South Carolina comes up short against Clemson, fails to reach bowl eligibility

Coming into Saturday, South Carolina’s goal was simple: win and you’re in. All it needed to do was win one more game to reach a bowl game for the third straight year.

But when it mattered most, the Gamecocks (5-7, 3-5 SEC) couldn’t come through. Their season came to a disappointing end in a 16-7 loss to Clemson on Saturday night.

It was a bounce back win for the Tigers, who lost to South Carolina in Death Valley last year to drop out of the College Football Playoff chase.

For South Carolina, things got off to a nightmarish start. On the second play of the game, Spencer Rattler threw a backwards pass to Xavier Legette, who couldn’t come up with the ball. With the ball on the ground, Clemson safety Khalil Barnes instinctively picked it up and raced to the end zone for a 42-yard fumble return touchdown.

On the very next play, Rattler launched a deep ball in Legette’s direction, but he was picked off by Barnes. Just like that, South Carolina had turned the ball over twice less than a minute into the game.

However, the Gamecock defense came through and forced a three-and-out. Then, South Carolina’s offense slowly came to life.

The Gamecocks got a few nice runs from Rattler and Mario Anderson to move into the red zone. But Clemson’s defense got a stop on third down to set up a crucial fourth and goal play at the one-yard line.

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While the ensuing play call wasn’t great, it got the job done. Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains called a single reverse that went to Legette who tossed it back to Luke Doty. With Rattler covered in the end zone, Doty took it himself and barely crossed the goal line for a game-tying score.

That would pretty much be the best from the offense in the first half. Rattler went 7-for-14 for 34 yards. The Gamecocks rushed for 52 yards on 17 carries. After putting up 92 yards in the first quarter, they only amassed -6 yards in the second quarter.

Luckily, the defense stepped up big time and held its own. The Tigers only managed to score points off two field goals after being stopped in Carolina territory. Other than that, it was all punts.

The second half got off to a similar start as the first half did. Clemson started with the ball and drove into Gamecock territory. However, the defense came through again and forced another field goal to make it a nine-point deficit.

When it was South Carolina’s turn to do something, it couldn’t answer the bell. Two straight false starts and a sack led to an abrupt three-and-out.

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Right when the Gamecocks needed a sign of life, they got one from Nick Emmanwori, who picked off Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik in the end zone for a touchback. It halted another positive drive for the Tigers and re-energized the home crowd.

But just like it had done time and time again, the offense just couldn’t do much at all. Joshua Simon had a 12-yard catch for a first down. But after that, the Gamecocks went three-and-out.

With just over 10 minutes to go, South Carolina got two straight first downs on completions to Legette. But the offense stalled out after and faced a fourth and seven around the 50. Trusting in his defense, head coach Shane Beamer elected to punt, a decision that didn’t receive much approval from the home crowd.

After getting the stop on defense, South Carolina desperately needed to get something going to stay alive. But on fourth and short, Rattler had pressure and just got a pass off short of the first down marker.

Overall, it was a rough night for the offense that couldn’t get anything going after the touchdown drive in the first quarter. The Gamecocks finished with 169 total yards and went 2-for-13 on third downs.

In what was most likely Rattler’s last game as a Gamecock, he went 16-for-32 with 112 yards and the one interception.

For the most part, the defense did its job in holding Clemson. All it allowed was three field goals. The Tigers ran for over 200 yards but held Klubnik to just 100 yards passing.

Up next: There’s a chance South Carolina could be one of the few 5-7 teams to make a bowl game depending on how many six win teams there are. But that might not be the case. In any event, the Gamecocks will head into what will be a long offseason with lots of questions to be answered.

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