Clemson was a two-touchdown road favorite going into Saturday’s game with South Carolina for a reason. One was deeper, more experienced and possessed more game-breaking talent than the other. Strange things do happen in rivalry games, though, and South Carolina clearly had grown as a team since taking a 56-7 beatdown from the Tigers last season.
So, how much closer have the Gamecocks gotten? A bit, in the sense that it took longer for Clemson to take control of the game, but nowhere near as close as they hoped. An awful Jake Bentley interception gifted the Tigers a touchdown for a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter, and the offense didn’t even make up those points until scoring its lone touchdown with 2:45 remaining in the game.