Clemson shows mercy to South Carolina State

Clemson agreed to somewhat of a mercy rule during its game against South Carolina State on Saturday.

The Tigers were up 45-0 on the Bulldogs at halftime, so the sides agreed to shorter quarters in the second half.

News: Dabo Swinney and Buddy Pough agreed to 12-minute quarters for the third and fourth quarters. They decided against a running clock.

— Aaron Brenner (@Aaron_Brenner) September 17, 2016

Though the programs agreed to 12-minute quarters in the second half, they did not go to a running clock. NCAA rules allow coaches to agree to shorter clocks but not a running clock because of television timeouts, the Post and Courier says.

Clemson had most of its starters and even some second-string players out of the game by halftime. But even going with the lesser personnel didn’t matter with South Carolina State making boneheaded plays like this one:

We have a leader in the club house for the dumbest play of 2016 from the SC State-Clemson game pic.twitter.com/4VtkMyKaPK

— Jack McGuire (@BigDaddysCourt) September 17, 2016

South Carolina State got shutout by UCF in its first game and surrendered 53 points to Louisiana Tech in its first two games, so it’s been a rough start to the season for them.