Clemson downs Carolina 13-9

Clemson players Bobby Williamson (81), Thomas Hunter (89), and Curtis Baham (18) celebrate after they defeated South Carolina, 13-9, Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. (AP Photo/Alan Hawes) COLUMBIA — Steve Spurrier has experienced feelings of success this season like few other South Carolina coaches ever have. This weekend, he felt the same disappointment as so many other Gamecock leaders who’ve lost to Clemson.

South Carolina’s head ballcoach broke long streaks of futility with wins against Tennessee and Florida this year. But not even he could stop the Tigers’ recent run of dominance in a Palmetto State matchup first played in 1896.

The 25th-ranked Tigers (7-4) defeated South Carolina, 13-9, on Saturday in Spurrier’s rivalry debut.

‘‘We had our chances last night,’’ Spurrier said Sunday. ‘‘All you can say is we didn’t play well enough to win the game.’’

Those words have likely been said in some form by all too many South Carolina coaches through the years. The Gamecocks have lost four in a row to Clemson, eight of the past nine, and are 36-63-4 all-time in the state’s biggest game.

Gaffney’s Sidney Rice had seven catches for 122 yards. (AP Photo) The Gamecocks and Spurrier had hoped to conclude a season of surprise with a coveted Tiger victory, which the Gamecocks haven’t done since 2001. But Clemson got 145 yards rushing from freshman James Davis and poised leadership from senior quarterback Charlie Whitehurst to prevail.

While Clemson moved into the rankings for the first time since September, South Carolina (7-4) fell out from No. 19 after a week in the top 25.

Whitehurst completed three straight passes to dig his team out from a first-and-35 hole, then Davis finished off the drive with his winning 2-yard touchdown run with 5:58 to go.

There was little the Gamecocks could do about it. After breaking long streaks of futility to beat Tennessee and Florida this year, the team had given fans hope this was the time to throttle Clemson. Davis and Whitehurst showed why it wasn’t.

‘‘Clemson is not next,’’ Tigers receiver Curtis Baham said of South Carolina’s thoughts of breaking Clemson’s stranglehold on the rivalry. ‘‘Coach Spurrier’s a great coach, but he’s not going to play a down. We just made one more play than they did.’’

Actually, they made many more plays down the stretch.

When two penalties on offensive lineman Chip Myrick backed up the Tigers to a first-and-35, Whitehurst settled the team down and prepared them to continue the drive. The fifth-year senior completed consecutive passes of 9 yards to Davis, 14 yards to Chansi Stuckey and 28 yards to Baham for a first down.

Davis took over from there. He went 23 yards to South Carolina’s 4, then bulled in two plays later for the game’s only touchdown.

Down 9-6 and facing long odds to keep the winning drive going, the Tigers pushed ahead.

‘‘I was thinking we were going to make the first down,’’ Baham said. ‘‘And I think everyone else out there was thinking the same thing.’’

South Carolina had a final chance, driving to Clemson’s 43 with three minutes left. But on fourth-and-6, Blake Mitchell’s pass was tipped by Rashaad Jackson and intercepted by Charles Bennett with 2:26 to go.

Clemson sealed the win moments later when, on third-and-10, Whitehurst ran for the first down, holding the ball in the air to the mostly quiet stadium — except for those orange-clad fans saluting the first Clemson passer to go 4-0 against South Carolina.

‘‘You know the game’s over at that point,’’ Whitehurst said. ‘‘It’s a relief and it’s a lot of different emotions at that point.’’

The win was Clemson’s fifth in six games to close the season. South Carolina had won its previous five straight.

When it was done, both teams left in orderly fashion, unlike the ugly brawl in the fourth quarter of this game a year ago. In a symbolic show of putting that incident behind them, players from both teams met at midfield after the coin toss to shake hands.

South Carolina woke up with a chance to win the Southeastern Conference. But Georgia’s 45-13 win over Kentucky ended that dream. Clemson’s win only piled on the disappointment.

‘‘You’re mad that you lost, but the positive thing is we had a good year,’’ South Carolina offensive lineman Na’Shan Goddard said. ‘‘We turned a lot of heads this year.’’

Both teams have bowls ahead. Right now, though, Clemson’s Davis is going to celebrate his role in keeping the Tigers a step ahead of South Carolina.

‘‘I know how bad my team wanted this game,’’ he said. ‘‘They’ve been talking about it all year.’’