It wasn’t pretty — and it took more than five hours of real time — but No. 6 Clemson outlasted Georgia Tech, 14-8, to win its ACC opener Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Here are four sequences that went a long way toward deciding the outcome, a turning point and a telling stat from the Tigers’ narrow escape.
- After scoring on their second possession of the game, the Tigers seemed poised to widen their lead early in the second quarter with one of their more promising drives of the opening half. Clemson converted three third downs and methodically moved 36 yards on 11 plays before D.J. Uiagalelei’s 8-yard completion to Justyn Ross on third-and-long left Clemson facing fourth-and-2 at Tech’s 19-yard line. Clemson decided to go and dialed up a shovel pass to Will Shipley, but Tech snuffed it out to drop Shipley at the line of scrimmage to keep momentum from completely shifting in Clemson’s favor early.
- Tech had just 44 yards of offense and one first down through the first quarter and a half, and it appeared Clemson’s defense was moving toward another quick stop when Jordan Yates’ pass over the middle on second-and-8 was nearly intercepted by freshman safety Andrew Mukuba. But linebacker Trenton Simpson was penalized for targeting at the tail end of the play when he hit Yates in the upper chest/neck region. The call was upheld upon review, which resulted in Simpson’s ejection and set up the Yellow Jackets with a fresh set of downs in Clemson territory. The Yellow Jackets continued to march and — after a lightning delay that suspended the game for 1 hour, 52 minutes — scored their first points on Brent Cimaglia’s 22-yard field goal on what was technically the final play of the second quarter.
- Clemson’s offense made a point to re-establish the line of scrimmage during its second possession of the second half, pounding away at Tech with Shipley and Uiagalelei, who got involved in the running game with a handful of designed power runs. The Tigers used 11 plays to milk nearly 6 minutes off the clock and drive inside Tech’s 25 before calling Uiagalelei’s number again on third-and-1. This time, Uiagelelei fumbled as he tried to reach the ball past the line to gain, which he had already reached. Myles Sims recovered for Tech, thwarting the Tigers’ threat of adding to their lead early in the fourth quarter.
- After answering Clemson’s fourth-quarter touchdown march with a 16-play, 70-yard drive — its longest of the day — with Cimaglia’s 22-yard field goal to draw within eight points, Tech held onto the momentum by recovering on an onside kick with 1:19 left. It set the Yellow Jackets’ offense up near midfield.
Turning point
Needing a touchdown and a two-point conversion in the waning seconds to force overtime, Tech drove inside the 5 and had four plays from the 3 to try to get it done. But Clemson’s defense bowed up, forcing an incompletion on first down and limiting Tech to 2 yards on its next two snaps. James Skalski then delivered the biggest defensive play of the night on fourth down when he sniffed out Yates’ shovel pass to Dylan Deveney near the goal line, stuffing Deveney for no gain and giving the ball back to the offense with 19 seconds left.
Telling stat: 2.7
That’s how many yards Tech averaged per carry. With Clemson’s offense spending most of the day stuck in a funk, the Tigers needed another suffocating performance from their defense. And the group delivered by making the Yellow Jackets one-dimensional. Clemson came in allowing 3.4 yards per carry and was even better against Tech, which certainly tried to run it. The Yellow Jackets ran the ball 38 times, and none of those attempts went for more than 11 yards. Maybe the most representative part of Clemson’s stinginess? Holding Tech to no yards on its final two rushes inside Clemson’s 5 with the Yellow Jackets threatening for a tying touchdown on their final possession.
Football season has finally arrived. Time to represent your Tigers and show your stripes!
