CLEMSON — Something interesting happened in Clemson’s 20-6 loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday.

After Tait Reynolds left on the opening series with a knee injury, the entire complexion of the game changed for Clemson. To be clear, I am not saying that the end result would have been different had he not gotten hurt, but it was hard not to notice the change in body language once he went down.

Even linebacker Sammy Brown acknowledged it affected the entire team.

“You can’t let stuff like that affect us, but I feel like it did a little bit,” the veteran said. “I feel like some guys tried to press, but at the end of the day, when something like that happens, you just got to reset, refocus, and you’ve got to do your job.”

Reynolds ran for 24 yards on the second play from scrimmage. He scrambled for seven more on the next play, which is when he popped up grabbing at his left knee. In an instant, things were different.

The offense wasn’t able to produce much of anything against one of the worst run defenses in the country. The defense got gashed on the ground. Things really started coming off the rails against a Yellow Jackets team that had lost four straight coming in and had not won a road game all season long.

The way this thing played out, some are questioning if this team is still fully bought in. Or whether there is any fight left. There was one play late in the game that could easily make some wonder.

With less than two minutes remaining, and the game for all intents and purposes already over, Christopher Vizzina took off scrambling out of the pocket. While he was running towards the sideline, a Georgia Tech defender absolutely drilled him and sent the quarterback flying towards the Clemson bench.

While it was certainly a clean hit because Vizzina was a runner, it was also a devastating one that sent the quarterback to the hospital following the game.

“They had to take him to the hospital from the locker room, so man, prayers with him,” Dabo Swinney said.

“They just felt like he had some things they needed to check out, so they put him on the thing that kind of keeps you from moving, to go assess him and make sure that everything’s OK. So, I don’t know.”

What was so interesting about it was the reaction from the Clemson players who were standing right there where the hit happened. Not a single one seemed to come to Vizzina’s defense. Usually, when a quarterback is on the receiving end of that kind of hit, there is at the very least a little chirping, and sometimes even some shoving. This time? Nothing.

Again, it was a clean hit, and no one is saying a brawl should have been started in response. But none at all? That’s a little hard to fathom, seeing as Vizzina went out and gave it his all despite the fact that he was already dealing with an injury of his own. We’re talking about a guy who has not practiced for the past two weeks after having his ankle stepped on in practice the Monday following the Florida State game. He was basically playing on one leg.

Vizzina showed a lot of toughness in going out and playing in this game in his condition. Maybe some of his teammates could have shown a little more in response to that hit.