The South Carolina football team lost to Clemson on Saturday after collapsing again in the second half of the game and committing costly turnovers.
One of the turnovers came in the first half and three were in the second half. The first happened as the Gamecocks were trying to establish their rhythm on offense in the first quarter.
Redshirt senior wide receiver Jared Brown fumbled a 32-yard pass after completing an 8-yard pass. This gave the Tigers good field position and allowed them to drive 29 yards to get into the red zone.
The defense made up for the offense’s mistake when junior defensive back Jalon Kilgore intercepted Clemson senior quarterback Cade Klubnik in the end zone for a touchback. After the game, Kilgore talked about what he saw that helped him make a play.
“I knew if he underthrew it that I was going to get the pick,” Kilgore said.
Sellers threw his first interception in the third quarter when he targeted junior wide receiver Nyck Harbor in the end zone in double coverage.
Clemson drove down the field down to around midfield before punting the ball back to the Gamecocks. The South Carolina offense was able to get a first down before committing a turnover on downs at the Clemson 43-yard line after a Sellers pass was broken up.
Runs from senior running back Adam Randall put the Tigers in field goal range, but an illegal formation penalty pushed them out of range on second down. On third down, redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Troy Pikes forced a punt that was pinned at the South Carolina 5-yard line.
With South Carolina deep in its own territory, Sellers threw his second interception to sophomore safety Ricardo Jones again for a touchdown. Jones finished this season with six interceptions, tied for first in the nation.
“I think it was just a bad luck kind of play,” Sellers said. “It was man-coverage, we knew that … just one-on-one opportunities with balls like that you've got to make a play.”
Despite the turnovers, Sellers threw for the most yards this season with 381. The redshirt sophomore credited Clemson’s defense for forcing him to turn the ball over.
“Defenses get paid too, so they’re not going to let me do what I did to them in the previous series,” Sellers said. “They had a game plan for it and I just gotta be better.”
South Carolina received the ball back following the interception and committed the final turnover of the game. Harbor caught a 12-yard pass that he fumbled. It was recovered by Clemson sophomore linebacker Sammy Brown.
Harbor's final turnover overshadowed the junior receiver's performance as he had his second 100-yard receiving game this year. He talked about how he improved after taking the season off from track.
“Learning the game. Just learning how to run routes, learning how to catch the ball ... and learning how to be a better teammate,” Harbor said. “That’s the one thing I needed, and I feel like I got that.”
Redshirt sophomore receiver Vandrevius Jacobs also had over 100 receiving yards, with seven catches for 141 yards. He credited Sellers for the game he had Saturday.
“With the touchdowns, I’d say 16 had trust in us and given us good balls to go catch it.” Jacobs said.
This game was Jacobs’ third 100-yard receiving game this season in an offense that ranked 13th in the SEC with 225 passing yards per game.
The above average passing game came at the price of two interceptions and two fumbles. Head coach Shane Beamer talked the impact of the turnovers in the press conference after the game.
“You lose the turnover battle whatever it was, I think four to one,” Beamer said. “You’re not going to win football games when you turn the ball over as many times as we did today.”