Clemson knew it was going to have run the ball and do so with authority if it was going to leave Williams-Brice Stadium with its seventh consecutive victory over South Carolina.
Behind offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, Clemson crafted a diligent game plan. The Tigers were going to run the football and dare South Carolina to stop it.
Needless to say, the Gamecocks had no answer for Clemson’s rushing attack. The Tigers rushed for 265 yards on 43 carries, averaging 6.2 yards per carry.
From a personnel standpoint, the Tigers were running out of bodies at the receiver position. And even if Clemson was relatively healthy out wide, South Carolina came into Saturday’s contest with a top-15 passing defense.
“The backs have really started to come on,” Elliott said following Clemson’s 30-0 win over the Gamecocks on Saturday night. “We finally have some continuity and cohesion on the offensive line. Coming off that performance against Wake, I knew these guys had some confidence. So, it was kind of what we were doing well against the area where they [are] not as well on defense.”
“We wanted to establish the run, really challenging the guys to establish the line of scrimmage,” he added.
Clemson won the battle at the line of scrimmage and established the run with relative ease. Heading into halftime up 17-0, the Tigers had already totaled 193 yards rushing on 25 carries for an average of 7.7 yards per carry.
That, of course, wouldn’t have been possible without Clemson’s offensive line getting the necessary push in the run game.
“The backs were able to get going and get some momentum before any contact,” Elliott said. “So, really proud of those guys. I thought they did a good job of just establishing the line of scrimmage. From the get-go, we were able to run the football.”
South Carolina knew what was coming. Everyone in the stadium knew what was coming. And yet, the Gamecocks still couldn’t stop it.
“I think what it does is it just ignites your sideline,” he said. “There’s nothing more demoralizing to a team than to have the ball ran on you. It just sets the mentality, the mindest, from a physicality standpoint in the trenches. It allows you to stay ahead of the chains…whenever you can establish a line of scrimmage and run the ball, it just ignites the sideline. It helps to control the game.”
Speaking of controlling the game, Clemson was able to do so behind Will Shipley and Kobe Pace for the second consecutive game.
They were able to feed off one another’s energy, combining for 186 yards on 28 carries and two rushing touchdowns. While Shipley accounted for 128 of those 186 yards, it was Pace’s 34-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter, which put the game out of reach.
Elliott was asked what it’s been like to watch the development of Pace and Shipley, but he turned the question into a referendum on what running backs coach C.J. Spiller has been able to accomplish since taking the reigns of the room from Elliott.
“Man, it’s fun,” Elliott said. “I had the privilege of having Kobe for a year before turning him over to C.J. Just to watch what C.J.’s been able to do in that room. Obviously, that was my baby for 10 years. I took a lot of pride in it. And it’s tough. When I recruited most of those guys, they came to play for me but to watch C.J. step in there and just be who he is and galvanized those relationships within the room…and to be able to bring the best out of those, man it’s just so awesome to watch.
“The type of young men that they are, they’re all very, very high character, young men and that’s what you’re seeing on the field. The ability to get better. The humility that they have to go to work every single day, even when they’re having some success, to be able to find ways to improve, it’s pretty special. The future is very bright.”
Elliott didn’t want reporters to overlook “his man” Phil Mafah, either.
“Phil didn’t play as much throughout the course of the season, but down the stretch, he showed what he’s capable of,” Elliott added. “Man, it’s gonna be a fun three-headed monster that C.J.’s gonna have in the future.”
Mafah finished Saturday’s contest with 11 carries and 43 rushing yards. He scored a 6-yard rushing touchdown on 4th-and-2 with just under three minutes to play. Clemson didn’t want to settle for a field goal. Instead, they were able to punch it in for a touchdown to put a bow on the team’s 30-0 victory.
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