Clemson entered Saturday’s game at Williams-Brice Stadium against South Carolina as a 20.5-point favorite, but it took some clutch fourth-quarter play for the top-ranked Tigers to escape with a 37-32 victory.

What it means: South Carolina ends its season at 3-9 overall, Pharoh Cooper has played his last game as a Gamecock and we’re likely a few days away from learning who the next head coach will be. Meanwhile, the top-ranked team in the land looked very shaky and was fortunate to move to 12-0 on the season.

What I liked: South Carolina did a nice job of forcing turnovers against its archrival. Linebacker Skai Moore forced two of the three Clemson fumbles, and those takeaways kept South Carolina in the game deep into the fourth quarter. Also, the defense did a nice job of limiting Clemson’s big plays and forcing the Tigers to earn their way down the field. Lorenzo Nunez (75 yards rushing) and Deebo Samuel (five catches, 104 yards and a touchdown) made nice contributions for the offense to take the pressure off of Cooper a bit.

What I didn’t like: It’s been a problem in more than one game this season, but the inability to get off the field on third down haunted the Gamecock defense in this game. Clemson converted 9 of 12 of its third-down chances in the contest, which allowed the Tigers to score enough points to earn the win.

Who’s the man: Cooper was his usual tremendous self, hauling in four passes for 86 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Moore was all over the place. He recorded 13 tackles in addition to forcing the two fumbles. For the Tigers, Watson added fuel to his Heisman Trophy campaign with 279 yards through the air, 112 more on the ground and four total touchdowns.

Key play: On Clemson’s first drive of the second half, Artavis Scott took a short flip forward from Deshaun Watson and turned up field for 27 yards. It looked as if he fumbled at the end of the play, but review overturned the call. Instead of a bit of momentum, the Gamecocks watched Watson score on a 30-yard run on the next play for a 21-3 lead that would prove too much to overcome.

What’s next: For Clemson, it’s a date with North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game. For South Carolina, it’s time to turn the focus to 2016 — and get a little clarity on that coaching search.