Clemson vs. South Carolina Game Notes 2023

WITH THE WIN…

Clemson has now won eight games in a season for the 41st time in school history. It represents Clemson’s 13th consecutive eight-win season and its 14th overall in Dabo Swinney’s 15 full seasons as head coach.
Clemson (150-28) earned its 150th win since the start of the 2011 season. Clemson joined Alabama (161 prior to Saturday) as the only programs to win 150 games since 2011.
Clemson earned its 300th road win in school history.
Clemson improved to 73-43-4 all-time against South Carolina. Clemson’s 73 all-time wins against South Carolina are the program’s most against any opponent.
Clemson moved its all-time road record against South Carolina to 54-32-3. Clemson’s 54 road wins at South Carolina are double its most all-time road wins against any other opponent, as Clemson’s second-most road wins against an opponent are 27 at Wake Forest. The Tigers have more road wins against the Gamecocks in Columbia (54) than they have total wins against all but three programs (South Carolina, 72; Wake Forest, 71; and NC State, 60)
Clemson has now earned a fifth straight road win against South Carolina for the first time since defeating the Gamecocks on the road six straight times across the 1989-99 seasons.
Barring a circumstance in which a 5-7 team is needed to fill an otherwise vacant bowl spot, Clemson’s victory could deny South Carolina bowl eligibility by virtue of a win in the last game of the regular season for the first time since doing so against 5-6 South Carolina squads in both 2002 and 2003.
Swinney improved to 9-6 all-time against South Carolina.
Swinney joined Frank Howard (13) as the only Clemson coaches to defeat South Carolina nine times.
Swinney earned Clemson’s 54th all-time road win against South Carolina on the week of his 54th birthday.
Clemson improved to 12-2 in its last 14 regular season games against SEC opponents, dating to 2014.
With the win against the 5-6 Gamecocks, Clemson still has not lost to an opponent with a losing record at the time of kickoff since 2010 against 2-5 Boston College.
Clemson earned its 36th road win since 2015, tied with Ohio State for the national lead in that time frame.
Clemson improved to 130-18 against AP-unranked teams under Dabo Swinney and improved to 107-8 in those games since the start of the 2012 season.
Clemson improved to 29-8 in night games since the start of the 2018 season. The win also moved Clemson to 48-11 at night since 2015.
Clemson improved to 22-5 in road night games since 2015.
Clemson is now 12-5 in night games against South Carolina all-time. Clemson has won each of the programs’ last five meetings in night games (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2023)..
Clemson improved to 8-3 all-time in night games at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Clemson improved to 94-12 in regular season play since the start of the 2015 season. Ten of Clemson’s 12 regular season losses in that span have been decided by a final margin of 10 or fewer points.
Clemson is now 69-2 since 2015 when outscoring opponents in the “Middle Eight,” defined as the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. Clemson won that time window by a 3-0 margin Saturday.
Clemson now has a 130-8 record when totaling more first downs than its opponent since 2011.
Clemson now has a 77-4 record when winning the turnover margin since 2011.
Clemson improved to 81-3 when rushing for 200+ yards under Dabo Swinney.
Clemson finished 4-0 in games in the month of November and has now won 25 of its last 28 November games.
Clemson has now won 113 of its last 114 games when holding teams under 23 points (dates to 2010).
Clemson has now won 114 of its last 119 games when leading at halftime.
Clemson improved to 135-4 since 2011 when leading after three quarters.

