By William Qualkinbush.
Saturday’s 16-6 victory over Syracuse was unconventional in a number of ways. It was a field position, defense-oriented game—the kind of game that harkened back to a bygone era more than the high-flying football played in 2014.
Turnovers marred the game on both sides, which was strange for Clemson this season. In no game in 2014 had Clemson and its opponent combined for more than four turnovers, but the Tigers and the Orange combined for seven on Saturday—four by the home team and three by the visitors.
For the Clemson offense, it was the kind of performance that mars an otherwise efficient season protecting the football. In its first six games, the Tigers committed only six turnovers. The four giveaways by the Tigers was the most by the team in a victory since a 56-20 win at Duke in 2012. It was also the first time Dabo Swinney’s team lost the turnover margin and still won the game since the Chick-Fil-A Bowl win over LSU in 2012.
Even Clemson’s opportunistic defense had not forced more than three in a game this season, but the Tigers matched that against a Syracuse team featuring a freshman quarterback and its second offensive coordinator of the season. Robert Smith picked off a pass with a diving effort in underneath coverage in the first half. The play changed momentum, if only for a few moments, and gave Smith his second interception of the season.
“I thought for sure the ball hit the ground,” Smith said, “but everybody was saying almost immediately that it didn’t.”
“That says a lot about him,” coordinator Brent Venables said. “He was limited this week in practice. That was a big play in the game.”
Stephone Anthony had an interception, as well. It was his first of the season and the fourth takeaway of his career.
Pressure, pressure, pressure. Clemson’s defense had Cuse quarterback A.J. Long under siege all night long. The Tigers had four sacks in the game, the seventh consecutive time they have recorded at least three in a contest. One of them came courtesy of reserve defensive end Tavaris Barnes, who is now second on the team with three sacks this season.
The defensive pressure also extended into the running game, as the Tigers held the Orange to 88 yards on the ground—the fifth time this season a Clemson opponent has failed to crack 100 rushing yards. Since giving up a wad of rushing yardage to Georgia, the Tigers have allowed only 69.0 yards per game.
All of it culminated in a 170-yard day for a Syracuse offense that came into Saturday’s affair averaging 406.3 yards per game for the year. Syracuse is the third team Clemson has held beneath the 200-yard threshold in 2014.
Winning notes. Saturday marked the 24th consecutive Clemson victory over an unranked opponent. It also marked the first time since 2009 that the Tigers won a game scoring only one touchdown.
Stoudt to Scott. Cole Stoudt completed 69 percent of his passes on Saturday, his second-best outing of the season in that regard. His favorite target was Artavis Scott, who caught seven balls for 59 yards and currently leads the team as a true freshman with 45 receptions in 2014.
Automatic Ammon. Placekicker Ammon Lakip’s early-season struggles have been well documented, but his resurgence has seemingly flown under the radar. A perfect 3-for-3 day on Saturday extended his string of consecutive makes to nine. Lakip is now 13-14 in Memorial Stadium this season.