Clemson’s loss to Louisville stung in many ways. The Tigers will likely be out of College Football Playoff contention and most certainly out of the ACC Championship, barring cataclysmic collapses from Miami and SMU.

Louisville had never won against Clemson since the two began playing each other in 2014 after the Cardinals migrated from the Big East. But one reason this game really has me disappointed — not just as a student of Clemson University, but as a lifelong fan — is the way students showered the field with garbage after a reviewed call on Clemson’s desperation onside kick with around five minutes left in the ballgame.

After running back Phil Mafah ended a lumbering drive of 17 plays with a 3-yard touchdown run with around six minutes left in the ballgame, the Tigers did what any team in desperation mode does: they went for an onside kick.

In the now almost scientific game that football has become, the onside kick is probably the most primordial play still left. Its practice harkens back to when men wore leather helmets, and the forward pass didn’t even exist.

As Clemson kicker Robert Gunn III, flanked closely by linebacker Wade Woodaz and defensive back Ronan Hanafin, struck the football into the Frank Howard Field turf, the scrum began.

In what was an agonizing process, as Clemson and Louisville players alike pointed to their respective end zones indicating possession of the football, a Cardinal player came free with the ball in his hands. I, like many Tiger fans, screamed at the referee for a video review.

When the broadcast first showed the replay, I felt as though Hanafin, or maybe even Gunn, somehow got into the pile of bodies and came away with the football. The officials decided this was not the case. The Cardinals had the ball at Clemson’s 45-yard line.

Now, let me tell you a personal story. In late November of 2017, my dad and I traveled to Columbia to watch the Tigers and our hated rival, the South Carolina Gamecocks, duel in yet another Palmetto Bowl. As Kelly Bryant, Tee Higgins, Christian Wilkins and friends made life hell for those poor chickens, South Carolina’s student section began to throw water bottles at Tiger players after touchdowns in the endzone facing the students. Hunter Renfrow, who scored twice in that endzone, bore the brunt of the water bottle onslaught.

It was so bad that at halftime when the Tigers had to go back to the locker room, they kept their helmets on as Carolina fans continued throwing water bottles and other debris at our players.

Now, being a good 11-year-old Clemson Tigers fan, I had learned to loathe our southern neighbors. But this was… this was a new low, even for them.

This was the epitome of Gamecock behavior.

Leaving games early? That’s Gamecock behavior. Throwing trash at opponents and referees? That’s Gamecock behavior. Hurling insults and treating opposing fans with disrespect, win or lose? Go ahead and put your garnet and black on, you traitorous Clemson “fan.”

After the referees correctly ruled that Louisville won possession of the football in the onside kick scrum, Clemson students began raining down water bottles in an ugly scene that delayed the game for a moment. The cheerleaders had to evade the projectiles by huddling together in the endzone. Security personnel and Clemson staffers cleared the field.

It was something that I had never seen before in all the years I have followed this team, from being young in section K row E until, well, adult in section K row E because I didn’t apply for student tickets. I wasn’t even mad in the moment after the barrage of garbage descended from the student section in the east end zone. I was just so, so disappointed.

Look, I love Clemson football. Like love, love Clemson football. Like “Name a random 1990s linebacker” or “Name our starting quarterback against Georgia Tech in 2008” love Clemson football. For those wondering: random ‘90s linebacker, give me Rahim Abdullah, and for quarterback against Georgia Tech in 2008, Willy Korn. Google it.

But at the end of the day, Clemson football isn’t life or death, though sometimes it does give me heart issues. To give so much power to one referee’s call and embarrass our university, our beloved team, and our embattled players and our coaches is despicable and saddening.

Be better, Clemson fans. Don’t engage in Gamecock behavior. After all, Carolina is in Chapel Hill, USC is in California, and the university of this state always has been and always will be Clemson. Now act like it.

Eli Kernaghan is a freshman history major. Eli can be reached at [email protected]