COLUMBIA — Third-ranked Clemson throttled South Carolina, 38-3, on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The Tigers amassed 527 yards of offense and racked up 30 first downs while holding the Gamecocks to 174 yards and allowing them to move the chains just nine times. Defensively, Clemson notched two sacks, five tackles for loss and forced a turnover.
Following each game, The Clemson Insider gives helmet stickers to Tiger players who contributed to the game plan with outstanding individual performances:
Trevor Lawrence
Lawrence put on one of the best performances ever by a Clemson quarterback against the Gamecocks, completing 26-of-36 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for a career-high 66 yards on eight carries. Lawrence’s 295 passing yards were Clemson’s fourth-most against South Carolina in school history. Including his school-best 393 passing yards against the Gamecocks last season, Lawrence is responsible for two of the top four passing yardage performances against South Carolina in school history. The sophomore signal caller’s 361 combined yards of total offense were the fourth-most of his career and second most of the season (437 at Syracuse).
Travis Etienne
Etienne ran 15 times for just 51 yards, his lowest rushing output of the season, though the junior running back did score on touchdown runs of 2 and 3 yards. Etienne’s second rushing touchdown was the 53rd of his career, which broke the ACC record for career rushing touchdowns previously held by Pittsburgh’s James Conner. Etienne also broke Conner’s ACC record for career total touchdowns (56).
Justyn Ross
Ross recorded a career-high nine catches for 111 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown. His reception total surpassed his seven-catch performance against Texas A&M earlier this season, while the 100-yard receiving game was Ross’s first of the season and the fourth of his career. The sophomore’s touchdown catch was his seventh of the season and 16th of his career, leaving him just one touchdown shy of tying Perry Tuttle (17 from 1978-81) for 10th-most career receiving touchdowns in Clemson history.
Tee Higgins
Higgins continued his hot play Saturday with three receptions for 101 yards and two touchdowns, giving him five touchdown catches on seven total receptions in the last two games. During the contest, Higgins (2,181) passed Hunter Renfrow (2,133) for 11th on Clemson’s career receiving yardage list. Higgins’ second touchdown reception was his 10th of the season. After catching 12 touchdown passes in 2018, Higgins is now the first player in school history to post double-digit touchdown receptions in consecutive seasons. He joins Sammy Watkins (2011 and 2013) as the only players in school history to post 10 or more touchdown receptions in multiple seasons in a career.
Isaiah Simmons
Simmons led the way for Clemson’s defense, as the Bednarik and Nagurski finalist logged 10 total tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a pass breakup. The redshirt junior’s 10 tackles were one short of his season high set at Syracuse.
Chad Smith/James Skalski
Smith and Skalski combined for 10 total tackles. More impressive, though, was the fact that they helped the Tigers’ defense limit running back Tavien Feaster to four catches for 8 yards. Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said he knew South Carolina was going to try to throw screens to Feaster, and Skalski and Smith did a good job of helping snuff those screens out.
— Clemson Athletic Communications contributed to this story
Order your shirt today to remember Clemson’s 38-3 win over South Carolina