Tag: North Carolina football

Halftime Report: Clemson leads North Carolina 14-7 after a last-second Klubnik touchdown

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers lead No.22 North Carolina after a strong first half.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers are in a battle with the Tar Heels as Clemson leads North Carolina 14-7 at the half.

Clemson’s score came on a 14-play, 80-yard drive where the offense showed a nice mix of the run game and the pass. A key 4th and 1 conversion on the North Carolina 4-yard line helped set up a Jake Briningstool 3-yard touchdown reception.

The Tigers were down 7-0 before this score, and if it weren’t for an incredible effort play from Nate Wiggins, it would have been 14-0. On a 64-yard Omarion Hampton run, Wiggins made one of the best effort plays you’ll see all season, running the length of the field to strip the ball from Hampton right before he could get into the end zone.

Starting quarterback Cade Klubnik and the Clemson offense were putting together another great drive late in the 2nd quarter before another turnover cost the Tigers. After breaking off an excellent 19-yard run, Will Shipley fumbled two plays later in the red zone.

After a nice defensive stop, the Tigers got another opportunity to march downfield and score, which they did. Leading the team 11 plays for 57 yards, Klubnik called his own number, reaching out for the end zone and scoring on a 3-yard rush.

Clemson’s defense has allowed 254 yards in the half but stepped up after a slow start to make some big plays. It hasn’t been a perfect day from the unit, but they’ve looked good, considering how high-powered the Tar Heel offense is.

The offense has been solid, but has to put more points on the board for the Tigers to win this game. It should be a highly competitive second half in Death Valley.

ESPN’s College GameDay crew make their picks for Clemson vs. North Carolina

ESPN’s College GameDay analysts have made their picks for Clemson vs. North Carolina.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers have a huge matchup today as No.22 North Carolina traveled to Death Valley to face Clemson. 

Before the game, ESPN’s College GameDay crew and guest picker Eric Sollenberger (PFT Commenter), made their picks for the highly anticipated ACC matchup. It is three to two this time, with three choosing the Tar Heels and two choosing Clemson. 

Desmond Howard: North Carolina

Pat McAfee: North Carolina 

PFT Commentator: Clemson

Lee Corso: Clemson

Kirk Herbstreit: North Carolina

Clemson’s matchup today against North Carolina kicks off at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN. The Tigers head into the matchup as just over touchdown favorites.

Our staff score predictions for Clemson vs. North Carolina

Our staff score predictions for Clemson’s home Week 12 matchup against North Carolina.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers have been on a nice run of late, with their latest win coming in dominant fashion as Clemson took down Georgia Tech 42-21 in front of their home crowd in Death Valley.

It was a decisive win for the Tigers, and they will look to continue to build off that moment in Week 12 as No.22 North Carolina travels to Clemson to face off with the Tigers in Clemson Memorial Stadium. UNC starting quarterback Drake Maye is one of the best in college football, so the Tigers’ defense will need to perform at a high level while the offense will have to continue to show improvement. 

The last time these two programs faced off was in the 2022 ACC Championship, where the Tigers brutalized the Tar Heels 39-10 as Cade Klubnik introduced himself to the college football world. Should we expect the same this time around? 

As we do every week, the staff gathered and made score predictions for Saturday’s matchup against North Carolina. Here is a look at what we are thinking heading into the Week 12 matchup.

Clemson’s Defensive X-Factor for Week 12 vs. North Carolina

Clemson will need a strong pass rush to slow down North Carolina’s star quarterback, Drake Maye.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers look to continue their strong run Saturday as the No.22 North Carolina Tar Heels travel to Death Valley for a 2022 ACC Championship game rematch. 

For this Clemson team to be successful against the Tar Heels, they’ll have to shut down North Carolina’s high-powered offense led by star quarterback Drake Maye. As one of the best quarterbacks in college football and a projected top-10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Maye is a player who can take over a game and pick apart a defense. 

If Clemson wants to slow Maye down, their pass rush must perform at a high level. That leads us to our Defensive X-Factor for the matchup, freshman edge rusher T.J. Parker. Parker has slowed down a bit after an incredible start to this season, as offensive lines have been forced to pay him more attention. 

Parker hasn’t recorded a sack in four weeks, and there is no better time for the young defensive end to record a big one than against one of the game’s best. Watch out for Parker this Saturday; he will be key to the Tigers’ success. 

Clemson’s Offensive X-Factor for Week 12 vs. North Carolina

He showed everyone what he could do in the ACC Championship against the Tar Heels last season.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers have another huge matchup on Saturday as the No.22 North Carolina Tar Heels travel to Death Valley for a rematch of the 2022 ACC Championship game. 

As many of you likely remember, the Tigers took down the Tar Heels 39-10 to win the ACC Championship, with a certain freshman under center breaking out and showing the world what he can do when given the opportunity. Replacing former Starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei early in the game, now-starting quarterback Cade Klubnik stepped in and put forth an MVP performance. 

In the matchup, Klubnik completed 20-24 passes for 279 yards and one touchdown, adding 30 yards and a touchdown on the ground. It was the best the Clemson offense had looked in all of 2022. It excited Tigers’ fans for what would end up being a rather disappointing 2023 season for the Tigers.

Now facing the Tar Heels once again, Clemson needs Klubnik to keep the offensive momentum the Tigers have built over the last couple of weeks to take down a tough but beatable North Carolina team. Klubnik is our offensive X-Factor for this matchup, as he needs to perform at a high level to keep up with the Tar Heels’ high-powered offense. 

