Sixth-ranked Clemson barely hung onto a 14-8 win that was delayed by weather for nearly two hours at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Here’s a look back at how the Tigers came out on top in their conference opener.
What happened?
It took over five hours, but Clemson came away with its second win of the season and first in conference play. Just barely.
Georgia Tech had Clemson on the ropes for most of the evening. In fact, the Yellow Jackets had a chance at tying the game. And yet, the Tigers prevailed.
They bent until they couldn’t bend anymore, but with the game on the line, by mere instincts, James Skalski snuffed out a shovel pass that was caught by Georgia Tech tight end, Dylan Deveney, and made the stop.
And yet, the game still wasn’t over. After taking a Delay of Game penalty, Clemson elected to line up out of the shotgun from their own endzone. Will Shipley was four yards deep and fumbled the football in his own endzone. Somehow, someway Shipley recovered the football, for a subsequent safety.
Clemson was lucky to walk out of Memorial Stadium with a win.
After an emotional defensive stand, the Tigers could have had Uiagalelei fall forward and the game would’ve been over. Instead, the Tigers made it much harder than it needed to be, as they did most of Saturday night.
While the offense, again, struggled for most of the night. It was the defense that rose to the occasion, hanging onto Saturday’s win for dear life.
What went wrong?
Just about everything that could go wrong on the offensive end of the football, went wrong for Clemson.
D.J. Uiagalelei was largely ineffective yet again, as far as the passing game is concerned at least. As ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky mentioned on the broadcast of Saturday’s game, the gunslinger trusted his arm a little too much. His footwork, especially the planting of his backfoot, seemed to be the root of a lot of his missed throws.
There were times were Uiagalelei put a little too much zip on the ball. There were instances that he wasn’t on the same page as his receivers.
Clemson was able to run the football at will when the Tigers committed to the run, but they didn’t fully buy into the running game until late in the second half.
Uiagalelei completed 18 of 25 passes for just 126 yards while adding 46 yards on the ground. Clemson ran the ball 41 times for 158 yards on the night.
Game-changing moment
The biggest play of the game is likely Clemson’s biggest play of the season to date. On Third and 14 from Georgia Tech’s 29-yard line, Clemson had its backs against the wall.
Uiagalelei, who never looked quite comfortable during Saturday’s contest, surveyed the field. Instead of testing Georgia Tech with his arm, he dared the Yellow Jackets to bring him down. By the looks of the play call, a quarterback power may not have been what Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott had in mind, for what was the game’s deciding play.
But, it worked.
Uiagalelei powered forward for 14 yards, picking up a first down and keeping Clemson’s hopes at making the contest a two-possession game.
The Tigers would score what would be the game-winning touchdown, four plays later.
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