CLEMSON, S.C. — On a night when South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier became the winningest coach in school history, it was reserve quarterback Dylan Thompson who stole the show, passing for 304 yards and three touchdowns as the Gamecocks continued their mastery of rival Clemson with a 27-17 victory on Saturday.
Filling in for starter Connor Shaw, who missed the game with a nagging foot injury, Thompson also rushed for 38 yards, singlehandedly accounting for more yardage than Clemson’s normally high-octane offense.
“We couldn’t disrupt him,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of Thompson. “He was the difference in the game.”
No question there. An unheralded sophomore with just one previous start this season, Thompson proved more than an adequate replacement for Shaw, who is 16-3 as South Carolina’s starter over the past two seasons.
“He was a leader, he was a captain out there,” South Carolina receiver Ace Sanders said of Thompson. “He kept everybody calm. We knew what he was capable of, so we just followed him.”
The victory was the Gamecocks’ fourth straight in the series and pushed South Carolina to 10-2. Clemson, playing in front of a sellout crowd of 82,000 at Memorial Stadium, fell to 10-2 and had its seven-game winning streak snapped, as well as a 13-game home winning streak.
The victory gave Spurrier a 65-37 record in eight seasons at South Carolina, lifting him past Rex Enright, who had a 64-69-7 record from 1938-42 and 1946-55.
Clemson still holds the upper hand in the nation’s third-longest continuous series with a record of 65-41-4, but the Gamecocks continued their recent domination, winning the annual showdown for four straight years for the first time since 1951-54.
The defeat knocked No. 11 Clemson out of a possible BCS bowl bid and lifted No. 12 South Carolina to a 10-win season for a second straight year and just the third time in school history. The Gamecocks established a school record with 21 wins over the past two seasons.
Saturday night’s game marked just the second time that both teams entered the game ranked in the Top 15, but it was the Gamecocks who lived up to their billing.
South Carolina flexed its muscle in the third quarter, rallying from a 14-10 halftime deficit by opening the quarter with back-to-back scoring drives for a 20-14 lead. The Gamecocks took their first lead of the night on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Thompson to Ace Sanders to cap a 10-play, 85-yard drive. Then Adam Yates booted a 43-yard field goal to extend the lead to 20-14.
Clemson pulled within 20-17 on Chandler Catanzaro’s 37-yard field goal with 5:07 left in the third, but that was all the South Carolina defense would allow.
The Gamecocks limited the Tigers, who entered the game averaging more than 82 plays and 535 yards per game, to just eight plays in the third quarter.
“The third quarter was huge,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “We couldn’t get the ball in the third period and we just couldn’t stop them on third down.”
South Carolina iced the game with 4:17 remaining when Thompson and Bruce Ellington hooked up for a touchdown for the second time in the game, this time from six yards out, to provide the final margin.
The Gamecocks’ defense was suffocating, with defensive end Jadeveon Clowney leading the way. The sophomore had a school single-game record 4.5 sacks and established a school season record as well with 13 sacks.
“I actually misled him a bit. I told him Melvin (Ingram) sacked Tajh six times last year and he took it as a challenge,” South Carolina defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said. “He tried to get six.”
Swinney fell to 1-4 against Spurrier; quarterback Boyd, 0-3.
“We studied their protection enough and knew we had some guys on the line who could get to Tajh (Boyd) and make him move his feet,” Ward said. “We knew if he didn’t get his first read, he was going to take off and run.”
Clemson took a 7-0 lead on its second possession of the game, driving 85 yards in 16 plays, with Boyd scoring on a 3-yard run. The Tigers converted four third-down plays on the drive and Boyd ran for three of them.
South Carolina responded quickly, scoring on its ensuing possession by marching 63 yards in just seven plays to tie the game, 7-7, on a 13-yard pass from Thompson to Ellington.
The tie was short-lived, however, as Clemson took over on its 25-yard line and found the end zone in just two plays. Roderick McDowell had a 25-yard run on first down. Then Boyd connected with DeAndre Hopkins down the left sideline for a 43-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead. It was Hopkins’ ninth consecutive game with at least one touchdown reception, tying the Atlantic Coast Conference record held by former Virginia star Herman Moore.
South Carolina cut Clemson’s lead to 14-10 with 2:40 left in the first half on a 29-yard field goal by Adam Yates.
NOTES: Clemson senior running back Andre Ellington, who’s a cousin of South Carolina receiver Bruce Ellington, surpassed the 1,000-yard mark on a 13-yard run in the second quarter, becoming just the fourth back in Clemson history to have two 1,000-yard seasons. … Clemson’s first scoring drive of the game was 16 plays, matching its longest drive of the season. … Ace Sanders caught six passes for a career-high 119 yards for South Carolina; it was the first 100-yard game of his career. … Sanders also set a school-record for punt return yardage with 363 this season; he had 30 Saturday night. … The Gamecocks’ DeVonte Holloman intercepted a pass in the second quarter, giving him an interception in each of the last three games in the series.