Thumbs up, thumbs down: Clemson’s day against South Carolina

Thumbs Up

Hunter Renfrow: After the senior receiver went down with a head injury against Duke, there was lots of speculation as to whether he would play Saturday. He put any questions about his health to bed on Clemson’s first passing play of the game, taking a short throw from Lawrence and sprinting, spinning and weaving his way for 22 yards. He finished with five catches and 80 yards, including several impressive grabs on third down.

Long drives, really long drives: Yes, South Carolina was missing many of its key defensive role players. But Clemson ground the Gamecock defense to nothing with three scoring drives of 95 or more yards and five that lasted 10 or more plays. Trevor Lawrence powered that with plenty of sharp, short throws, and the ground game with Travis Etienne, Tavien Feaster and Adam Choice was absolutely punishing.

Christian Wilkins for Heisman: South Carolina has just two players with more than two rushing touchdowns on the season, and three more with two total. Clemson’s big man has hit that mark with just three carries, grabbing the second score with an athletic one-yard dive in the first quarter. And yes, he was penalized for execessive celebration after striking a Heisman pose in the end zone, leading to a dressing down from Dabo Swinney, but he also became just the seventh player in college football since 2000 to post multiple games with a rushing touchdown and tackle for loss, according to College Football Reference.

Goal line stands: Twice South Carolina had the ball inside the Clemson five-yard line, and twice Clemson stiffened to deny the Gamecocks any points. USC coach Will Muschamp clearly was not going to let the Tigers limit his team to field goals, and they responded by denying them any points at all, no small feat.

Thumbs Down

Secondary gashed: Jake Bentley put up more passing yards than any other South Carolina quarterback ever has against Clemson, and he did so in large part due to 13 passes of 15 yards or more, including 67- and 75-yard catch-and-runs that resulted in touchdowns. USC’s receivers were often running free in space, especially if Bentley created time in the pocket.

Not putting them away early: South Carolina’s opening-drive touchdown seemed to take the crowd at Death Valley slightly aback — and then Clemson put up 21 unanswered points, looking firmly in control while doing so. But just as it seemed the rout was on, the Gamecocks grabbed two quick touchdowns to make things tight again before halftime, while the Tigers offense sputtered, at least as much as it did all game. After the break, Clemson took control, but against a battered South Carolina team missing a large chunk of its defensive starters, it should have happened earlier.

Third-down defense: For the first time all year, a Clemson opponent converted 50 percent of its third downs, as South Carolina was 7-for-14 in that statistic. As with the issues with the secondary, one of the main issues seemed to be that when the Gamecocks extended plays, they were able to make good things happen while Clemson’s defense failed to close out.

Missed field goal: A minor quibble in an offensive outpouring, but Greg Huegel’s 39-yard miss at the end of the first half felt big in the moment as South Carolina was only trailing by a touchdown at that point. Huegel hasn’t faced many high-leverage situations this season, and Clemson’s coaching staff clearly would have liked for him to nail such an opportunity.

This story was originally published November 25, 2018 at 12:01 AM.