It was far from pretty, but Clemson was able to grind out an 18-13 win at Syracuse on Saturday. The Tigers have now won eight of the past nine in the series and four straight in the JMA Wireless Dome.
The Tigers’ defense made the biggest plays of the game, with Jahiem Lawson returning a Steven Angeli fumble 22 yards for a score, Clemson’s only touchdown of the game.
Ashton Hampton locked up standout receiver Umari Hatcher all game, helping hold him to two catches for 12 yards. Then Hampton’s first pick of the season, which came midway through the fourth with Cuse driving, ultimately helped seal the win.
Clemson sacked Steve Angeli three times and finished with six tackles for loss.
However, it got a little closer than it should have been as Tom Allen’s unit suffered some breakdowns on the back end in the fourth quarter for the second straight week. The Orange only needed 1:31 to go 74 yards for their first touchdown of the game with a little over three minutes to go, pulling to with one score at 18-13.
The Tigers also allowed Ahmad Miller to rush for more than 100 yards and average more than five yards per carry.
Reynolds Leans On Legs
When Clemson needed some rushing yards to grind out the clock, it was Tait Reynolds who provided them. The freshman quarterback had two huge runs on the final offensive possession.
One of those was a 10-yard run on a third-and-long, giving the Tigers a much-needed first down. Two plays later, Reynolds rushed for 13 more, picking up another first down, which in turn allowed the Tigers to kneel on it and sneak out of town with a win.
Reynolds finished 17-of-28 for 161 yards with one interception and added another 61 yards via his legs. 46 of those yards came in the fourth quarter.
Hauser Keeps Delivering
As big as the defensive effort was, Nolan Hauser’s leg once again came up clutch. The junior hit four field goals, including one from 54 yards, to help pick up the offense. His 27 made field goals are now tied with Greg Huegel for the single-season record in Clemson history. At this pace, just give him the Lou Groza Award now.
Everything Is Hard
With so many starters out on the offensive side of the ball, it’s not surprising that the unit struggled for much of the day. Absolutely nothing is easy on that side of the ball, and that has been the case pretty much all season. And it goes beyond starting a true freshman at quarterback.
The red zone issues were front and center in this one, as Clemson was inside the 20-yard line three times, all in the first half, and could not punch one in. It just feels like, more often than not, things get real conservative down there.
Having four underclassmen starting along the offensive line definitely hurts, as do the drops from the pass catchers.
All Clemson needed was one scoring drive in the fourth quarter. Or even a drive that could drain some clock. What happened was a three-and-out after the Hampton interception. Then after the Syracuse touchdown, the offense got a big third-down run from Reynolds, converting for just the fourth time all game.
The Tigers’ makeshift offensive line allowed three sacks, but none in the second half.
It is worth noting that 69 of Clemson’s 162 rushing yards came in the final quarter. The team averaged 4.9 yards per carry over the final 15 minutes.
Wesco Delivers
Despite fumbling a punt in the first half, Bryant Wesco put together a pretty solid game. The junior wideout finished with six catches for 100 yards, while also rushing once for four yards. Wesco also got to show off his arm, delivering a 36-yard strike to T.J. Moore in the first half. He would finish the game with 140 yards of total offense. He even drew a couple of pass-interference penalties.
Green’s First Start
Jarvis Green took his first carry of the game and scampered 53 yards. He had two more carries on the drive and did not get another one until after halftime. He finished with nine carries for 85 yards. Would have liked to have seen him get a few more opportunities in the first half.
– Photo courtesy of Dawson Powers/Clemson Athletics