The South Carolina football team lost 28-14 to the Clemson Tigers at Williams-Brice Stadium Saturday afternoon, ending its season with a loss.
Neither team was able to score in the first quarter and each turned the ball over once. Sophomore wide receiver T.J. Moore caught a 25-yard pass to start Clemson’s opening drive but its offense was unable to gain another first down after the big play.
The Gamecocks followed that drive with a three-and-out of their own with their only completion being a 6-yard catch from redshirt senior tight end Brady Hunt.
Redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Troy Pikes ended Clemson’s next drive after tackling senior quarterback Cade Klubnik at the line of scrimmage on third down. Clemson punted away and junior defensive back Jalon Kilgore muffed the punt, putting the offense at the 3-yard line.
Redshirt senior wide receiver Jared Brown caught an 8-yard pass to move the chains for the Gamecocks. On the following play, Brown caught another pass for 32 yards before fumbling the ball, giving South Carolina its first turnover of the game.
Clemson drove the ball to the South Carolina 19-yard line before Klubnik threw an interception to Kilgore. The Gamecock offense was unable to take advantage of the turnover and its drive ended with redshirt LaNorris Sellers sacked for 5 yards.
Senior running back Adam Randall ran 10 yards to score the first touchdown of the game to put the Tigers up 7-0 over the Gamecocks.
South Carolina responded with a touchdown of its own after junior wide receiver Nyck Harbor beat his defender deep and scored a 53-yard touchdown, tying the game 7-7.
The Tigers regained their lead after finishing an 85-yard drive with a touchdown run that was fumbled and received by Klubnik to put the Tigers back up 14-7 in the second quarter.
The Gamecocks relied on explosive plays for both touchdowns in the first half. Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Vandrevius Jacobs caught a high pass and outran Clemson’s defense for a 74-yard touchdown to even up the score again 14-14.
South Carolina was able to hold Clemson to a field goal after Pikes tackled sophomore wide receiver Cole Turner for a 0-yard gain on second down following a holding call. This gave Clemson a 17-14 lead late in the first half.
Sellers was sacked for 7 yards which gave Clemson the ball back with under 30 seconds left in the first half. The Tigers were unable to score again and the half ended with a 17-14 Clemson lead.
Clemson continued to find enough success on offense to score another field goal after freshman tight end Christian Bentancur caught a 24-yard pass to increase its lead 20-14.
Both teams punted back and forth until South Carolina found its rhythm near the end of the third quarter. Before the drive, South Carolina had negative rushing yards coming out of the half but graduate running back Rahsul Faison ran for 8 yards and 16 yards on the drive to get the ball into Clemson territory.
Sellers threw his first interception shortly after to sophomore safety Ricardo Jones for a touchback to end the third quarter.
Clemson started the fourth quarter by getting into Gamecock territory after junior tight end Josh Sapp caught a 22-yard pass to put the Tigers in Gamecock territory and reset the chains. Pikes tackled a Klubnik for a 1 yard rush to help end another Clemson drive.
South Carolina got to midfield after a 7-yard run by Faison and a 19-yard catch from Jacobs. Harbor and Jacobs both had over 5 receptions for over 100 yards and a touchdown each.
Clemson was able to get into Gamecock territory again but was forced to punt after redshirt senior edge Jatius Geer tackled Randall for a 1-yard gain.
The Tigers punted the ball inside the 5-yard line where Sellers threw his second interception to Jones for a touchdown, putting the Tigers up 28-14 after Randall caught a pass for a successful 2-point conversion.
Harbor committed the third turnover of the day for the Gamecocks by fumbling a 12-yard pass that was recovered by Clemson sophomore linebacker Sammy Brown. This play, along with the interception, sealed the game for the Tigers.
The South Carolina offense put together a final drive of 74 yards that ended in a turnover on downs.
South Carolina was unable to score following the fumble and ended the game without any second-half points and allowed 14 unanswered points, losing its final game of the season 28-14.