South Carolina Football: Ranking the top plays in Gamecock history

South Carolina Football’s Greatest Play of All-Time:
Jadeveon Clowney’s “The Hit” vs. Michigan

The Situation: In a classic game against the Michigan Wolverines, the Gamecocks trailed by 1 in the 4th quarter. On 4th down, Michigan ran a fake punt and came up just short of the yard to gain for the 1st down. Everyone but the referee understood this, but, inexplicably, Michigan was granted a new set of downs and elected to run the football with the very next play.

Impressiveness: Jadeveon Clowney was off the line faster than should be possible for a 260-pound man, and he shot into the backfield to meet Vincent Smith as he received the handoff. The running back’s helmet landed nine yards behind where the forward-moving Smith was hit by #7, causing many watching the game to question the validity of Newton’s first law of motion.

Impact: The literal impact was significant (check out this video from the classic ESPN segment “Sport Science”), but the impact on the game was even bigger.

Having just been outrageously screwed over by the officiating crew, the Gamecocks could have hung their heads and allowed Michigan to score again and put the game away. Instead, Mr. Clowney took matters into his own hands.

In one of the most impactful “ball don’t lie” moments in sports history, ESPN’s Mike Tirico said it best, “South Carolina deserves to have it, and they do!” The Gamecocks would go on to win the game on a last-second touchdown drive.

Improbability: Nothing about this play makes logical sense, meaning it is extremely improbable. The rarity of “The Hit” begins with the context of the refereeing decision from a few moments prior. The strangeness of the play doesn’t stop there.

All-Big Ten offensive tackle Taylor Lewan missed his assignment. That’s rare in and of itself. However, the fact that Lewan missed his assignment when his assignment was the best defensive end in college football is even more improbable.

The only thing that could have made the play any more improbable would have been if Clowney hadn’t tripped over Vincent Smith’s lifeless corpse and, instead, scored a touchdown.