Clemson football is back on top of the (South Carolina) football world!
For a team that has been much, and deservedly, maligned for most of the 2025 season, Saturday’s 28-14 win at Williams-Brice Stadium made everything seem a little more right, and there were moments when the Tigers of championship glory past shone through.
Rent was due, and Clemson collected their check.
Smashmouth offense with clutch plays, tenacious defense, and forced turnovers brought back lots of fond memories and seeing the Gamecock faithful react with vitriolic fervor only highlighted the joy of the Orange-clad faithful in attendance and watching on television screens across the state.
It was, as they say, a good ‘ol fashioned chicken kickin’.
Palmetto Bowl: Clemson Tigers vs. South Carolina Gamecocks | Full Game Highlights | ESPN CFB
It was not as if the Tigers did not make mistakes that have become endemic to Clemson football. Cade Klubnik threw a bad first half interception, one play after he badly airmailed a wide-open Antonio Williams in the endzone. There were other times when the play calling was suspect, too.
Then, the moments that reminded fans of Clemson football at its best shone through like a beacon in the midst of the Columbia squalor.
Klubnik connected on clutch passes, the Tigers leaned on the run game to grind down the Gamecocks’ defense line, and the defense, led by Ricardo Jones, delivered the knockout blow.
Jones intercepted two passes, the second of which was returned for the back-breaking touchdown with under four minutes to play, and Clemson forced four turnovers on the day.
Adam Randall rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown. Randall has rushed for over 100 yards four times this year, and every time the converted wide receiver has broken the century mark, surprise, the Tigers have won.
Clemson football wins when it commits to the run. Saturday, they did just that and won their sixth straight game at Williams-Brice.
Klubnik passed for 268 yards and though the Gamecocks outgained the Tigers 422-415, Clemson held South Carolina to just 41 total rushing yards and, as Clemson radio said, the Tigers’ defensive line folded the South Carolina offensive line like a ‘cheap tent’.
Speaking of the defensive line for Clemson…
The combo of T.J. Parker and Will Heldt wreaked havoc. The dynamic defensive end duo combined for 4.5 sacks and multiple tackles for loss and had South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers on the run, or on the ground, all afternoon. It was by far Parker’s best game of the season in an otherwise underwhelming junior campaign, and it came at the most perfect time.
In the world of football, it goes without saying that when you win the turnover battle, good things usually happen. The Tigers won that category by three, three less opportunities for South Carolina to score points, and with a 14-point win that made all the difference.
It is always a good feeling to win the Palmetto Bowl, and Saturday’s win restored much-needed order. It has not been the season Clemson football expected, but it was the ending to the regular season that the Tigers needed.
Oh, and Clemson is going bowling and South Carolina is not. Life is good.
After the game, Dabo Swinney called the 2025 Tigers the greatest turnaround team in Clemson history. That might be slight hyperbole, but given that the Tigers once sat at 1-3, then 3-5, before winning their final four games is a pretty impressive save from the flames of disaster.
The Tigers have given their fans something to enjoy and build off of during the final month of the season, and with one game to play, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Either way you look at it, the 2025 Palmetto Bowl was finger lickin’ good.
