South Carolina Football: Ranking the top-10 defensive performances in Gamecock history

South Carolina Football’s Greatest Defensive Performance of All-Time:
Jadeveon Clowney vs. Clemson

What else could it be? The “Jadeveon Clowney Game” (sometimes called the “Dylan Thompson Game”) is the most dominant defensive showing by any Gamecock in program history. #7 simply could not be stopped that night as he racked up 4.5 sacks and knocked down another pass at the line of scrimmage.

Clowney could have easily been awarded five sacks on the day. His first takedown of Tajh Boyd saw Devin Taylor touch the Clemson quarterback on his way down, but they gave each player .5 of a sack on the play.

Clowney’s 5/4.5 sacks came in a variety of ways. Clowney fought through double teams, gave a lightning-quick speed rush around the end, beat a guard on a twist stunt up front, chased down Boyd from behind, and got a win with a bull rush. Despite Clemson’s efforts to gameplan away from the Rock Hill native, Clowney dominated the Tigers.

The future #1-overall pick racked up seven additional tackles and was the most important piece of a somewhat unlikely win on the road to secure Carolina’s 4th-straight victory over their in-state rivals.