ACC Championship Blog: Clemson 45, UNC 37 Final
By: will-vandervort December 5, 2015

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Clemson won its 15th ACC Championship overall with a 45-37 victory over No. 8 North Carolina on Saturday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.

 

 

 

UNC will not go away. Two big pass plays set up a Hood touchdown with 9:54 left in the game. The scoring drive was 5 plays and covered 75 yards. It took just 1:33 off the clock.

 

Clemson answered a North Carolina touchdown with an 11-play, 80-yard drive, which Deshaun Watson capped with his fifth touchdown of the night with 11:34 to play in the game.

Clemson ran all 80 yards on the drive. Watson was banged up on the drive after a helmet-to-helmet contact with a UNC defender but he came back in to finish the drive. The drive was Gallman, though has ran through the UNC defense.

Clemson has 546 yards of total offense.

 

Clemson has scored a touchdown on each of its last three possessions, including Deshaun Watson’s 35-yard touchdown pass to Artavis Scott, who got both feet in by the sideline in the end zone to extend Clemson’s lead to 35-16 with 4:48 to play in the third quarter.

Watson has completed 13 straight passes overall and is 26 of 39 for 289 yards. His 397 total yards in an ACC Championship Game record, passing Jameis Winston’s 389 total yards.

 

Clemson went on a 13-play, 97-yard scoring drive following Cordrea Tankersley interception at the Tigers’ 3-yard line. Clemson leads 28-16.

It is the longest scoring drive in ACC history. They had a 96-yd scoring drive in the second quarter. First time in ACC Championship history a team has had two 90-yd scoring drives in the same game.

Watson has completed 12 passes in a row. He has 362 total yards and three touchdowns already.

Clemson has 407 total yards.

 

Deshaun Watson threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Leggett with two seconds left in the first half to give top-ranked Clemson a 21-16 halftime lead over No. 8 North Carolina.

Watson led the Tigers on a 10-play, 58-yard drive just before halftime that took 1:54 off the clock.

Watson finished the first half with 290 total yards, the most in one half by any player in ACC Championship Game history. The sophomore threw for 191 yards on 19 of 32 passing, while he ran for 99 yards on 13 carries.

He threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Gallman in the first quarter and then his one-yard score to Leggett just before the half. He also had a nine-yard rushing touchdown with 10:35 to play in the second quarter.

Clemson totaled 309 total yards in the opening 30 minutes on 57 plays. The Clemson defense held UNC to 103 total yards. They held the Tar Heels to 37 rushing yards on 15 carries. But UNC used a short field and one play—a 46-yard pass to T.J. Logan—for one touchdown and then after a botched fake punt by Clemson punter Andy Teasdall, Williams used another short field to throw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Switzer.

Williams, who was harassed by the Clemson defense the whole game, completed just 3 of 10 passes for 50 yards.

Trailing, 16-14, with 1:56 to play in the half, Watson guided the Tigers down the field in the two-minute offense. After hitting Gallman for a 7-yard gain, he ran off the right side for six yards. He then found Leggett for 13 yards two plays later and then on the next play he connected with Ray Ray McCloud for a 16-yard gain.

On second-and-four from the UNC 17, Watson hit Gallman on swing pass and the running back ran the ball to the Tar Heels one. Two plays later following a Clemson timeout, Watson found Leggett wide open in the end zone for the touchdown.

Watson completed 7 of 8 passes on that drive for 67 yards on the drive.

 

 

Clemson regained the lead thanks to a 9-yard touchdown run by Deshaun Watson. The sophomore ran for 49 yards on the drive, including an 11-yard run on third down from his own 5-yard line, then a 33-yard run and second-and-three from the 23.

Watson also completed a fourth down pass to Deon Cain for eight yards to move the ball to UNC 30. A pass interference call drawn by Cain moved the ball to the nine, which Watson took in for touchdown on a quarterback draw.

Watson’s touchdown came with 10:35 to play in the half. The drive was 12 plays for 96 yards.

 

That is the end of the first quarter as Clemson trail 9-7. It is just the second time all year Clemson has trailed at the end of the first. FSU was the other. The Tigers trailed 9-7 in that game.

Clemson outgained UNC 125-92 in the first quarter.

 

North Carolina gets a 46-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Logan after Clemson missed getting Williams down.

The touchdown play took one play and 13 seconds. UNC’s pass on the two-point conversion failed.

 

Wayne Gallman caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson to give the Tigers a 7-3 lead with 5:14 to play in the first quarter.

It was Watson’s first touchdown reception of the season and only his second of his career.

The scoring drive went for 75 yards on 8 plays and took 3:31 off the clock.

 

North Carolina kicks a 30-yard field goal to cap a 58-yard scoring drive to open the scoring as 8:45 remains in the first quarter.

 

North Carolina won the toss and deferred to the second half. Clemson’s captains for tonight are Deshaun Watson, Carlos Watkins, Eric Mac Lain and Kevin Dodd.

 

 

Top-ranked Clemson will put its undefeated season on the line when the Tigers take on No. 8 North Carolina in the 2015 ACC Championship Game from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. The game is scheduled to kick off at 8:14 p.m. and will be televised by ABC.

A win for Clemson will clinch a berth in the College Football Playoff. Clemson was picked as the preseason favorite to win the ACC back in July. Clemson has won 15 straight games, which is the longest active winning streak in the country, while the Tar Heels have won 11 straight—the third longest—after opening the season with a loss to South Carolina.

The series

Records: Clemson 12-0; North Carolina 11-1

Series record: Clemson leads the series 36-19-1

Games in Neutral sites: Clemson leads 2-1

First meeting: North Carolina won 28-0 in 1897

Last Meeting: Clemson won 50-35 in 2014 (at Death Valley)

Last North Carolina win: 21-16 in 2010 (at Chapel Hill)

Streak: Clemson has won 2 straight and 5 of the last 6

Injuries: Clemson – No new injuries to report. North Carolina – Out: S Sam Smiley (torn Achilles)

Stat worth noting: Clemson and North Carolina are just two of 11 teams nationally to average more than 200 yards per game rushing and 250 yards per game passing. The Tigers are averaging 214.1 yards per game on the ground and 288.4 through the air. The Tar Heels are averaging 229.7 on the ground and 266 through the air.

Second stat worth noting: This will be Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s 100th game as a head coach. He currently has a 73-26 record. He moved into third place on Clemson’s all-time win list with last week’s win over South Carolina. He passed his former boss and position coach Tommy Bowden who was 72-45 in nine plus years as the Tigers’ head coach. Swinney will be just the fourth Clemson coach to coach in 100 games, joining Frank Howard (295), Danny Ford (129) and Bowden (117).

Third stat worth noting: This will be the first time since 1982 that Clemson and North Carolina will both come into a game ranked in the latest Associated Press top 25. In 1982, Clemson was 13th and UNC was 18th and Clemson won the game, 16-13. Both teams were ranked in the top 10 in 1981. It was the first top 10 meeting between two ACC schools. Clemson, No. 2 in the country at the time, won the game, 10-8, over No. 8 North Carolina. The only other top 25 meeting between the two schools occurred in the 1959 season opener. The Tigers won that game, too, by a score of 20-18. Clemson, who finished the season 9-2 and ranked 11th in the final poll, entered the UNC game ranked 18th, while the Tar Heels were 12th.