Clemson foils USC’s Jake Bentley for second time
After another third-down pass that missed his target by a wide margin, Jake Bentley jogged slowly toward the sideline.
South Carolina’s offense didn’t spend much time on the field Saturday night. The USC quarterback had to soak in all the precious seconds he could.
Bentley’s second crack at the Clemson Tigers didn’t go much better than his first. The sophomore’s first pass went for a loss of 2 yards. His fifth was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, foreshadowing a struggle of an evening.
Bentley finished 16 of 29 for 126 yards, a late fourth quarter TD and two picks in the Gamecocks’ 34-10 loss to their archrivals at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“Obviously he’d like to probably have some throws back here and there,” said USC coach Will Muschamp. “But I think overall you got to do some things, whether it was protecting or decision-making. We had a hard time blocking at the end of the day.
“But I’m sure he’d like to have some throws back, especially the interception for a touchdown.”
The pick-six – which gave Clemson a 6-0 lead – came at the 6:50 mark of the first quarter. Bentley, throwing from his own end zone, wanted Bryan Edwards, but hit Tigers corner Ryan Carter at the USC 12. Carter went untouched the other way.
Bentley confirmed the interception was the result of a miscomunication between teammates, but “at the end of the day, I throw the ball,” Bentley said. “And I got to be responsible for every pass that I throw. So that’s 100 percent on me. I’ve just got to be better.”
Couple positives for Bentley: He was 6 of 6 on USC’s lone touchdown drive. He had more yards in Saturday’s first half (42) than he had in all of last year’s game against Clemson (41).
The Gamecocks now have lost four straight to Clemson, two – by a combined score of 90-17 – with Bentley at signal-caller. Bentley’s career stat line against the Tigers: 23 of 46, 167 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions.
South Carolina on Saturday didn’t run its first play in Clemson territory until 14:43 remained in the fourth quarter. This possession, USC’s 11th of the night, began at the Tiger 23 after a Keisean Nixon interception. The Gamecocks got just a field goal out of the opportunity. On third-and-11 from the Clemson 23, Bentley misfired for Randrecous Davis.
“They have a great D-line,” Bentley said, “it’s kind of hard to not let it affect you. We had some plays to get it out fast and those were effective, but you get in third-and-long situations – especially with their D-line – it’s a hard deal.”
The Gamecocks converted six of 15 third downs.
Bentley finished the regular season with nine interceptions, seven coming in the past four games.
Muschamp said Saturday he never considered pulling Bentley for junior Michael Scarnecchia.
“Jake’s our quarterback,” Muschamp said.
This story was originally published November 26, 2017 at 12:14 AM with the headline "Clemson foils USC’s Jake Bentley for second time."