Clemson vs. South Carolina Post Game Notes

Nov. 18, 2000

*Clemson’s 16-14 victory marked the fourth straight year that Clemson had beaten South Carolina. This is the first time Clemson has defeated South Carolina four consecutive years since the 1988-91 era. This group of 19 seniors is the 10tth Clemson senior class to defeat South Carolina four consecutive years, just the third since 1940. The others are the seniors of 1991 and 1983.

*Clemson junior running back Travis Zachery went over the 1000-yard mark for the season by virtue of his 84 yards rushing against South Carolina. He needed 72 yards to reach the 1000-yard mark. He finishes the regular season with 1012. He became the eighth different player in Clemson history to have a 1000-yard season. Raymond Priester did it twice. He is the first 1000-yard rusher for the Tigers since the 1996 season when Raymond Priester had a record 1345 yards. Zachery was a model of consistency. He reached 1000 yards with just three 100-yard games during the season. He had at least 67 yards in every game this year.

*Zachery tied the Clemson single season touchdown record with his rushing score in the first period. He now has 17, tying the record of 17 set by Lester Brown in 1978.

*Rod Gardner had four catches for 107 yards. It was his fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season, ninth of his career. The 50-yard reception on Clemson’s next to the last offensive snap, gave him the school record for career 100-yard receiving games. He had been tied with Perry Tuttle for the most 100-yard receiving games in a career with eight. Gardner finishes the regular season with 956, the second most yards in a season in Clemson history. He now has the top two yardage seasons in Clemson history.

*Gardner has 159 career receptions, second in Clemson history to Terry Smith. Bowl games count in Clemson career records, so he will need four catches in a bowl game to break that record. He is third in reception yardage with 2404. Smith has that record with 2681.

*Gardner proved to be a thorn in the side of South Carolina over his career. Of course he caught the clinching touchdown on a 29-yard reception at South Carolina last year. For his career, Gardner had 13 catches for 271 yards and two scores.

*Woody Dantzler went the entire game for the first time since the Maryland contest, the seventh game of the season. He gained 265 yards of total offense, his high figure since the Maryland game when he had 273. Dantzler finished the regular season with 947 yards rushing, a Clemson record for a quarterback. He had 185 yards passing, giving him 1691 for the season. He concluded the season with 2638 yards of total offense, breaking the record of 2557 by Nealon Greene in 1997.

*This is Clemson’s first 9-2 regular season since 1991 when the Tigers were 9-1-1. The last time Clemson won nine games was in 1993, when a Peach Bowl win over Kentucky gave the Tigers nine wins.

*Aaron kicked the game winning field goal for the Tigers in this afternoon’s game, a 25-yarder with just three seconds left. This was the latest Clemson has won a game in regulation since 1987 when David Treadwell kicked a 21-yard field goal with two seconds left to beat Georgia, 21-20. This was just the sixth time since 1948 that Clemson has scored with winning points inside five seconds left to win a game. It was the latest score by the Tigers to win a game over South Carolina.

*Hunt kicked three field goals in the game, he had made just five all season heading into this contest. He had made just one field goal in his last five games. He became the first Tiger to kick three field goals in a game since David Richardson kicked four against Furman in the opening game of the 1998 season.

*South Carolina had 164 yards of total offense in the first quarter, then had just 198 the rest of the game.

*Clemson finished the regular season with 4912 yards of total offense. They will need just 88 yards in the bowl game to become the second 5000-yard team in Clemson history. The 1978 team had 5134 yards in the 12 games (includes bowl game against Ohio State).

*When South Carolina tight end Thomas Hill recovered a fumble in the endzone for South Carolina’s last touchdown it was the first time since the 1985 Georgia game that an offensive lineman recovered a fumble for a touchdown against Clemson. Peter Anderson did it for Georgia on what proved to be the winning score for the Bulldogs.

*Clemson linebacker Keith Adams had two tackles for loss in today’s game. He now has 53 for his career and moved ahead of Anthony Simmons, who had 52. Adams is now third in Clemson history in career tackles for loss, trailing only the Perry brothers (Michael Dean-61) and Williams (61).

*Robert Carswell had 15 tackles in today’s game, his high total of the season and his high since he had 16 at Virginia Tech last year.

*Alex Ardley had two interceptions in today’s game, and now has six for the year, best in the ACC. With the two interceptions, he now has 12 for his career. He jumped all the way to a tie for third in Clemson history with the 12 interceptions. He is now tied with Eddie Geathers and Robert O’Neal. All-time great Terry Kinard leads the list with 17. He also had two passes broken up, giving him four passes defensed for the game. He finishes the year with six interceptions and seven passes broken up for 13 passes defense, best on the team.