No. 5 Clemson (3-0, 0-0) had been struggling early in the season to score the football, but did that quite often and early against South Carolina State (0-3, 0-0). It took another noon game for the Tigers to wake up, but they woke up in a big way scoring 45 points in the first half.
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It was so bad that S.C. State coach Buddy Pough and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney agreed to shorten the length of the quarters as a mercy to the Bulldogs.
By mutual agreement, #Clemson, SC State coaches agreed to have third and fourth quarters shortened to 12 minutes. #Mercy
— Scott Keepfer (@ScottKeepfer) September 17, 2016
Referee Stuart Mullins announced the change to the crowd before the second half began. A recent NCAA rule allows for games to be shortened — by time, but not with a running clock — by mutual agreement of the coaches.
Clemson would add two more scores to make it a 59-0 end result, but it probably could have been worse with those added six minutes of playing time. Quarterback Deshaun Watson left the game early because of the blowout and finished with three touchdowns on 12-of-15 passing for 152 yards.
Backup quarterbacks Nick Schuessler, Kelly Bryant and Tucker Israel got in the game for some reps with Schuessler and Bryant each throwing a touchdown.Clemson had 555 total yards while S.C. State was only able to manage 102 yards for the entire game.
[h/t USA Today]
