Defense won't bring any rings to Clemson this season, but it won a state championship.
And cemented ownership.
Of a school, a team and a city.
South Carolina's home confines have become a house of horrors against the team from the Upstate.
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Brent Venables walked out that visitor's locker room door for the last time two years ago, and mercifully for Gamecock fans.
Until Wes Goodwin walked in Saturday night and resumed the ritual asphyxiation of South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium in a 16-7 victory that wasn't that close.
The towel-waving fans came hoping for a barnburner and ended up getting burned by Barnes.
Clemson fans have already been on a first-name basis with Khalil during a spectacular freshman season.
The kid from Athens introduced himself to the Gamecocks on the second play from scrimmage by scooping a fumbled screen by Xavier Legette and taking it 42 yards to a place seldom visited by South Carolina at home against Clemson:
The end zone.
Clemson's offense didn't get there either Saturday, the first time since 2014 against Louisville that the Tigers won a game without scoring an offensive touchdown.
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But combine stifling defense with a suddenly reliable kicker Dabo Swinney brought off the beach a couple months ago, and it added up to a convincing win that ended the Gamecocks' season at 5-7.
The Tigers' offense was sometimes painful to watch, but Clemson's defense was painful to face.
A number of Gamecocks are going to be sore for a few days after the unrelenting assault from Goodwin's group.
One of those would be Spencer Rattler, who was sensational for most of the season but nowhere near that Saturday.
He came in averaging 280 yards passing a game and 8.4 yards an attempt.
His numbers against Clemson: 112 yards on a 16-of-32 clip, no touchdowns and an interception to Barnes on the third play from scrimmage.
South Carolina totaled 169 yards and was 2-of-13 on third downs. In the second and third quarters, the Gamecocks had a total of 2 yards.
Aside from a 12-play, 81-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter, South Carolina did almost nothing. Sixty-five of its yards came on the final two possessions.
Over its last four trips to Columbia, Clemson's defense is tied with South Carolina's offense in touchdowns scored at 2-2. And one of the Gamecocks' touchdowns came in garbage time of a 34-10 victory in 2017.
The Tigers have won five straight in Columbia, the last four by an aggregate 118-20.
Clemson closed the regular season with four consecutive wins after a 4-4 start and now hopes to reach nine wins in a bowl game.
When Swinney brought former walk-on Jonathan Weitz from Charleston to try to reverse the Tigers' kicking woes, the coach said it would either end up great or terrible.
It took a while, but Weitz's dead-solid attempts from 50, 49 and 42 yards provided much-needed breathing room.
Cade Klubnik threw for 100 yards on a 15-of-27 clip and tossed an end-zone interception in the third quarter. But he was effective with his legs, particularly in the first half, and finished with 52 yards rushing on 11 attempts.
Phil Mafah led the Tigers in rushing with 89 yards on 19 carries, followed by Will Shipley with 80 yards on 15 attempts.
Shipley added four catches for 32 yards. Tyler Brown had 40 yards receiving on five grabs.
Clemson had 219 yards rushing to 57 for South Carolina. The Tigers were 7-of-16 on third down and had 19 first downs.
But this night belonged to the defense, which totaled six tackles for loss and two sacks while hitting Rattler plenty and owning the line of scrimmage.
No Brent, no problem.
Venables' replacement picked up right where the legendary assistant left off two years ago in Columbia.
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