By William Qualkinbush.

Each week, we will re-watch Clemson’s game and give a detailed breakdown of the action. Also included will be observations, personal opinions, and statistical analysis to help provide a full context.

–Clemson played well for most of Saturday’s game, but nothing compares to the feat Tom Luginbill accomplished this weekend. The ESPN sideline analyst/talent expert was on the field for Tennessee-Georgia at noon, then rushed down to Clemson to be on the field for Clemson-North Carolina. Covering two games in the same day is no joke. Have yourself a day, Tom!

–It’s human nature to be jacked up any time you have a career first in anything. Deshaun Watson looked pretty fired up prior to Saturday’s game, his first as the starting quarterback at Clemson. He was jumping around and enjoying the moment.

–It was telling that Dabo Swinney chose to defer after winning the coin toss. Clemson’s defense needs to be the dominant unit on the squad this season, and it was on the first series of the game. North Carolina, quite frankly, had no chance.

–I’m making a hard and fast rule for opposing offenses: Do not attempt to screen Clemson with a running back. Your blockers will be annihilated and the back will get crushed by any number of menacing defenders. It happens almost every single time.

–Chad Morris gets a ton of grief from people for some reason (generally it’s “that one play that one time that didn’t work”) but many of his individual successes get ignored. The first Tiger pass of the game was a Watson touchdown to a wide open Germone Hopper down the seam, but the stage was set for weeks. The entire left side of the North Carolina secondary crashed the line of scrimmage with reckless abandon as soon as Adam Humphries went in motion on the play. That indicates Clemson’s tendency with that action in that situation was to give the ball to Humphries, or at least to run the ball with somebody. An entire secondary doesn’t react that way unless they’ve seen it on film all week long. Instead, Morris broke tendency and Hopper—and Mike Williams, for that matter—could have run for days. Brilliant call by the offensive staff.

–On the next defensive possession, Brent Venables deployed an interesting look on third down. Out of a traditional personnel grouping, the only pass rushers were Vic Beasley, Korrin Wiggins, and Tony Steward. It was a confusing coverage look that caused Marquis Williams to throw erratically toward the sideline.

–Adam Humphries still looks a little shaky in the punt return game. He did almost break one for a score later in the game, but it’s just not a comfortable sight right now.

–Forget being a freshman. There are some times when Deshaun Watson does things that seem professional-grade. Oen thing elite quarterbacks seem to do is gauge angles to the sideline when they scramble. When I watch an elite passer move outside the pocket, he can move toward the sideline and coast to his desired endpoint before the defense can arrive. Watson did just that in the first quarter, and it was downright impressive to me.

–Garry Peters had himself a game. The numbers tell the story: 15 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 3 passes broken up. But he also made some plays that won’t end up on the stat sheet. On the third defensive series of the game alone, he set the edge on a running play off tackle, he blew up a reverse by setting the edge, and he destroyed the tailback on a screen. I thought it was perhaps the best game of his Clemson career.

–North Carolina contributed to its own demise, aiding a Clemson scoring drive by two stupid personal foul penalties. One was on Humphries’ punt return, and the other was on a scramble by Watson. They were obvious penalties, the kind bad defenses can’t afford to commit.

–Ammon Lakip is still perfect in Death Valley, but his kicks just don’t look fluid. There’s something a little awkward about his motion. It’s not my favorite.

–The seam route to Hopper for a touchdown was a highlight of Watson’s day. The defense morphed from a cover 2 look to cover 1 just before the snap, with the safety dropping down into the box in coverage over the top of the nickel cornerback, who was blitzing. Watson felt the pressure, knew where it came from, and threw into man-to-man coverage deep. It was as beautiful as a 50-yard throw can be from a quarterback getting drilled as he releases the ball.

–Whenever Vic Beasley decides to attempt an inside move as a pass rusher, it simply isn’t fair when a tackle has him one-on-one. Unless Beasley falls down, the blocker has absolutely no chance whatsoever to slow his pursuit of the quarterback.

–UNC’s first scoring play was a superb catch by Mack Hollins through impeccable coverage by Mackensie Alexander. Put a star by that one.

–When Williams committed intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety, it wasn’t the fault of the offensive line. In fact, according to my unofficial stopwatch, Williams held the football for a whopping 6.7 seconds before Shaq Lawson wrapped him up. You’ve got to get rid of the ball quicker than that. It was the pure definition of a coverage sack.

–Mitch Trubisky, UNC’s other quarterback, got really lucky Peters didn’t get himself a pick-six late in the first half. It was the lowest point for Peters, which is a testament to the way he played.

–Watson’s second half interception was the epitome of a freshman mistake. Isaiah Battle got beat on an inside rush and the blitzer came right at Watson’s face. Instead of eating the ball or throwing it away, Watson forced the ball into double coverage—right to a waiting Tar Heel safety. It was a sobering reminder that the 18-year-old is actually a human being prone to making mistakes on occasion.

–Sometimes, there’s nothing a defense can do. The offense makes a call that beats the defensive call, plain and simple. Larry Fedora caught Venables’ defense in zero coverage (no safeties) and blitzing when T.J. Thorpe caught a tunnel—or, according to Venables, “jailbreak”—screen and took it to the house. Essentially, the Tar Heels had three blockers for one defender after clearing out the right side of extra personnel.

–Watson’s answer scoring pass was reminiscent of the Tajh Boyd years. He threw off his back foot over the top of the defense while rolling right to Williams in the end zone. It was a beautiful ball that found its target easily. It was also one of many examples of North Carolina defensive backs being victimized by playaction. The Tar Heel safeties were basically frozen at the snap all night long after being burned on the first snap.

–That same thing happened to Clemson’s defense in short yardage when the Tar Heels picked up a large chunk of yardage. I’m not sure who was supposed to cover Eric Albright, but the tight end slipped out of a jumbo set unnoticed for a huge play that set up a score. It was a bust on all levels, as the Clemson defense geared up to stop the run.

–That drive was punctuated by a touchdown pass to Quinshad Davis in the back of the end zone. The Tigers only rushed three players even though the ball was inside the 5. Once again, I put my unofficial stopwatch to the test, and I clocked 5.3 seconds for Williams to sit in the pocket and find Davis. It was a failure of the Clemson pass rush to provide pressure on the play.

–In case this was a question, Artavis Scott is a MAN. His third-quarter touchdown was a test of sheer will. He absolutely owned his tackler and pushed him three yards into the end zone. Any football fan of any team had to absolutely love that play.

–The tunnel screen touchdown pass to Ryan Switzer was similar to the Thorpe touchdown, except that Clemson had more players in coverage this time. The play was blocked well by the Tar Heels, and Robert Smith got caught in quicksand attempting to make a tackle. He redeemed himself with the game-clinching interception later in the action.

–When Watson found Jordan Leggett for his record-setting sixth touchdown, it was only the second catch by a tight end in the game. The lack of tight end presence in the passing game is a bit troubling, especially considering the experienced players available within that position group.

–The final score of the game was a short run by Elijah Hood that highlighted some of the most frustrating aspects of the game to Venables. Hood simply ran off tackle, and neither Corey Crawford nor Ben Boulware—the two defenders closest to the right tackle—were anywhere near the play. Both got caught up in the middle of the defense. Venables was right to be incensed on that play.

God Bless!

WQ