ESPN college football analyst Trevor Matich recently weighed in on fifth-ranked Clemson’s latest victory – a 27-21 thriller against then-No. 14 Syracuse last Saturday at Death Valley.
“The beauty of ugly. That’s how Clemson beat Syracuse,” Matich said on ESPN’s Championship Drive show. “It was like something was going on, hairless cats – that you’re kind of hard to look at for a while, but then in the end, they win the prize.”
“The longest home winning streak in ACC history, now it’s Dabo Swinney and Clemson,” Matich added.
As he mentioned, it was Clemson’s 38th consecutive home win, giving the Tigers sole possession of the longest home winning streak in ACC history.
The Tigers overcame four turnovers against the Orange, including three by quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, one of which resulted in a touchdown for Syracuse.
“The first half of this game, Clemson moved the ball, they did some good things,” Matich said. “But then they made monumental mental errors that led to physical mistakes, and that return for a touchdown on the fumble was one of those things that was like that.”
Cade Klubnik sparked Clemson’s offense late in the third quarter, leading touchdowns on back-to-back drives and a two-point conversion while finishing 2-of-4 passing for 19 yards. The Tigers rushed a season-high 60 times for a season-high 293 yards.
Matich spoke about the differences he saw in Clemson’s offense with Klubnik at the helm after he replaced Uiagalelei with around five minutes left in the third quarter following Uiagalelei’s second interception of the game.
“Clemson stayed with it. They ran 69 plays in the first three quarters. So when Cade Klubnik came in… didn’t make big mistakes,” Matich said. “And by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, Clemson had an explosion of offense, mostly on the ground. Klubnik only had two completions, one was a sweet completion – he showed a lot of poise on that two-point conversion.
“But when it came down to winning the game, the difference in the offense when Klubnik came in, the Clemson offense seemed to me to be a bit more light on its feet, they seemed to operate a little more efficiently, a little more effectively. It was mostly with the ground game, but the guys looked different with Klubnik. Having said that, this is still DJ’s team.”
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