GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NCAAF: CLEMSON (8-3) at SOUTH CAROLINA (6-5)

NCAAF: CLEMSON at SOUTH CAROLINA

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NCAAF
CLEMSON (21) 23
SOUTH CAROLINA 21 FINAL</div>

 

NCAAF: CLEMSON at SOUTH CAROLINA

<div class="pre">NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
CLEMSON (21) 10 7 3 3 23
SOUTH CAROLINA 7 0 7 7 21 FINAL

CLEMSON-FG, M Buchholz 48 YD 5:47 1st Qtr
CLEMSON-TD, L Harris 12 YD BLOCKED PUNT RETURN (M
Buchholz KICK) 8:59 1st Qtr
SOUTH CAROLINA-TD, K McKinley 19 YD PASS FROM B Mitchell (R
Succop KICK) 12:08 1st Qtr
CLEMSON-TD, N Faerber 5 YD PASS FROM C Harper (M Buchholz
KICK) 9:08 2nd Qtr
SOUTH CAROLINA-TD, K McKinley 40 YD PASS FROM B Mitchell (R
Succop KICK) 6:25 3rd Qtr
CLEMSON-FG, M Buchholz 28 YD 12:35 3rd Qtr
SOUTH CAROLINA-TD, D Lecorn 4 YD PASS FROM B Mitchell (R Succop
KICK) 6:00 4th Qtr
CLEMSON-FG, M Buchholz 35 YD 15:00 4th Qtr


CLEMSON SOUTH CAROLINA
First downs 26 17
Rushed-yards 46-214 21-80
Passing yards 229 284
Sacked-yards lost 2-14 0-0
Return yards 38 41
Passes 28-39-1 18-31-2
Punts 4-38.5 5-23.4
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 6-45 4-41
Time of possession 38:37 21:23


Individual Statistics

RUSHING: CLEMSON-James Davis 23-122, C.J. Spiller 16-88, Tyler Grisham
1-4, Cullen Harper 5-3, Nelson Faerber 1-MINUS 3. SOUTH CAROLINA-Cory
Boyd 19-74, Blake Mitchell 1-4, Mike Davis 1-2.

PASSING: CLEMSON-Cullen Harper 28-38-229- 1, - Team 0-1-0- 0. SOUTH
CAROLINA-Blake Mitchell 18-31-284- 2.

RECEIVING: CLEMSON-Aaron Kelly 9-134, Tyler Grisham 3-23, La'Donte
Harris 2-22, Nelson Faerber 4-20, Brian Linthicum 2-14, C.J. Spiller
4-9, Rendrick Taylor 2-4, Michael Palmer 1-3, Terrance Ashe 1-0. SOUTH
CAROLINA-Kenny McKinley 8-125, Dion Lecorn 5-65, Cory Boyd 1-39, Moe
Brown 2-37, Lanard Stafford 1-10, Andy Boyd 1-8.


Att: 82,410</div>

 

NCAAF: CLEMSON at SOUTH CAROLINA

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NCAAF
CLEMSON (21) 23
SOUTH CAROLINA 21 FINAL</div>

 

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Ticker) -- A week after suffering aheartbreaking loss, Clemson sent South Carolina fans home intears.


Mark Buchholz missed two field goals but made three, including a35-yarder as time expired, to lift the 21st-ranked Tigers to a23-21 victory over the Gamecocks in a battle of Palmetto Staterivals.


A week ago, Clemson was less than two minutes away from reachingthe Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.


But Boston College's Matt Ryan threw a 43-yard touchdown pass toa wide-open Rich Gunnell with 1:47 remaining, rallying theEagles to a 20-17 victory last weekend.


Boston College snapped Clemson's four-game winning streak andclinched the ACC's Atlantic Division title.


On Saturday, the Tigers (9-3) were two minutes away fromconsecutive losses to the Gamecocks for the first time since1968-70. But Cullen Harper led Clemson down the field on a latedrive to set up Buchholz's winning kick.


"The only thing that concerned me was missing two (fieldgoals)," Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said. "That was the onlything that concerned me, but Mark (Buchholz) is a pretty toughguy mentally. He was due. The odds were in his favor aftermissing two field goals."


South Carolina (6-6) took a 21-20 lead with eight minutes toplay on a four-yard touchdown pass from Blake Mitchell to DionLecorn.


But South Carolina's defense couldn't keep Clemson off the<div class="pre">scoreboard, and the Gamecocks' late-season slide was punctuated</div>with a tough loss to their bitter rival.


"In the end, they put a drive together, they came up (with agood play) on third-and-18," South Carolina coach Steve Spurriersaid. "We couldn't stop them. That's the way it happened."

Coach Steve Spurrier had South Carolina off to a 6-1 start, butit ended the season with five straight defeats and has now lostto Clemson six times in the last seven seasons. Clemson leadsthe series, 64-37-4.


"We're just not real good, and we're not coached real well,which is my fault," Spurrier said. "There may be a way we canget a bowl bid. I was proud of our guys and the way theyscrapped and clawed. We didn't make enough plays to win thegame."


Harper completed 28-of-39 passes for 231 yards. He wasintercepted once and threw a TD to Nelson Faerber in the secondquarter that gave the Tigers a 17-7 lead at the half.

"It's a long game. You just have to keep fighting and never giveup," Harper said. "You have to trust in the coaching staff withthe plays they have called. You have to trust the receivers andjust keep fighting."


Mitchell was 18-of-31 for 281 yards with three TDs and a pair ofinterceptions.


"We played our hearts out. We gave all we had. We were downearly and defense stepped up and helped," Mitchell said. "Wewere fortunate enough to make plays and score touchdowns. Wecould have done a lot of things better than we did, though.

"We started out on the season decent. What happened, happened.We came out tonight and gave it our best shot, but we fellshort. Everything I had was on the field, I played as hard as Icould."