THE WEST ZONE message board | SHOP NOW: DEALS on CLEMSON apparel
CLEMSON -- The refs flagged Clemson (12-0, 8-0) for something called "disconcerting signals" late in the third quarter, and that was a new one for Dabo Swinney and most everyone else.
But boy, did the verbiage of the penalty sum up the mood of the home crowd at Death Valley.
Tigerillustrated.com's In-game Thread For Subscribers-Only
They came wanting nothing less than a massacre. As it turned out, Jake Bentley and South Carolina's offense left Clemson's secondary bloodied after carving up the Tigers through the air.
The Tigers were decidedly imperfect on defense as they sealed regular-season perfection and a fifth consecutive win over the Gamecocks in a 56-35 victory under the lights.
On the other hand, Clemson's offense did just about whatever it wanted to do against South Carolina's flailing defense.
Almost 750 yards is always a positive, as is a 70th win in history over South Carolina. Five straight wins over the Gamecocks sure beats five straight losses to them.
But it was just hard to overlook the flailing on Clemson's defensive side, because it was so unexpected. Six-hundred yards of offense? Not even the most optimistic Gamecock fan on the planet anticipated that.
"That's about as bad a performance on the back end that we've ever had since I've been the head coach," Swinney said.
At times you wondered if the fog rolling through the stadium in the second half might provide more resistance than the Tigers' defensive backs.
Coming in, Syracuse was the last offense to score a non-garbage time touchdown against this defense way back on Sept. 29.
South Carolina had crossed midfield just once in the first half of the past two meetings.
So it's going to be hard to process how Clemson allowed Bentley to light up the scoreboard while throwing for 510 yards and five touchdowns on a 32-of-50 clip.
These types of problems in the secondary were last seen in the second game at Texas A&M. But the struggles that night were attributed to the uncertainty of Jimbo Fisher's scheme, and it was thought that those deficiencies were long gone.
Apparently not. Hours after Clemson fans took delight in watching Michigan's vaunted defense fall apart at Ohio State, it was the Tigers' turn to dress up as a Big 12 defense.
Brent Venables played zone and he played man, and it didn't seem to matter. He was happy for the win afterward but clearly shaken and embarrassed over all those receivers running free.
"My name is all over it," he said. "Just mad at myself. I know we're better than that."
Deebo Samuel racked up 210 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 10 catches. Shi Smith had nine catches for 109 yards and a touchdown as the Gamecocks averaged 8 yards a play and totaled 29 first downs.
"Miscommunication, eyes on the wrong things," linebacker Kendall Joseph said. "Whenever you play talented people, they can expose you."
After the Gamecocks took the ball down the field on their opening drive in methodical fashion to reach the end zone on a 9-yard pass from Bentley to Samuel, their next four touchdowns came by 67, 75, 32 and 20 yards.
The defense did rise up at two crucial junctures with the Gamecocks near the end zone.
With Clemson up 14-7, South Carolina had first-and-goal from the 3 early in the second quarter but turned the ball over on downs after incomplete passes on third and fourth.
Late in the third quarter, the Gamecocks were down 42-21 and had first-and-goal from the 4 but the Tigers stopped them on four plays.
And in both instances, the offense took the ball right down the field on touchdown drives of 97 and 98 yards.
Oh yeah, the offense. All Trevor Lawrence and his mates did was pile up 744 yards, 393 through the air and 351 on the ground while totaling 38 first downs and averaging 8.1 yards per play.
Lawrence threw for 393 yards and a touchdown on a 27-of-36 clip and punctuated his first rivalry touchdown pass with a stare-down of South Carolina's sideline after tossing to Tee Higgins for a 22-yard strike.
Higgins had six catches for 142 yards. Hunter Renfrow had five catches for 80 yards, including a massive catch on a third-and-12 that set up a touchdown to make it 35-21 on Clemson's first drive of the second half.
The Tigers averaged 6.4 yards a carry on 55 rushes, led by 150 and two touchdowns from Travis Etienne on 28 carries. Adam Choice bulled for three touchdowns while rushing for 56 yards on seven carries, and Tavien Feaster had 63 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.
Lawrence had 42 rushing yards himself, almost half of South Carolina's 90-yard total on the ground.
Clemson's touchdown drives covered 75, 95, 97, 70, 75, 80, 98 and 54 yards.
"We threw the ball like we're capable of," Swinney said. "Trevor was amazing, and so was Renfrow. Renfrow, just 'Wow' is all I can say."
It's a good thing for Clemson that South Carolina's defense is so bad, because matters might've been much more stressful against a more well-rounded team.
A team like, say, Alabama.
But hey, probably time to stop worrying about a hypothetical matchup and focus on what's next on the schedule.
Clemson plays Pitt for the ACC championship. Fans will go to Charlotte hoping to see the Tigers walk away with another trophy.
And without those disconcerting signals that were on display Saturday night.
THANKSGIVING-WEEK OFFER: Get 50% off an annual subscription to Tigerillustrated.com! This is a limited-time offer that expires tonight at midnight EST.
When signing up, just input promo code: 50Tigers
