Three Clemson freshmen may have shown the Gamecock defense a glimpse of the next three years in the Tigers’ 35-17 beatdown over South Carolina.
Starting with quarterback Deshaun Watson, who had been dealing with a knee injury and missed some time during Saturday’s game, but shook off any discomfort by throwing for 269 yards and two touchdowns. He was limited in his mobility, only picking up 13 yards on five carries, but still somehow managed two rushing touchdowns.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney revealed after the game that Watson played with a torn ACL. Jeopardizing Watson's health by having him play seems to demonstrate how badly Clemson wanted to win the game, or maybe it’s just that the quarterback has Connor Shaw-like toughness and Watson wanted to put it on the line for his teammates and coaches.
Running back Wayne Gallman added to the fire, gashing the Gamecocks for 191 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown.
But the backbreaker was true freshman Artavis Scott, who put on a show with 185 yards on seven catches, which included two touchdowns. Both touchdowns came out of a formation where Scott would line up out wide and then go in motion towards Watson. Watson would shovel pass Scott the ball and the receiver would take off for the end zone. Scott had a 53-yard catch and run for Clemson’s first score, and then a 70-yarder to give the Tigers a comfortable 28-10 lead in the third quarter.
“We thought they were going to attack us outside,” Gamecock defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said. “We had some adjustments that we made to stop it, and I could have probably in the second half made some better calls.”
Clemson had a balanced gameplan with 491 yards of total offense (266 passing, 225 rushing) and cruised on a nine-play, 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter to go up 35-17 and put the game out of reach.
Facing a quarterback that was so banged-up, it was puzzling that South Carolina’s defense still couldn’t register a sack let alone a quarterback hurry on the stat sheet.
“That parts on me, I should have blitzed him more,” Ward said. “I felt like if we could cloud his eyes and play some zone coverage and some man coverage, we could affect him.”
The Gamecocks actually buckled down a bit late in the second quarter after sophomore linebacker Skai Moore intercepted a pass from senior Cole Stoudt who came in for Watson for a very brief stint. South Carolina then started out the second half with a couple three-and-out stops before Scott’s big play ruined all those positives.
Some of the problems included missed tackles and not getting off blocks according to Moore and Ward.
Ward mentioned the defense did not practice as much tackling this week as other weeks because the team was indoors a few times. The coordinator added that he preached to his team during practice not to give up any big plays on Saturday, but that plan obviously didn’t work out.
Whether it is personnel or coaching, fans are hoping to see some change in the Gamecock defense. Moore vouched for Ward after the game, saying his coach always puts the players in the right spots, but for some reason South Carolina can’t get the job done, and it shows every Monday during film sessions. Moore added that there is a lot of talent on defense, but it is still young and will use the defeat to grow stronger for next year.
The linebacker said he could see Clemson’s confidence skyrocket when Watson was on the field instead of Stoudt. Perhaps that extra boost was the difference in the game.
“It didn’t catch us off guard,” Moore said. “We knew what we were facing in him (Watson), we just didn’t execute.”