave Williams-Brice Stadium in droves. Inside the stadium itself, Clemson’s football team knew it didn’t need to throw the ball down the field or take chances. All Clemson had to do was continue to play suffocating defense and run the football.

That recipe worked as South Carolina was shut out by the Tigers for the 22nd time in series history. An interesting side note to that stat is the fact that all 22 shutouts have happened in Columbia. Take it a step further – South Carolina has 42 games in the series. Clemson has 22 SHUTOUTS.

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer asked the fans to show up and pack out the stadium, hoping to get the home crowd to provide a little extra juice to the proceedings. And who can blame him – this was South Carolina’s best chance to break the streak in years. The Gamecocks have beaten Auburn and Florida already this season, and with a little luck, wanted to add Clemson to that list.

Instead, that resounding thud you heard was the Gamecock football team falling flat under the bright lights of a football Saturday night.

The Gamecocks entered the field of play first, and then when Clemson entered the field several South Carolina players made their way down to the tunnel area to taunt the Tigers as they made their way onto the field. Clemson players never responded, simply kept their heads down and made their way to the sideline to start the game.

The crowd was into it early – Sandstorm was blaring and the students were jumping and the fans wanted to believe there was a chance. There wasn’t a chance. The Tigers ran the ball down the throat of the Gamecock defense on the first drive, forced a three-and-out on defense and never looked back.

I wrote in the prediction that Clemson should have success running the football against what has been a porous South Carolina run defense, and even though the Tigers telegraphed the run and everyone in the stadium knew what was coming, the Gamecocks still couldn’t stop it. The Tigers ran the ball 43 times for 265 yards, an average of 6.2 yards per carry.

Clemson tried to get cute a few times, but it was obvious early on that Swinney and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott wanted to challenge the Gamecocks to stop the run. The Gamecocks failed to answer the challenge and let the Tigers own the line of scrimmage most of the night.

South Carolina had 12 total yards in the first quarter and just 63 in the second quarter. The Gamecocks have benefited from some decent third quarters this season in comeback wins but laid yet another egg with just 28 total yards. In all, South Carolina had just 103 total yards through three quarters. In the fourth quarter the Gamecocks had another 103 yards as Clemson played a bevy of reserves and played more of a prevent defense. In fact, 72 of those yards came on the last drive as the Tigers played off the ball.

In all, it was another dominating effort in a string of dominating efforts in the rivalry series. Clemson has won its last five games in the series against South Carolina by at least 21 points (49 points in 2016, 24 points in 2017, 21 points in 2018 and 35 points in 2019). Clemson’s five consecutive wins of 21-plus points mark the longest streak of 21-point victories in the series by either team.

Offensive coordinator Tony Elliott told us after the game that is was “satisfying” being able to run the ball at will, even when the defense knows its coming. Not satisfied were the Gamecocks – who show up no matter what – who left early and added their cars to the line of brake lights headed away from the stadium.