GAME NOTES

Clemson has a 155-52 advantage in its five-game winning streak in games played at South Carolina, including a 118-20 edge in its last four trips to Williams-Brice Stadium.
Clemson surrendered only 155 total yards, its fewest surrendered in its series with South Carolina since 1989 (155).
The 169 yards allowed were the fewest surrendered by Clemson against an FBS opponent since allowing only 98 yards against Miami (Fla.) last November.
South Carolina entered the week ranked 15th in the nation in passing yards per game (293.1). Clemson held South Carolina to 112 passing yards in the contest.
South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler was held to a 79.3 pass efficiency rating, the lowest of any start of his career.
South Carolina completed 16-of-32 passes (50 percent). Clemson has now held four consecutive opponents below to a completion percentage of 50 percent or below for the first time since a six-game streak in 2019.
After allowing a touchdown drive in the first quarter, Clemson forced eight punts and a turnover on downs on South Carolina’s nine remaining possessions.
Clemson rushed for 219 yards and has now rushed for 200 yards in three straight games for the first time since the final three games of the 2022 regular season.
Clemson produced a sixth 200-yard rushing game this season to give the Tigers at least six 200-yard rushing performances in a season for the first time since 2019 (10).
Clemson held the ball for 38:00 and has now recorded at least 38 minutes of possession in back-to-back games. It marks the first time under Dabo Swinney that Clemson has held the ball for at least 38 minutes in consecutive games.
Clemson won the game despite not scoring an offensive touchdown. It was Clemson’s first win in a game in which its offense did not score a touchdown since 2014 at Louisville (23-17).
Clemson opened the scoring on a 42-yard fumble return touchdown by safety Khalil Barnes. It marked Clemson’s second straight year opening the South Carolina game with a defensive touchdown, as Jeremiah Trotter Jr. scored the first points of the 2022 game on a 35-yard interception return for touchdown.
Barnes’ touchdown snapped a six-game streak for Clemson in which its opponents had scored first. Clemson is now 79-6 when scoring first since 2015.
Barnes’ score came 35 seconds into the game, representing Clemson’s quickest score in its series against South Carolina since C.J. Spiller ran back the opening kickoff of the 2009 game in 19 seconds.
Barnes’ touchdown was Clemson’s fifth defensive touchdown of the season to tie the 1990 season for the most by the Tigers in a season since 1950.
On South Carolina’s next play from scrimmage, Barnes recorded his third interception of his freshman season. Barnes became the first Clemson player to record a takeaway on consecutive plays from scrimmage by an opponent since Brian Dawkins against Duke in 1995.
Barnes became the first Clemson freshman with three or more interceptions in a season since Jayron Kearse in 2013 (four).
Barnes became only the second FBS player — and the only FBS freshman — to record three or more interceptions, multiple forced fumbles and multiple sacks this season. Mississippi State senior Jett Johnson is the only other player to do so this season.
Barnes became the first Clemson player with a fumble recovery and an interception in the same game since Dorian O’Daniel at Virginia Tech in 2017.
Clemson opened the game with takeaways on each of South Carolina’s first two possessions. The last time Clemson notched takeaways on its opponents first two possessions was on Oct. 1, 2011 against Virginia Tech.
Clemson won the turnover margin, 2-1, and has now won the turnover margin for a fourth consecutive game for the first time since 2020.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 15-of-27 passes for 100 yards and rushed for a career-high 52 yards on 11 attempts.
On his 14th pass attempt of the game, Klubnik (401) posted the ninth 400-attempt passing season in Clemson history. On the same pass, Klubnik (501) also became the 14th player in Clemson history to attempt 500 career passes.
Klubnik (260) now has the 10th-most pass completions in a season in Clemson history.
Klubnik became the 24th Clemson quarterback since 1954 to win his first start against South Carolina. He joined Charlie Bussey (1955), Bill Barbary (1957), Lowndes Shingler (1960), Jim Parker (1963), Jimmy Addison (1966), Ken Pengitore (1972), Mark Fellers (1974), Steve Fuller (1976), Homer Jordan (1980), Mike Eppley (1983), Rodney Williams (1985), Chris Morocco (1989), DeChane Cameron (1990), Dexter McCleon (1993), Brandon Streeter (1998), Woodrow Dantzler (1999), Charlie Whitehurst (2002), Cullen Harper (2007), Deshaun Watson (2014), Kelly Bryant (2017), Trevor Lawrence (2018) and DJ Uiagalelei (2021).
On his fourth reception of the game, wide receiver Tyler Brown (51) became the fifth Clemson player since 2010 to record 50 receptions in a freshman season, joining Antonio Williams (56 in 2022), Artavis Scott (76 in 2014), Sammy Watkins (82 in 2011) and DeAndre Hopkins (52 in 2010).
With 112 all-purpose yards in the game, running back Will Shipley (4,121) passed Jacoby Ford (4,083) for ninth on Clemson’s all-time leaderboard for career all-purpose yards.
Linebacker Barrett Carter recorded his third sack of the season in the second quarter, ending a South Carolina drive.
Kicker Jonathan Weitz recorded a career-long 50-yard field goal in the first quarter. It was Clemson’s longest field goal since a 52-yarder by B.T. Potter in the 2022 ACC Championship Game.
Weitz’ 50-yarder came in the same stadium as the first 50-yard field goal in Clemson history, a 52-yarder by Eddie Seigler against South Carolina in 1971.
Weitz added a 49-yard field goal in the second quarter and a 42-yarder in the third quarter. All three of his field goals on Saturday exceeded his previous career long (41).
Weitz’ three field goals tied the Clemson record in a single game against South Carolina, set by several players but most recently by B.T. Potter in 2021.
Weitz’s three field goals of 40-plus yards tied a school record, shared by Bob Paulling (vs. North Carolina in 1982), Nelson Welch (vs. NC State in 1991), Mark Buchholz (vs. Wake Forest in 2007) and Chandler Catanzaro (vs. Troy in 2011).
Defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro ended a South Carolina drive with a third-down sack in the third quarter. It was his career-high fifth sack of the season.
Orhorhoro has now recorded a sack in consecutive games for the second time this season (at Syracuse and vs. Wake Forest).
Center Will Putnam played his 59th career game to surpass Mitch Hyatt (58) for the most games played by an offensive lineman in school history.
Putnam made his 48th career start to move into sole possession of the fourth-most starts by an offensive lineman in school history.
Defensive tackle Tyler Davis made his 51st career start to extend his Clemson record for the most career starts by a defensive player.
Davis pulled within one start of PK Chandler Catanzaro (52) for the fourth-most career starts in Clemson history.
Defensive end Xavier Thomas played his 60th career game, becoming the seventh player in Clemson history to reach that mark.
Clemson entered the game having led the all-time series with the Gamecocks for 45,663 consecutive days (125 years, 8 days). South Carolina won the series opener in 1896 before Clemson evened the series in 1897. Clemson won the third game in the series on Nov. 17, 1898 to take a 2-1 series lead, a lead Clemson hasn’t relinquished.
Captains for the contest were quarterback Hunter Helms, defensive end Justin Mascoll, center Will Putnam and defensive end Xavier Thomas.

Football

Clemson vs. South Carolina Game Notes