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COLUMBIA -- Thirty minutes before the game, No. 3 Clemson performed its standard arm-in-arm walk toward a bunch of aluminum and a small knot of students beyond the end zone.

Thirty minutes into the game, the Tigers walked to the locker room up three touchdowns and there was no one in that corner of the stadium trying to make life miserable for them. In fact, three or four South Carolina students were actually cheering the visitors -- likely hoping Clemson would continue pouring it on to help make the case for firing Will Muschamp.

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In both cases -- in all cases -- this beatdown went down as expected without incident with Clemson drilling South Carolina 38-3 to win its 27th straight game.

After much talk of bottle throwing and taunting, South Carolina's fans basically threw in the white towels that were distributed before the game.

The throwing that took center stage was not of water or soda. It was of footballs thrown by Trevor Lawrence. The sophomore and his fleet of receivers toyed with South Carolina's secondary, and it seemed Clemson would get to third-and-long on purpose just to create a challenge for itself.

The Tigers aced that test over and over, as Lawrence threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns on a 26-of-36 clip.

Clemson's defense redeemed itself against South Carolina's injury-pillaged offense, limiting the Gamecocks to three points and 174 yards a year after Jake Bentley and Co. rolled up 600 yards and 35 points in Death Valley.

The Tigers' tracks now head to Charlotte for a meeting with Virginia in the ACC title game, Clemson going for its fifth consecutive conference title.

But for now, Dabo Swinney and the Tigers will savor the sensation of winning six consecutive games over their in-state rivals.

A mere five years ago, Clemson fans entered this game terrified of losing six straight games to South Carolina.

The mere mention of Williams-Brice Stadium was enough to induce nausea after the Sandstorms that overwhelmed Clemson in 2009, 2011 and 2013.

Now, Clemson fans view this matchup as a noontime walk in the park -- an opportunity to paint Columbia orange and commemorate another undefeated regular season while bathing in the sun and the Gamecocks' agony.

The Tigers have won six in a row over South Carolina for the first time since 1940. Muschamp now has to answer for a 4-8 record in his fourth season as coach.

Justyn Ross and Tee Higgins combined for 212 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 12 catches. The Gamecocks devoted their efforts to limiting Travis Etienne, taking their chances with their corners on Ross and Higgins.

That tactic didn't work very well. The same corners who shut down Georgia's receivers earlier this year flailed away trying to stop not just Clemson's front-line wideouts but their backups too.

After South Carolina came up with a goal-line stop to thwart Clemson's opening drive, the Tigers kept moving the ball and did their best work on third down.

It started with a beautiful third-and-9 touchdown toss from Lawrence to Higgins from the 10 to start the scoring.

It continued on Clemson's second-to-last possession of the first half, when Lawrence hit Higgins for 26 yards on third-and-14 and Ross for a 16-yard touchdown on third-and-8 from the 16.

Lawrence was 8-for-8 on that drive, which put Clemson up 21-3. Even when Cade Stewart's snap threw off the timing of that third-and-8, Lawrence still calmly gathered himself and rifled a perfect opposite-hash strike to Ross in the right corner of the end zone.

Lawrence also happened to finish as the game's leading rusher, slithering his way to 66 yards on the ground. Included were three third-down conversions: a 21-yarder up the middle on third-and-7 on Clemson's first drive of the game; a 19-yarder to convert a third-and-10 in the fourth quarter; and an 11-yarder to convert a third-and-5 in the fourth quarter.

Lawrence's biggest passing gem came on the 65-yard dime he dropped into the hands of Higgins for a touchdown that made it 14-0 late in the first quarter.

Since throwing two interceptions in the first quarter at Louisville on Oct. 19, Lawrence has completed 113 of 148 passes for 1,563 yards with 19 touchdowns and no interceptions.

South Carolina put together a nice 15-play, 76-yard drive in the second quarter that produced a field goal and took more than seven minutes off the clock.

Beyond that, the Gamecocks had seven possessions that produced 8 or fewer yards. South Carolina had nine first downs to Clemson's 30. The Tigers were 12-of-17 on third down to 5-of-15 for the Gamecocks.

As the final minutes ticked away, the largest Clemson contingent ever in Columbia had the place to themselves.

No bottles or nastiness from the Gamecock fans who showed up.

Just a nasty beatdown at the hands of the Tigers.

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