Clemson had a national-leading 40-game winning streak at home on Saturday, losing to rivals South Carolina 31-30 in a misguided performance that effectively removed the Tigers from the College Football Playoffs for the second straight season.
The home win streak is an ACC record, and the longest since Nebraska won 47 straight games from 1991 to 1997. Clemson’s 23-14 lead at halftime was also equally impressive.
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Clemson was 60-0 at home by Dabo Swinney with a 9-point lead or more after halftime.
Meanwhile, South Carolina beat back-to-back opponents, beating Tennessee last week and now Clemson, its first head-to-head game win since 2013.
Swinney said South Carolina “definitively earned” the win.
“Today isn’t our day. It’s their day,” Swinney said. “It’s football. You have to accept the good with the bad. It was an extremely disappointing day, but we won seven games in a row. You can’t forget that. We lost two field games. home since the State of Florida 2013. So it’s been a bad day, but we’re going to show up again on Monday and keep moving forward.”
The Eight Tigers went into the game with an out-of-the-box chance to make it to the knockout stages, but the truth is, this team hardly looked like a season-long playoff contender. Again, midfielder DJ Uiagalelei grappled, going 8/29 for 99 yards and one touchdown with an intercept as South Carolina harassed him throughout the game. The only thing Clemson did when he committed the crime was run back. Will Shipleywho ran 132 yards and scored.
But as the game progressed late, South Carolina tried to pin Clemson deep several times and Uiagalelei couldn’t attack much.
Clemson had one more chance to get the ball back late, but Antonio Williams fumbling for a game of chess with 2 minutes and 5 seconds left. South Carolina recovered and held on to the victory. Clemson managed a total of 86 yards in the second half.
The Tigers have all three spins and allow the South Carolina quarterback Spencer rattler to make massive plays in the game going on throughout. Rattler throws 360 yards and hits the ball twice with two interceptions.
“We’ve had more good days than bad days,” Swinney said. “We don’t have the right to let things always go our way.”
Unlike other games this season where Uiagalelei struggled, Swinney decided to stick with him and not switch to backup. Cade . Club.
Clemson Offensive Coordinator Brandon Streeter said there was never much consideration to switch quarterbacks in the game.
Swinney noted the position on the field and other mistakes made against Uiagalelei. The Tigers had three losses in the match, the second most in a match this year.
“A few bad decisions, a few missed shots. That’s football,” Swinney said. “When you’re up to speed, that’s really good and sometimes it’s tough skiing when it just doesn’t work for you.”
When asked if there was an overt quarterback competition heading into the ACC championship game, Swinney said he wouldn’t be in.
Now, Swinney must find a way to keep his team focused on what lies ahead: Saturday’s ACC title match against North Carolina. This is the first time since 2012 that both teams have lost in the title match, making this match lose some of its luster.
Clemson didn’t win the ACC last year, so the Tigers will have a chance to win one. Although he has always defended Uiagalelei, there will be legitimate questions he must answer about his midfield situation going forward.
“We’re 10-2. We’re not 2-10. It was a tough and painful day,” Swinney said. “We all know how important this game is, but it’s our responsibility to get them through, pick them up, get the wind back on their sails. It’s always about what’s next. For a lot of people, their season is over, but for us we had a championship game this week and the chance to top the ACC, and that’s always been our goal.”
