After a hot start, Clemson football looked to be on its way to an easy victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday. With that, it certainly came as a huge surprise when South Carolina came out dominating the rest of the game en route to the victory.

The Tigers jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but the joyous cheers and celebrations didn't last long as the Gamecocks slowly but surely chipped away the lead to eventually win, 31-30. Clemson football definitely played hard, but in the end, the team just couldn't complete the job in what many would say is a historic collapse.

Prior to the contest, Clemson was 126-2 on games where they lead by 14 or more at any point. With that, no one certainly expected them to add another loss to that tally given how dominant they have been for years.

South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler outshined Clemson signal-caller DJ Uiagalelei in the game, completing 25 of his 39 passes for 360 yards and two touchdowns. He committed two interceptions, but what he did is more than enough to lead the Gamecocks to victory. He even had a rushing TD for good measure.

As for Uiagalelei, he struggled mightily with just eight completions on 29 pass attempts for 99 yards and one touchdown, along with one interception.

Sure enough, it's a heartbreaking way to end the final home game of the regular season, especially for a Tigers team that was on a 40-game winning on their turf. Not to mention the College Football Playoffs implications it has.

Despite the loss, Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney knows when to give credit where it is due. He did share his pain for the seniors of the team, however, as it is definitely not the way thy envisioned the game would have ended.

“You’ve gotta congratulate Shane (Beamer) and South Carolina … your heart breaks. This is a game you never ever wanna lose … There’s probably a reason nobody’s won eight in a row (in the series) … My heart breaks for those seniors — tough way to finish the regular season but, man, I love those guys,” Swinney said.