ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan's Vincent Smith saw there was nowhere he could go. Nothing he could do. A combination of a line miscommunication and a decision by his fullback left him vulnerable.

And South Carolina star Jadeveon Clowney was coming.

"I couldn't duck or try anything," Smith said. "My head wasn't even down and that's why my helmet popped off."

Michigan's Vincent Smith reacts after he was tackled by South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney (not pictured) in the Jan. 1 Outback Bowl. Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports

Video of the hit, where Smith's helmet flew a few yards up the field, his dreadlocks flying as he fell to the ground, went viral.

Smith has shrugged it off, saying he watched it "two or three times" when he got back home after the Outback Bowl and then moved on. Now, a couple of weeks after the hit, he said he didn't even really feel it, evidenced by his reaching for the ball as he was falling to the ground and popping up right after.

It looked, he said, worse than it was.

"Oh yeah, it did," Smith said. "I saw it and was like, 'Dang.' "

South Carolina defender J.T. Surratt said it sounded like a "car wreck." Michigan receiver Roy Roundtree said he knew something big had happened because of the reaction of the crowd, which he noticed had stood up.

When Roundtree went back to the team hotel after the game, he saw the replay and said, "Gosh."

The simple explanation of what happened is Michigan left tackle Taylor Lewan called a change in the blocking scheme, and unfortunately for Smith, it gave Clowney an open path to him.The Gamecocks called a blitz before the play -- something Smith recognized in pre-play reads -- and his fullback chose to block the cornerback coming from the left side, where the run was supposed to go, instead of trying to take Clowney up the middle.

Before the play, Smith figured he was going to be hit in the backfield and would have to break a tackle, either from the corner or someone up the middle. He didn't anticipate everything falling apart as it did just as quarterback Devin Gardner tried to give him the ball.

"I saw it coming and I couldn't do anything about it," Smith said. "When Devin gave me the ball, he was looking behind him so he didn't even see. He looked back and he handed me the ball as I was making my pocket."