Clemson vs South Carolina: The Game that Ended South Carolina’s Winning Streak
Part five of our look back at 10 of the most crazy, exciting, and impactful games played at Death Valley in the last 20 years…
Clemson fans are equally as acclimated to triumph as they are to heartbreak. Over the decades, Tiger fans have witnessed three national championship wins, countless wins over highly ranked opponents, and more memorable moments than most fans can remember. Fresh in the memory of Tiger fans, however, is the dreaded “streak” brought upon Clemson by their arch-rivals, the South Carolina Gamecocks. After defeating South Carolina in 2008, Dabo Swinney’s interim first season as the Tigers’ head coach, the Gamecocks would go on a run of five consecutive wins over Clemson and induce more misery to the Tigers’ fan base than any program should have to endure. The streak, it seemed, would never end. Of course, it would eventually, but tell that to a fanbase whose disdain for South Carolina runs as deep as the channels of Lake Hartwell. After the Gamecocks won their fifth game in a row over the Tigers in 2013, something had to give. Swinney’s coach’s seat was perhaps even a little warm. All of that, and Clemson’s fortunes, would change in 2014 when a young quarterback phenom named Deshaun Watson stepped on campus.
Now or never…
Saturday, November 29th, 2014 was a beautifully sunny afternoon in Clemson. The blue skies and mild late autumn temperatures were perhaps a harbinger of the good fortune to come. The Tigers entered the game with an 8-3 record and were ranked #21 nationally. South Carolina was just 6-5 and a shell of the team they had been over the past five seasons. Clemson was the heavy favorite on paper, but that had meant little over the previous five seasons. The Tigers had the more talented roster, and Watson, who had quickly become a household name across the college football landscape. But five straight losses to your rival lends a bit of cynicism to the equation. Nevertheless, it was a confident group of Tigers who ran down the hill at Memorial Stadium and Death Valley rocked and rolled in anticipation of finally breaking through the Palmetto Bowl doldrums.
Slow start, fast response…
The high drama would not be the final calling card of this game, but the opening moments gave Clemson fans a here we go again gut punch. South Carolina scored the game’s first points, a 20-yard run from Pharoh Cooper, the Gamecocks’ lone game-breaking offensive threat. This time, though, Clemson maintained their edge and immediately responded. Just over one minute later, Watson announced his presence to the Gamecocks for the first time. The super freshman launched a pass to Artavis Scott who hauled in the throw and raced 53 yards to paydirt. The Tigers were just getting started. Clemson scored two more second-quarter touchdowns, a five-yard Wayne Gallman run, and a one-yard plunge from Watson, to up the lead to 21-7. It was becoming quite apparent that this would be the Tigers’ day, but they still had to finish the job. South Carolina briefly returned fire as Elliot Fry knocked home a 47-yard field goal late in the first half, but Clemson took a 21-10 lead into halftime.
Lights out…
Frankly, the second half was party time in Death Valley. The game itself turned into a burst of laughter, much to the relief and delight of the announced crowd of 82,270 Tiger fans in attendance who roared with gusto at every haymaker Watson and company relentlessly threw the Gamecocks’ way. Watson and Scott struck again with 4:38 to play in the third, with Deshaun dropping a 70-yard dime to his dependable wide-out that broke the back of South Carolina. Leading 28-10, the Gamecocks fired their last bullet on a 12-yard pass from Dylan Thompson to Damiere Byrd with 7:49 to play, but Clemson simply responded with the coup de gras, another one-yard run from Watson with 2:35 to play that sent the crowd into a frenzy. For the Gamecocks, it was all over but the crying. For the Tigers, it was party time after five seasons of futility against their main antagonist.
Just a distant memory…
Clemson fans wanted their pound of Gamecock flesh. The Tigers gave it to them and then some. It was an utter beatdown, nowhere near as close as even the scoreboard made it seem. Clemson had been in control since the first five minutes of the contest and they never relinquished their stranglehold. Their death grip on the Gamecocks was only beginning to tighten. In the aftermath of the win came an incredible revelation. Deshaun Watson, the Tigers’ generational freshman quarterback, had eviscerated South Carolina even playing with a torn ACL ligament in his knee. Watson would have surgery to repair the injury in the weeks following the win over the Gamecocks, and would not play in Clemson’s 40-6 bowl victory over Oklahoma a few weeks later, but the dye had been cast. Soon, five straight losses would seem like a distant memory. An unpleasant memory, but one that had been left far behind in the consciousness of Clemson’s coaches, players, and fans.
This is Clemson’s world…
For the next six seasons, South Carolina was living in it. Watson returned better than ever, carving up South Carolina in 2015 and again in 2016. As the Gamecocks watched Clemson blossom into a dynasty, their program was simultaneously slipping into irrelevant mediocrity. Two national championships, seven consecutive ACC titles, and six trips to the college football playoff came in the years following Watson’s exorcism of the Gamecocks. It all started on that sunny November afternoon in Clemson. When you think about impactful games played at Death Valley, it would be hard not to consider this game one of the most important. Sure, it was a blowout. But a game is not rendered any less important to the psyche of a beleaguered program based on a lopsided score. In fact, the Tigers’ win over the Gamecocks in 2014 was perhaps one of the most important ever played at Memorial Stadium. Nobody can say what would have happened to the Clemson program, and to the rivalry, had South Carolina won their sixth straight over the Tigers. But Clemson’s win came at the perfect time when the program was at a crossroads. That 35-17 win on November 29th, 2014 simply pointed Clemson in the direction of greatness.
They have not looked back since.
