They were the greatest five years in South Carolina football history.
The 2009-2013 seasons encapsulated three consecutive 11-win seasons, the longest streak of home victories in program history and the careers of Marcus Lattimore, Connor Shaw and Jadeveon Clowney, to name a few. And perhaps most importantly, the Gamecocks went all five of those years without losing to Clemson.
But the greatest five years in South Carolina football history officially became history this past Saturday afternoon when the Gamecocks (6-6) fell to Clemson (9-3) in Death Valley by a score of 35-17.
“This isn’t going to define who we are,” redshirt senior quarterback Dylan Thompson said. “We’ve had many wins, many wins over these guys. But today they came to play and they beat us.”
He’s already begun downplaying it, but in Saturday’s loss, Thompson set the new school record for passing yards in a season with 3,280, overtaking Todd Ellis’ 3,206 from 1987.
The game wasn’t exactly as one-sided as the score might indicate. The Gamecocks struck first on a touchdown run from sophomore Pharoh Cooper out of the “Wildcat” formation that’s become so effective for South Carolina.
But the Gamecocks made a habit of turning back the opportunities its defense gave to the offense. Even though South Carolina had just one turnover on the game, poor offensive execution and play calling had a debilitating effect equal to any fumble or interception.
The Gamecock defense was by no means perfect Saturday. The unit allowed a 269-yard passer (Deshaun Watson), a 191-yard rusher (Wayne Gallman) and a 185-yard receiver (Artavis Scott), all of whom were freshmen.
But the South Carolina defense did force four punts in six Clemson drives during the second half, and the Gamecock offense only scored on one of them.
It was a total role-reversal compared to most of the season for South Carolina, the defense bailing out the offense on this particular day. But it turned out that the Gamecocks wouldn’t have the luxury of an off-day from either side of the ball when facing a Clemson team that stepped up exactly when it needed to.
The Tigers effectively put the nail in the coffin during a fourth-quarter drive that went 75 yards on nine plays for a touchdown, consuming 5:14 in the process.
“Give those guys credit, they are better than us,” head coach Steve Spurrier said. “They are a better team than we are. Simple as that.”
Heading into the game, the stats, the records and Clemson’s No. 21 ranking indicated that the Tigers were better. But South Carolina still had its five-game winning streak to cling to as evidence that they could walk into Death Valley and upset Clemson.
The Gamecocks had recently completed their worst season in the SEC since the 2009-10 campaign that saw them earn a 3-5 conference record identical to this year’s.
But the SEC is the most dominant conference, so South Carolina had just played stiffer competition and clearly had the edge over a team from the inferior ACC, right?
Not Saturday.
On a grander scale, the Gamecocks are now left to pursue a new winning streak, one that will take at least five years to reach satisfactory levels. On a smaller level, they’re now forced to go back to the drawing board, just like they were after six games this season.
That’s been the story of the underwhelming 2014 season for South Carolina. Leaving half of its games thinking, “What can we do to make sure that doesn’t happen again?”
With the regular season over, the Gamecocks only have one more game to prepare for, a bowl game that their six wins barely qualified for.
“We wouldn’t choose anybody else to play with, our teammates, our coaches, than the guys we have,” Thompson said. “We love each other, and obviously you don’t want to lose in this rivalry. But still just, it’s a blessing to be able to do what we do. We’ll regroup and get ready for the bowl game, wherever we end up.”