Studs & Duds for Clemson football in the season-opening win over Wake Forest
The Clemson football team opened up the 2020 season with an impressive 37-13 win over Wake Forest.
The Tigers took control of the game from the onset and never looked back, developing and playing a total of 78 players, out of 80 who made the trip.
As we continue to look back at the victory and look forward to the rest of the 2020 Clemson football season, here’s a look at the studs and duds from the season-opening victory.
Studs
Trevor Lawrence & Travis Etienne
Let’s start with the top. Both Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne had nice nights in what many would consider limited action.
Lawrence completed 22-of-28 passes for 351 yards and one touchdown while also rushing for two more touchdowns. Etienne had 17 carries for 102 yards (6.0 YPC) and one touchdown.
Those two did exactly what they were asked to do and absolutely looked like NFL-ready players Saturday evening.
Just as we’ve gotten used to pairing Lawrence and Etienne together, we should prepare ourselves to continue to pair freshmen Myles Murphy and Bryan Bresee together.
Honestly, Murphy was the best defensive performer of the night and it wasn’t even close. He finished the night with four tackles and two sacks, and looked like a monster in the process.
Though Bresee didn’t have a multi-sack game, he still made his presence felt. He got pressure up the middle and did an excellent job getting into the backfield and showing his elite athleticism, size and strength.
These two are special players and they’re going to absolutely tear it up over the course of the next three years with the Clemson football program.
More Studs
J.C. Chalk‘s first career TD reception
The amount of joy from the Clemson sideline when J.C. Chalk caught his first career touchdown was fun to watch.
Lawrence put the ball right on the money and Chalk made a difficult catching right at the corner of the end zone for the touchdown.
B.T. Potter was a perfect 3-for-3 on the night and showed why he was so highly recruited as a kicker coming out of high school.
There were times last season where he showed inconsistency, but he showed a renewed confidence Saturday evening. He drilled a 42-yard attempt from the right hash, followed that up with a career-long 52-yarder that would’ve easily been good from 60 yards and then made the chip shot 29-yarder in the third quarter.
Braden Galloway‘s ability to open up the offense
Braden Galloway caught five passes for 60 yards in the game and it’s clear what the tight end is bringing to the table following his performance.
Having Galloway on the field is opening up new dimensions for this Clemson offense that simply weren’t existent last season.
Amari Rodgers being Amari Rodgers
Amari Rodgers looked fully healthy and much more explosive in his outing Saturday. Rodgers led Clemson with five receptions for 90 yards and he did an excellent job creating separation and making plays with his athleticism.
That Clemson front-seven is going to be nasty
K.J. Henry, the two freshmen, Tyler Davis, Justin Mascoll, James Skalski, Jake Venables, Mike Jones Jr., Baylon Spector. They all deserve credit for their performances against Wake Forest.
That Clemson front-seven is going to be nasty and it’s going to be nearly impossible for opposing offenses to establish any type of a running game against the Tigers this season. The Demon Deacons had a total of just 37 rushing yards for the game.
Duds
Honestly, you have to be extremely nit-picky to find any ‘duds’ in this performance, but these are what we could come up with.
The secondary has some work to do
The defensive backfield was beaten at times Saturday night and there’s really no other way around it. They got away with a few potential pass-interference calls, as well, because it just seems that the cornerbacks never turned around to find the ball.
Yes, they were beaten at times, but it should be noted that two starters were out and that this unit will absolutely improve as the season progresses.
The two dropped touchdown passes in the end zone
Amari Rodgers and Frank Ladson Jr. both had passes that could’ve been caught in the end zone and simply didn’t reel them in.
They were both decently tough plays- Rodgers was at the back of the end zone right next to the field goal post and was trying to get a foot down and Ladson dropped one that hit him in the hands a little fast- but both could’ve been made.
More Duds
Tyler Davis injury
Perhaps the most disappointing portion of the night was seeing Tyler Davis limp off the field. Davis and Ruke Orhorhoro both had MRIs Sunday and hopefully they are both ready to go again sooner rather than later.
We wish the playbook would’ve been open for D.J. Uiagalelei
It’s understandable why the Tigers didn’t open it up with D.J. Uiagalelei when he stepped in, but it would’ve been fun to see the freshman attempt more than three passes (he went 2-of-3 for 16 yards).
Clemson will give him more chances over the next few weeks, but it would’ve been nice to see the Tigers turn him loose a little bit and see what he could really do.
The lone turnover of the game
Finally, the lone turnover of the game was an interception by Taisun Phommachanh that he telegraphed to the defender.
Phommachanh will learn from that mistake and will get better as a result, no doubt.
The Clemson football team will host The Citadel this Saturday afternoon in Death Valley.