CLEMSON -- Clemson's team and its fans can stop scoreboard watching and thinking of all the different scenarios that would pave the Tigers' way to the playoff.
This team isn't even the best in its own state.
The sum of all fears and concerns hit with an almost suffocating finality Saturday afternoon.
The same South Carolina team that looked awful and couldn't score an offensive touchdown at Florida two weeks ago came in and bagged another Top 10 victory.
It turned out the Gamecocks' astounding about-face against Tennessee wasn't a mirage.
It turned out Clemson's passing offense was -- not to mention any hope that the Tigers' turnover woes would end.
If you can't crack 99 yards passing, you probably don't deserve to win.
If you can't hold onto the ball on a kickoff return and a punt return, you probably don't deserve to be in a playoff conversation.
And if you allow as many big plays as Clemson's defense did Saturday, you probably deserve to lose.
At home.
Against your hated rival.
For the first time against the Gamecocks since 2013.
For the first time against anyone at home since 2016, snapping a 40-game Death Valley win streak.
And for the first time in 68 games when leading at halftime.
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Clemson lost 31-30 and dropped to 10-2. South Carolina improved to 8-4 in Shane Beamer's second season.
DJ Uiagalelei completed just eight passes on 29 attempts and threw a fourth-quarter interception when his deep ball sailed well past Davis Allen.
South Carolina had put on such a special-teams clinic, pinning a procession of punts inside the 5-yard line, that it seemed like a miracle when the final punt sailed right to Antonio Williams.
As Williams corralled the ball at Clemson's 36-yard line, this was Clemson's chance.
A cynic would've said it was the Tigers' only chance to get into range of a game-winning field goal by B.T. Potter, because the offense was that far deep in the muck.
But even the most ardent skeptics probably didn't envision what unfolded: Williams, after taking it 8 yards to the 45, losing the ball when Nate Adkins popped it free with his left hand.
In the first half, Phil Mafah was the one who lost the ball on a kickoff after a safety put Clemson up 16-7. The Tigers got cute with a trick return that had Will Shipley give the ball to Mafah.
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In their minds maybe the staff viewed this as the perfect opportunity to land the dagger. Instead they impaled themselves when the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Mafah somehow lost the ball while a 5-foot-10, 195-pound kicker was hanging onto his legs (the Gamecocks capitalized by driving 37 yards for a touchdown).
Clemson now has 15 turnovers in its past five games after totaling a mere five over the first seven games.
But the giveaways aren't the only problem. It's hard to beat anyone when your quarterback is completing 28 percent of his passes.
It's also hard to beat anyone when your defense gives up back-breaking plays at crucial moments, as this one did when Spencer Rattler found Antwane Wells for a 72-yard touchdown strike late in the third quarter.
That trimmed the margin to 30-28. Mitch Jeter put the Gamecocks up with 10:54 left in the game, and there wasn't much confidence in the stadium that Clemson's offense would answer.
South Carolina out-gained Clemson 414-336 and managed to win despite rushing for just 54 yards to Clemson's 237.
Rattler made his own huge mistakes but still far outperformed his counterpart, throwing for 360 yards and two touchdowns on a 25-of-39 clip.
Ratther's pick-6 to Jeremiah Trotter early, and the horrible decision that produced RJ Mickens' interception in the end zone, were atoned for.
Beamer told Rattler at halftime that he'd overcome those mistakes to lead the Gamecocks to a victory in the second half.
Even down 14-0 early, and down nine at halftime, Beamer felt confident.
And a source of that confidence was probably a quarterback and a defense on the other side that simply don't look a lot like their esteemed championship predecessors.
Clemson will still play for a conference championship in seven days.
Its path to Charlotte is clear, but its path to the CFP is blocked.
By the Cocks, of all teams.
Hard to get to the big playoff when you're No. 2 in your own state.
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