MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A look at the stat sheet might suggest a Clemson victory, and one could certainly be forgiven for thinking it may have come rather easily.

The numbers for the Tigers’ offense in their Orange Bowl matchup with Tennessee are as follows:

484 yards

34 first downs

11 possessions past midfield

More than 36 minutes of possession

All of that led to the most eye-popping stat of the night: 101 plays

Clemson has now played in 49 bowl games. Never have the Tigers run as may plays in one as they did Friday night. They broke the previous record of 100 set a decade earlier in their Chick-fil-A Bowl win over LSU.

And had Clemson gotten off just one more snap, it would’ve run more plays than it ever has in the 127 years it’s been playing football. The Tigers’ snap count matched the program record during a regular-season game against NC State in 2012.

Yet the only stat that mattered for Clemson was 14 points, which wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with the nation’s highest-scoring offense in a 17-point loss that gets even more bizarre.

Clemson matched a season-low in points despite spending most of the night threatening the nation’s 93rd-ranked defense. Freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik, in his first career start, led the Tigers into Tennessee territory on all seven of their first-half possessions and again on Clemson’s opening drive of the third quarter. The Tigers drove to the Vols’ 32-yard line or deeper nine times and punted just twice through the first three and a half quarters.

“The name of the game is a lot of missed opportunities. Simple as that,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Against the No. 1 scoring offense in the country that you know at some point is going to hit an explosive or two, you’ve got to capitalize.”

But Clemson, which began the night with one of the nation’s top five red-zone offenses, didn’t find the end zone until five minutes into the fourth quarter because bogging down became an uncharacteristic theme.

The Tigers trotted out the field-goal unit six times. Clemson faked one on its opening possession, but Tennessee snuffed it out. It proved to be an ominous start for the group and veteran placekicker B.T. Potter, who missed three of the five he did kick. Potter had missed just three field goals all season coming into the game.

“One time, maybe a guy made a mistake and made a (missed assignment),” offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said. “Another time, it was a missed throw or a missed opportunity. So it wasn’t the norm of what we’ve been doing all year long. We’ve very rarely stalled in the red zone.

“It was just kind of the story of the night, kind of shooting ourselves in the foot whenever we got down there close.”

There were other mishaps, too, that kept Clemson from scoring more points. None was more glaring than Klubnik’s ill-advised decision to scramble rather than throwing the ball away with Clemson driving in the red zone at the end of the first half. Clemson had burned all of its remaining timeouts on Tennessee’s previous possession to get the ball back, so when Klubnik was caught well short of the end zone as the clock ticked under 10 seconds, Clemson’s deficit stayed at 14-3 at the break.

“Obviously the situation right there at the end (of the first half) can’t happen,” Swinney said. “These are all things he’ll learn from.”

The Tigers also rolled the dice late in the third quarter in what was a one-possession game at the time. Facing fourth-and-2 from the Vols’ 32, Clemson decided to go. But running back Will Shipley was stuffed after picking up only half of the yardage needed. Four plays later, Tennessee’s lead climbed to 21-6 when quarterback Joe Milton III connected with Squirrel White for a 14-yard touchdown.

It was part of an efficient night for the Vols’ offense, which scored on five of its six possessions that reached Clemson territory. Tennessee scored on all four of its red-zone trips, three of them ending in touchdowns. It made all the difference in a game where looks were deceiving.

“You don’t get any points for yards. The name of the game is points,” Swinney said. “You have to finish and execute, and we did not do that.”

Dear Old Clemson has a limited number of replica road signs to our store.  These have reflective properties just like real road signs.  Will Shipley, Tyler Davis and Antonio Williams have signed road signs with their numbers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. 

Dear Old Clemson is doing NIL the ‘Clemson way’, but we need your help to make sure we build a sustainable, repeatable model that will help keep Clemson competitive with the other top programs around the nation.

Dabo Swinney: “We need your assistance more than ever to provide meaningful NIL opportunities. Tiger Impact, Dear Old Clemson and other collectives allow student-athletes to utilize their voice and platform to maximize their NIL opportunities and strengthen their impact in the community.”

Graham Neff:
“Tiger Impact, Dear Old Clemson and other collectives need your support to help provide meaningful NIL opportunities for our student athletes. We are doing things the right way, the Clemson way with integrity as a non-negotiable and we fully support the mission of these groups.”

Join the Tiger Club or Lady Tiger Club to help these great student-athletes and help the Tigers compete at the highest level!