Biggest winners and losers from Clemson's gritty late night ACC road victory over Cal

It took a month, but Clemson finally put it all together. The Tigers improved to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in ACC play with a 24-10 road victory over the California Golden Bears. Clemson was able to get past Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and the rest of Tosh Lupoi's team by playing committed defense and getting just enough out of the offense in key spots. Slowly but surely, this Clemson team is improving.

For those of you who stayed up into the early hours of Saturday morning, you not even remotely disappointed. Clemson is playing with palpable momentum. Will it be enough to thwart Miami next weekend? That remains to be seen. However, getting a dominant road victory over Cal is nothing to sneeze at. For the time being, Clemson has found an identity and a recipe to win close games as well.

Here are the biggest winners and losers from Clemson's late night victory over California in Berkeley.

Winner: Bryant Wesco Jr.'s punt return touchdown was all the difference

Dabo Swinney said this was bound to happen. Clemson was finally able to break one off in the return game. Bryant Wesco Jr. took it 65 yards to the house on a late third quarter punt off the foot of Angus Davies. All year long, special teams has been a strength for this team. The addition of Rich Bisaccia to the coaching staff has paid out in dividends time and time again, even if Nolan Hauser missed a kick...

What is important to understand here is even though Wesco, TJ Moore, Tyler Brown, and the rest of the Clemson wide receiving corps have not really broken out just yet, they can still find ways to help their team win close games. Six points count the same, no matter how you get them. When Wesco hit pay dirt, it felt the like final nail in the coffin for Cal. There were others to come, but this one sealed it.

Not only was this the most exciting play from the game, but it was also the one that largely decided it.

Winner: Gideon Davison keeps getting better as the game moves along

Gideon Davidson is going to be a problem for the rest of the ACC. He led the Clemson rushing attack with 22 carries for 159 yards and two touchdowns, including a 75-yarder to put it out of reach by the deciding margin. Even before he broke off the longest run of his Clemson career up to this point, he was able to get positive yardage on most of his carries. This helped Clemson win time of possession.

From a team stat standpoint, it may have been the biggest difference in the game. Clemson had the ball for eight more minutes than Cal. It forced Sagapolutele to be a little too carefree with the football, as illustrated by his pair of interceptions thrown Elliot Washington II's way. As long as Davidson stays locked into the game, he can help Clemson close out any opponent in the final minutes. Well done, sir.

Davidson is starting to become a reliable piece to help Clemson keep the leads that the Tigers build.

Loser: Chad Morris being in the booth leaves offense so disconnected

Four weeks into the season, and all eyes are on Chad Morris. This was the second game he called plays from upstairs since moving back into the booth. While it could be seen as a way to help see the things true freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds cannot, his unit's play-calling and overall execution has remained unsettled throughout. Simply put, he is not setting Reynolds up for easy wins early on.

While Reynolds will have to own the terrible ball security issue he had on the scoop-and-score, why was Morris calling a flea flicker that early into the game? It may have been part of the game plan all along to be implemented. However, it felt contrived and gimmicky, resulting in it being so incredibly ineffective. Reynolds may only be a true freshman, but Morris has made that more readily apparent.

We must wonder once Clemson plays another high-end opponent if Morris' offense will be exposed.

Winner: Ashton Hampton played like a first-round cornerback all night

Even though Washington had the pair of interceptions, Ashton Hampton was the star of the show in the secondary. He had one big breakup after another. For all the offseason hype he had coming in about being a potential first-round pick, he answered the call in a big way. Hampton had three of Clemson's five passes defended to go along with three tackles of his own. High-end stuff there!

While Cal's receiving corps was honestly too discombobulated to help Sagapolutele out for great stretches in this game, Hampton did not make their jobs any easier. In short, we are now looking at a likely first-round pick out of Clemson's defense. He is probably coming off the board before edge rusher Will Heldt now. While Sammy Brown is an excellent linebacker, he just does not pop on film.

Hampton has had his fair share of criticism over the last two years, but he balled out in a big way.

Winner: London Merritt emerged opposite of Will Heldt along the edge

Even though Heldt did not have a two-sack game for the third week in a row, it did not matter as much this week. Clemson got a pair of sacks on Sagapolutele, including a dazzling one from London Merritt in a key spot. For Clemson to be at its most effective, somebody else is going to need to rise to Heldt's occasion coming off the edge. After what we saw out of Merritt on Friday night, it may be him.

Merrit had five tackles, 1.5 for a loss of yardage, and a sack. When Clemson is at its best defenisvely, the Tigers are able to bring pressure from anywhere. Merritt came over from Colorado hoping to play closer to home, as well as make a difference in the Clemson pass rush. It took a few games for him to get fully acclimated, but his presence was surely felt during his best game to date in a Tigers uniform.

The way that Heldt and Merritt played off each other is something Tom Allen has to be excited about.

Loser: Matt Luke's offensive line is Clemson's biggest disappointment

Even though the final score may not indicate it, we all just have a feeling that Matt Luke's offensive line is going to be a yearlong issue. While left tackle Brayden Jacobs gets the bulk of the flack, and rightfully so, Elyjah Thurmon going down with an injury does not help. While there were a handful of plays where Clemson's front five looked like a polished unit, there were too many that felt disjointed.

Not only is Reynolds not always on the same page as Morris, but when is Luke's offensive line going to be anything more than a hinderance for Morris' offensive scheme? Granted, offensive line play has never been Clemson's forte at any point of the Swinney era. That being said, Reynolds' growth at quarterback could be stunted later on this season because of the five guys assigned to protect him.

Most of the other areas of the team are improving, but the offenisve line is clearly still a laggard.

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