| Score | |
|---|---|
| Team | Score |
| South Carolina | 20 |
| Clemson | 7 |
| GamecockArchives.com Players of the Game | |
|---|---|
| Player | Unit |
| Game Summary |
|---|
| ESPN brought a prime time national television audience in Williams-Brice to witness the full blown energy of the 2001 opening as the #12 Gamecocks took on #9 Clemson. USC was ranked 10th in the country in passing offense, 12th in scoring offense but also 2nd in total defense and scoring defense while the Tigers were 13th in rushing and 20th in scoring while ranking 3rd in rushing defense and 4th in total defense. It would be the Carolina defense that rose to the challenge, holding Clemson just 166 yards in offense, the lowest total to date of the Danny Ford era. 91 of the yards came on Clemson's opening drive, aided by a borderline roughing the punter call. The Tigers scored on a two yard run by Wesley McFadden on fourth and one. The defense tightened up after that, with Patrick Hinton picking off Rodney Williams on the next possession. That turnover resulted in a 49-yard field goal by Collin Mackie two minutes into the second quarter. USC forced two more Clemson punts and passes from Todd Ellis to Danny Smith of 12 and 26 yards to set up another Mackie field goal.Clemson's first drive of the second half ended with Ricky Daniels stuffing Williams for a loss of two on second down and a sack by Derrick Frazier on third down. USC took over on its own 16 and on the first play Ellis hit Ryan Bethea on a crossing pattern that ended 77 yards later at the Tiger six. Harold Green scored on the next play on a run around left tackle. That gave the Gamecocks their first lead of the night and was all Carolina would need. The two teams traded punts until there were seven mintues left in the final quarter. Clemson took over at their own 33 and DT Kurt Wilson stuffed McFadden for no gain on first down. Williams lost three on second down thanks to blitzing safety Greg Philpot and then safety Brad Edwards picked off a Williams pass and took it back 40 yards for a touchdown and a 20-7 lead. As the stadium roared Williams threw two incomplete passes and then got picked off by Edwards again. The win pushed Carolina into the top ten nationally at number eight. ; |
| Scoring Plays | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Game Time | Team | SC Score | Opp Score | Play |
| 1 | 04:02 | CLM | 0 | 7 | Wesley McFadden, 2-yd run (David Treadwell kick) |
| 2 | 13:09 | USC | 3 | 7 | Collin Mackie, 49-yd field goal |
| 2 | 04:24 | USC | 6 | 7 | Collin Mackie, 45-yd field goal |
| 3 | 04:58 | USC | 13 | 7 | Harold Green, 6-yd run (Collin Mackie kick) |
| 4 | 05:37 | USC | 20 | 7 | Brad Edwards, 40-yd interception return (Collin Mackie kick) |
| Team Stats | ||
|---|---|---|
| USC | Clemson |
| USC Rushing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Harold Green | 27 | 107 | 4.0 | 1 | Keith Bing | 3 | 32 | 10.7 | 0 | Kevin White | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | Hardin Brown | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | Kevin Jones | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 |
| Clemson Rushing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
| USC Passing | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Com | Yds | YPA | TD | Int | Todd Ellis | 20 | 11 | 185 | 9.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Clemson Passing | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Com | Yds | YPA | TD | Int |
| USC Receiving | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rec | Trgt | Com% | Yds | BP | Avg | 34DTrgt | 34DConv | TD | Danny Smith | 4 | 6 | 66.7 | 68 | 2 | 17.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Kevin White | 4 | 4 | 100.0 | 35 | 1 | 8.8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Ryan Bethea | 1 | 4 | 25.0 | 77 | 1 | 77.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Sterling Sharpe | 1 | 3 | 33.3 | 6 | 0 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Harold Green | 1 | 2 | 50.0 | -1 | 0 | -1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Clemson Receiving | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rec | Yds | Int |
| Kickoff Returns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | KR | Yds | TD |
| Punt Returns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | PR | Yds | TD |
| Punting | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Punts | Yds | Avg | Net Yds | Net Avg | In20 | TB | Long |
| Game Defense | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | TKL | TFL | SK | FF | FR | PBU | QBH | IPL | CDPL | RZPL | SPP | Robert Robinson | 14 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Matt McKernan | 13 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Brad Edwards | 9 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Roy Hart | 9 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Greg Philpot | 9 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Patrick Hinton | 8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Shed Diggs | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Derrick Frazier | 7 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Brendan McCormack | 6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kurt Wilson | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ricky Daniels | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Norman Floyd | 5 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Scott Windsor | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kevin Hendrix | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ken Sally | 2 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Robert Gibson | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ron Rabune | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Game Interceptions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Int | Yds | TD | Brad Edwards | 2 | 48 | 1 |
| Game Participation (Starters in All Caps) | |
|---|---|
| Player | Pos |
| RYAN BETHEA | WR |
| SHED DIGGS | TSE |
| BRAD EDWARDS | FS |
| TODD ELLIS | QB |
| NORMAN FLOYD | RCB |
| MARK FRYER | RT |
| HAROLD GREEN | RB |
| ROY HART | NG |
| PATRICK HINTON | TSLB |
| BRENDAN MCCORMACK | RDT |
| MATT MCKERNAN | OSLB |
| WOODY MYERS | C |
| GREG PHILPOT | SS |
| DAVID POINSETT | LT |
| ROBERT ROBINSON | LCB |
| STERLING SHARPE | WB |
| PAUL SHIVERS | LG |
| DANNY SMITH | WR |
| CALVIN STEPHENS | RG |
| KEVIN WHITE | WB |
| KURT WILSON | LDT |
| SCOTT WINDSOR | OSE |