There was nearly as many positives as negatives in South Carolina’s loss to Clemson. But boy, were there plenty of both.

As the schedule shifts to close out the regular season next week against Akron, South Carolina has plenty to relish, and much to stew over, following its fifth straight loss to Clemson.

What I liked

The positives were largely around the South Carolina passing offense led by quarterback Jake Bentley.

Bentley was 32-for-50 for career highs of 510 yards — the second most ever allowed by Clemson — and 5 TDs for South Carolina. The 510 yards were the most in a single game in program history. He surpassed the 473 yards by Steve Taneyhill against Mississippi State in 1995.

Bentley, a junior, is widely believed to be playing the best football of his career. That was evident in the fact that his 5 touchdown passes surpassed the 4 he had in 2018 wins over Coastal Carolina and Chattanooga.

Wide receiver Deebo Samuel has joined Bentley with a strong finish to the regular season. Samuel has three straight 100-yard-plus receiving days after his 210 against Clemson. He went for 120 yards against Florida and 112 against Chattanooga.

His 3 scores were a career best, capped by his 32-yard reception in the fourth quarter, which moved him into a tie for eighth place in school history with 25 for his career (Thomas Dendy, 1982-85). Samuel’s 210 yards tied for second in school history with Troy Williamson, who had 210 vs. USF in 2004.

South Carolina scored 3 first-half touchdowns and trailed by just seven at half, but Clemson scored on its first three possessions of the second half. The teams combined for 1,344 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

What I didn’t like

South Carolina has had a well-documented season-long issue with injuries, but Clemson’s offense also showed off its skill.

It didn’t help that South Carolina was down three starters on the defensive line, but Clemson had 744 total yards, the fourth most in school history. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence was 27-for-36 for 393 yards and a touchdown, while running back Travis Etienne had 150 yards and 2 touchdowns. Lawrence set a career high for yards and had 8 straight completions for 106 yards to open the game. His yardage total was also the program’s highest ever against South Carolina.

Clemson had 300 passing yards and 300 rushing yards against South Carolina for the first time in series history.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Clemson can’t continually deliver long scoring drives. But the Tigers proved that theory wrong. Clemson recorded a school-record 3 touchdown drives of 95 yards or more, scoring on drives of 95, 97 and 98 yards. It marked Clemson’s first time posting multiple drives of 95 yards or more since it had two against Wake Forest in 2006.

The Gamecocks already had a long list of injuries, including some for the season. So it was an unbelievable turn of events when defensive linemen Keir Thomas and Javon Kinlaw went down. Kinlaw even pounded the turf in frustration. Defensive lineman Daniel Fennell became the latest to suffer a season-ending injury, and safety Israel Mukuamu suffered a cramp in the second half.

All that came after the Gamecocks began the game with injuries to defensive linemen D.J. Wonnum, Aaron Sterling and Kingsley Enagbare and defensive back Jaycee Horn.

It’s difficult to fathom that South Carolina also had season-ending injuries to linebacker/defensive lineman Bryson Allen-Williams, linebacker Eldridge Thompson, defensive back Javon Charleston and safeties Jamyest Williams, Jaylin Dickerson, Nick Harvey and J.T. Ibe.