Clemson somehow survives UNC: Final Score, Analysis, Stats

The Clemson football team survived a thriller Saturday afternoon in Kenan Stadium. The Tigers walked out of Chapel Hill with a 21-20 victory.

The Clemson football team survived an emotional performance from North Carolina Saturday afternoon, escaping Chapel Hill with a 21-20 victory.

It only took North Carolina four plays to get on the scoreboard when Sam Howell found Dyami Brown for a 40-yard touchdown strike.

Clemson missed a field goal on the ensuing possession before the teams traded a few punts. The Tigers finally managed to put a 10-play, 90-yard drive together that was capped off with a Travis Etienne 13-yard touchdown to tie the game at seven apiece.

Clemson’s defense got a stop, but Travis Etienne fumbled the ball on the next possession, giving the Tar Heels the ball around midfield. They took advantage of the miscue and came away with a score, making it 14-7. Clemson put together a nice drive at the end of the half, capped with a Trevor Lawrence touchdown to tie the game at 14 apiece.

Neither team would score in the third quarter, but the Clemson offense came up big with 9:54 remaining when Trevor Lawrence hit Tee Higgins on a 38-yard touchdown pass to give the Tigers a 21-14 lead.

Just when momentum seemed to be shaping in the Tigers’ favor, North Carolina went on a 16 play drive that took up 8:37 and scored with a little over a minute remaining. Mack Brown elected to go for two, but decided to run the option with Sam Howell rather than just run the ball up the middle. The Tigers stuffed it and held on for the victory.

Box Score:

Stats via ESPN:

Passing- Trevor Lawrence 18-of-30 for 206 yards, 1 TD.

Rushing- Travis Etienne 14 carries for 67 yards, 1 TD; Trevor Lawrence 11 carries for 45 yards, 1 TD.

Receiving- Tee Higgins 6 catches for 129 yards, 1 TD; Justyn Ross 3 catches for 47 yards.

Analysis:

An ugly win is much easier to learn from than an ugly loss. That’s really all we can say.

The Tigers’ offensive line was miserable for most of the game. They couldn’t pass-protect, didn’t open up holes in the running game and were flagged constantly for false starts and pre-snap penalties.

Trevor Lawrence showed some poise and delivered some nice throws, especially on the Tigers’ second touchdown the drive. However, he missed several open receivers in the second half in key situations that could’ve put the game away earlier.

Travis Etienne’s fumble gave UNC momentum at a time where you just couldn’t afford it. Clemson was finally taking control of the game and the offense had a chance to take the lead (and likely would have). Instead, momentum shifted squarely in the Tar Heels’ favor.

The defense was solid for the majority of the game. They gave up a long touchdown pass on the first drive of the game and then settled in. After that, the only score they allowed in the first half came after Etienne’s turnover, which set North Carolina up with good field position.

Unfortunately, though, when it mattered most they couldn’t get off the field. With more than nine minutes remaining, all the defense had to do was come away with a stop. They couldn’t do it. They had UNC in two separate fourth down situations and couldn’t get off the field.

Had it not been for a bad two-point conversion play-call, we most likely would be talking about a loss right now.

Clemson will learn and get better from this one. It always seems that the Tigers have a game like this during the regular season (see Syracuse last year and the year before, see Pittsburgh the year before that). The difference? Like last season, they somehow came away with the victory.

It wasn’t pretty, there were plenty of mistakes. But, the Tigers are still undefeated. That’s what matters most at this point.