Biggest winners and losers from Clemson's thrilling rain-soaked comeback win over UNC

Let's enjoy this one while we can. Although the Clemson Tigers are far from a perfect team, that second half versus North Carolina is something we will talk about for the next few days, maybe even a little longer moving forward. Clemson had to grind it out in the first half. It wasn't pretty. By outscoring UNC 22-3 in the second half, Dabo Swinney might have this team playing with some real momentum.

For as bad as it looked in the first half, the Tigers got better as the game went along, especially after the two-hour rain delay with a little over eight minutes left on the clock. Clemson got a huge stand defensively versus UNC, allowing only a field goal. The Tigers would march down the field to take the lead, then to nearly ice it, all before Elliot Washington II picked off Billy Edwards Jr. to seal the deal.

There were certainly winners to be had in this game, but there is plenty for this team to improve on.

Winner: Gideon Davidson breaks out in a big way as Clemson's lead back

From a purely individual player standpoint, Gideon Davidson had himself a day. He led the way for Clemson on the ground with 105 yards and a rushing touchdown on 16 carries. His 45-yard run late in the game is what winning time is all about. It was only fitting that he scored what would become the game-winning touchdown. It took three games, but he definitely emerged as Clemson's lead back.

His breakout performance helped take the pressure off Tait Reynolds, making his first career start at quarterback. While Jarvis Green's costly fumble and Chris Johnson Jr.'s overall ineffectiveness need to be improved upon, Clemson can officially lean on Davidson in crunch-time situations. Now that the Tigers have a rushing attack, it can finally open up the entirety of the offensive playbook for the team.

Chad Morris will still want to run the football more, but Davidson rewarded him for his efforts big time.

Winner: Tait Reynolds got better as the game went along in his first start

This is why Swinney opted to start Reynolds. There is a little magic to him playing the quarterback position. To be quite frank, he completely outplayed his counterpart, Edwards. On the day, Reynolds completed 20-of-29 passes for 215 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. While the pick thrown in Bryant Wesco Jr.'s direction was pitiful, his touchdown strike to Christian Bentancur was sensational.

While Reynolds does have to become a more effective runner (11 carries for only 26 yards), it is a blessing that he is growing with every rep as a passer. For a guy who just recently committed fully to football, you would have thought he was the more seasoned player than Edwards. In short, the game just comes to him naturally. Reynolds is still a work in progress, but you have to love the bones about him.

With two huge ACC games coming up versus Cal and Miami, how quickly can this quarterback grow?

Loser: Christopher Vizzina has no shot to take the starting job back now

There is no way around it. This just stinks for Christopher Vizzina. After what we saw over the last two weekends, he just got Wally Pipped by a far more talented and significantly younger quarterback in Reynolds. Vizzina missed most of the Georgia Southern game due to an injury to his non-throwing elbow. He went from probable to questionable to out in only a matter of hours heading into Week 3.

Unless Reynolds plays terribly versus the Golden Bears and the Hurricanes, Vizzina is not seeing the field anytime soon. In fact, the most loyal member on the Clemson football team will probably need to transfer, with Reynolds slowly but surely hitting his stride as the Tigers' new star quarterback. He still has a ways to go, but Vizzina has been lapped twice over since he had to exit last week's home game.

The worst part for him is Reynolds will be getting all the first-team reps in practice moving forward.

Winner: Dabo Swinney got his team to buy in during winning time again

It is amazing what a few hours can do. Swinney was pretty much dead to rights heading into halftime. His former empire looked like it had completely collapsed in on itself one final time. With how poorly the offense looked in the first half, Clemson fans were all looking at their bank accounts, wondering how they could buy their iconic football coach out of his contract. Now look at him. Swinney is thriving!

When Swinney has been at his best as a football coach, he is a tremendous galvanizer. He can get his guys to rally better than most of his contemporaries could only hope to dream of. While he has lost his fastball in the department in many ways of late, Swinney was able to cook up something tasty that Bill Belichick had no answers for in the second half. He just beat the king of adjustments at adjusting.

North Carolina may not prove to be a good team by the end of the year, but this win was significant.

Winner: Clemson's pass defense made Billy Edwards Jr.'s day miserable

The one constant throughout the contest was how well Clemson's pass defense played. Ashton Hampton, Elliot Washington II, Corey Myrick, and the rest of the Tigers' defensive backfield came to play. Simply put, they made Edwards' first career ACC start a totally miserable one for the sixth-year senior. Edwards only completed 13-of-30 passes for 135 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.

He may be a bit of a gunslinger, but he was too inaccurate to be the player UNC needed to run Bobby Petrino's offense in Week 3. Frankly, he was the antithesis of Reynolds in this one. As the game went along, Reynolds got better, while Edwards rapidly decayed before our very eyes. Yes, Tom Allen's secondary made him look bad throughout the entire game, but he could not have played any worse.

It took two games, but Clemson's strength defensively undoubtedly lies in its pass-coverage skills.

Loser: Clemson's rush defense could come back to haunt the Tigers later

If there is anything that should keep Clemson fans up at night, it has to be the run defense. After holding Georgia Southern to only 22 yards on the ground in Week 2, UNC got pretty much whatever it wanted on the ground in this one. North Carolina's rushing attack had 214 yards on 39 carries and a touchdown. Had Demon June not fumbled the ball deep in Clemson territory, it may have been worse.

So far, Clemson has allowed over 200 yards rushing in both games against Power Four competition. With 10 games left in the regular season, all but one will be against teams of that designation. This is a bad trend that cannot continue. It just goes to show that Clemson is still incredibly deficient along the defensive line. This team does tackle well, but opponents pick up five or six yards on the regular.

This ongoing defensive concern could play a part in Clemson losing closer games down the stretch.

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