Four in a row

Clemson seniors finish sweep of South Carolina

Published on 11/20/05

COLUMBIA — Clemson couldn't be stopped.

With the game on the line, the Tigers controlled the football and the outcome against South Carolina, defeating the Gamecocks 13-9 Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium and continuing Clemson's dominance in the series between the rivals.

The Tigers (7-4) have won four consecutive games against the Gamecocks and eight of the last night meetings in the series, a streak even Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst finds amazing.

"If you had told me five years ago that this would happen, I would have said you were crazy," said Whitehurst. "It's just unbelievable. I can't describe it."

South Carolina (7-4) came in hoping things would be different under first-year coach Steve Spurrier, and indeed the Gamecocks were riding a five-game winning streak coming into Saturday night's game.

Clemson's streak against the Gamecocks proved to be the one that counted.

Clemson had struggled most of the night on offense, but the Tigers drove 80 yards in eight plays, with James Davis scoring on a 2-yard run to put Clemson ahead 13-9 with 5:58 to play.

An interception by Clemson's Charles Bennett with 2:26 to play sealed it for the Tigers.

"We knew it was going to be a hard game coming in," said Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, who is now 6-1 against the Gamecocks. "Trying to catch South Carolina like we did, new guy in town, winning five games in a row, playing at home on senior night. They're a well-coached team, and we knew it would be hard.

Whitehurst had to bail the Tigers out on the game-winning drive with clutch passes.

"Well, 9-6 was the worst it ever got," said Whitehurst, who completed 17 of 26 passes for 172 yards, but also threw two first-half interceptions.

"We knew with a touchdown, we could take the lead and be in control. We never were in a situation where the game was out of reach and that's a credit to our defense."

The Tigers faced first-and-35 on the drive after back-to-back penalties for clipping and holding, but overcame it.

"I'm thinking we're going to get the first down and everybody on the field was thinking the exact same thing," said Clemson wide receiver Curtis Baham. "I mean, we've got three downs to get 35 yards. That's 12 yards a play. We're fully capable of making that happen."

Baham was right. On third-and-12, Whitehurst passed to Baham for an 18-yard gain and a first down.

From there, Davis broke loose on a run up the middle to the South Carolina 4-yard line to set up first-and-goal.

Davis scored two plays later.

"It felt good," said Davis, who finished with 145 yards on 27 carries. "The fans, I saw the expression their face. It was ugly."

The Gamecocks took the loss hard.

"This hurts," said South Carolina senior offensive lineman Na'Shan Goddard.

"This was my last chance to beat those guys. It's just starting to sink in."

South Carolina's chances looked good until the Tigers' late scoring drive.

The Gamecocks took advantage of a Clemson mistake to take a 9-6 lead.

Clemson's Chanci Stuckey attempted to field a punt on the bounce, but muffed it, with the Gamecocks' Tremaine Tyler recovering on the Clemson 11-yard line,

But once again the Gamecocks couldn't put the ball in the end zone and had to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Josh Brown, his third field goal of the night.

Both teams finished with exactly 347 yards in total offense. South Carolina got its first 100-yard rushing game of the season from tailback Mike Davis, who finished with 111 yards on 21 carries.

Wide receiver Sidney Rice had seven catches for 122 yards, but the Tigers managed to keep him and the rest of the Gamecocks out of the end zone.

"Heck, we made more yards than we normally do, but it was all between the 20's," said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier. "We didn't score when we got down there. They scored a touchdown and we didn't."

Clemson trailed 6-3 at halftime, but Jad Dean tied it with a 23-yard field goal with 7:43 to play in the third quarter.

South Carolina had 251 yards in total offense in the first half, but the Gamecocks only had a pair of field goals to show for it.

Brown connected from 23 yards and 43 yards to put the Gamecocks ahead 6-0.

Dean made a career-long 49-yard field goal with 2:29 to play in the second quarter to cut South Carolina's lead to 6-3 at the half.

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