Clemson had a chance to make history Saturday. The Tigers also could have given their ultimate goal a fighting chance in the process.
It all went kaput in stunning fashion inside Memorial Stadium.
No. 8 Clemson and South Carolina have played this game 119 times now, and never has either side beaten the other eight straight times. That’s still the case after Carolina ended the nation’s longest home win streak in dramatic fashion. Clemson also saw its seven-game winning streak in the Palmetto Bowl series end with the Gamecocks’ 31-30 win, one in which the Tigers turned the ball over three more times and twice in the final six minutes.
“It’s not a feeling we’ve had a long, long time,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “But that’s our reality today.”
And with that, the flickering flame to Clemson’s College Football Playoff hopes was extinguished.
Clemson would’ve still needed help with a win Saturday, but the agony of a rare home defeat for Clemson coaches, players and fans – something that hasn’t been experienced since 2016 – is compounded by the fact that it came down the home stretch of a season in which no team in the sport feels invincible.
There are now only three unbeatens left in college football following Michigan’s rout of Ohio State, and nobody’s looked all that dominant. Alabama already has multiple losses. Tennessee, then ranked fifth, was in prime position to slide back into the top 4 once someone in front of the Vols lost until this same Carolina team obliterated them a week ago.
LSU, which took the Vols’ place at No. 5 last week, took a third loss against a bad Texas A&M team Saturday night. Southern Cal’s Swiss-cheese defense makes the Trojans, owners of a loss already, susceptible. TCU joins Michigan as the last undefeated teams, though both needed walk-off field goals to avoid losses earlier this month.
Clemson’s strength of schedule took a hit with North Carolina, a top-15 team earlier this month, losing its last two games of the regular season. The Tigers would have still had just one top-20 win on their resume (No. 16 Florida State) even with a win over UNC in next week’s ACC championship game, but Clemson simply needed to win out and then see how many other dominos might fall.
But the Tigers were one of the first, though there were signs this might be coming.
A secondary that’s been picked on at times this season allowed 390 more passing yards, including a 72-yard touchdown bomb that got Carolina within a possession in the fourth quarter. And an inconsistent offense, which got virtually nothing from the passing game (99 yards) and didn’t even try freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik despite D.J. Uiagalelei struggling mightily (8 of 29 passing), was responsible for two of the Tigers’ turnovers, which have plagued Clemson throughout the second half of the season.
“We thought about (going to Cade later in the game),” Swinney said. “(Uiagalelei) felt like he was OK, and we stuck with him.”
Said Uiagalelei, “I’m pissed. Definitely pissed. I hate losing.”
Uiagalelei, who threw a fourth-quarter pick, has had at least one turnover in six of the last seven games. And once Antonio Williams lost a fumble at the end of the punt return in the waning minutes, it pushed the Tigers into the red for the game in that department.
The Tigers have been pushing their luck, losing the turnover margin in four straight games before Saturday. Playing at home against less-capable offenses in Louisville and Miami the previous two weeks helped Clemson win those games, but a fifth straight game at a turnover deficit was too much to ask for.
“Turnovers caught up with us in this game,” Swinney said.
Clemson can still go win the ACC in Charlotte. But even if that happens, they know it’s the last meaningful game they’ll play this season, making Saturday’s result a painful double whammy for the Tigers.
“It’s a tough day and a painful day because we all know how important this game is,” Swinney said. “But it’s absolutely our responsibility to help (the players) push through, pick them up and get some wind back in their sails.”
Don’t miss Cyber Week Deals at Dear Old Clemson’s online store. Deals will run through midnight Monday.
- Footballs signed by the Clemson 2022 class discounted by 30%.
- Free Avengers unsigned poster with the purchase of a signed Avengers football
- Free signed Myles Murphy 8 by 10 picture with the purchase of Myles Murphy signed card
- Free 2022 class unsigned poster with purchase of signed Avengers poster
- Free #Team 4 unsigned poster with purchase of any signed softball
- Free unsigned Valerie Cagle card with purchase of any signed softball poster
- Free unsigned Bakich to Omaha poster with purchase of any signed baseball
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