North Carolina is in trouble if Klubnik plays like he did in the ACC Championship last season.

ESPN analyst Aaron Murray gives prediction for Clemson vs. North Carolina

Aaron Murray shares a prediction for Clemson vs. UNC as the Tigers look to continue their strong run.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers have a huge matchup Saturday against No.22 North Carolina, with Clemson looking to continue their strong run with the 2023 regular season winding down.

During a video on his YouTube Channel Snaps, ESPN analyst Aaron Murray shared Week 12 predictions, including Clemson’s matchup with No.22 North Carolina. The Tigers are on a strong run, and Murray believes that will continue.

“I like them. It’s at home; it’s going to be a great crowd; they got the juices going since Tyler (from Spartanburg) called,” Murray said

“Cade’s playing better, too, Klubnik. It seems like he’s starting to grasp the offense a little bit more… I think Cade is playing good enough,” Murray said. “It’s in Clemson, and I’ve said it a few times this year I feel like, but Drake has just had some just iffy moments for the season where he’s just not been the same guy he was last year. Not saying he’s bad, not saying that he’s not going to be a top-five, top-10 pick in the NFL Draft, but just has not been the same.”

Clemson heads into this matchup as the betting favorite, and home-field advantage is massive for a program like this. Even with that, Murray simply believes Clemson is the better team.

“I think Clemson’s just better,” he said. “And for UNC, when we were praising their defense to start the season of how good the defense was – defense has kind of dropped off a little bit as of late as well. So, I think Clemson can kind of move the ball on them up and down the field at home.”

We’ll see who is truly the better team on Saturday.

Clemson vs. North Carolina TV channel announced

The TV channel for Clemson’s matchup against North Carolina has been announced.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers are coming off a strong 42-21 win over Georgia Tech and have an even tougher challenge in Week 12 as the Tigers face Drake Maye and North Carolina. 

If Clemson can take down the Tar Heels, it will further build momentum for a program that needs it. What we’ve seen from the Tigers over the last two weeks has been great, but this team needs to continue trending in the right direction.

The Atlantic Coast Conference and its television partners confirmed today that Clemson’s game against North Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 18 will air on ESPN.

Kickoff remains set for 3:30 p.m. ET, as previously announced.

UNC football defensive keys to the game vs Campbell

Taking a look at the defensive keys to the game for the UNC football program against Campbell University.

The North Carolina football program is looking to end its two-game losing streak with a win against Campbell University this weekend.

It’s been a rough few weeks for UNC after dropping back-to-back games against Virginia and Georgia Tech. Both games they were heavily favored in, had nightmare endings, resulting in a drop in the Associated Press Poll.

Once again, UNC is favored to win, and despite the lopsided rosters between the two, UNC will need to do a few things to secure a win. On the offensive side, UNC should dominate with Campbell, who just allowed Richmond to score 44 points.

The only way the Tar Heels can find themselves losing is if the defense fails to make stops. The Camels have shown the ability to score, and if UNC plays it safe, then that could be the case on Saturday.

We know the offensive keys for Saturday’s matchup, lets take a look at the defensive keys.

5 games to watch during the Oklahoma Sooners bye week

The Oklahoma Sooners are on a bye this week, but there are several big time matchups in week 7. Here are five to watch.

It’s a bye week for the 6-0 Oklahoma Sooners. The first-place, undefeated, and Red River Rivalry winner Oklahoma Sooners get a Saturday to rest.

They bye week falling smack-dab in the middle of the season and coming right after your biggest game of the season is pretty perfect. The Sooners get an opportunity to rest and recuperate for the second half of the season. It’s time to get guys healthy in order to get back to the Big 12 title game and possibly more.

While the Sooners are off, there are some big-time college football matchups to take in as neutral observers and one game in which Sooners fans will be incredibly interested in.

Here are five games to watch this week during Oklahoma’s bye week.

Drake Maye vaults atop ACC QBR standings after standout Syracuse game

After a near-perfect game against Syracuse, top prospect Drake Maye is finally atop the ACC QBR standings.

North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye has been advertised as an NFL team’s saving grace since his first few weeks as the Tar Heels’ starter.

Through the first few games of the 2023 season, he remained as billed, even throwing a touchdown with his left hand against Pittsburgh. Now, the ESPN QBR standings in his conference have caught up with the eye test.

Maye walked the Syracuse defense up and down the field on Saturday, throwing for 442 yards against a defense that previously had allowed more than 265 yards through the air just once in five games. The sophomore strung together two separate streaks of at least six completions in a row, and he connected on five passes of 20 yards or more. The performance was enough for a QBR of 85.4, Maye’s third-highest of the season.

Here’s how the conference’s signal-callers stack up in ESPN’s eyes.

Name Team QBR Last Week (Rank)
Drake Maye North Carolina Tar Heels 85.8 86.0 (3rd)
Tyler Van Dyke Miami Hurricanes 84.5 92.0 (1st)
Jordan Travis Florida State Seminoles 84.3 86.0 (2nd)
Anthony Colandrea Virginia Cavaliers 73.3 72.4 (6th)
Riley Leonard Duke Blue Devils 72.8 72.9 (5th)
Garrett Shrader Syracuse Orange 72.5 75.6 (4th)
Jack Plummer Louisville Cardinals 66.8 65.2 (8th)
Haynes King Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 65.9 66.2 (7th)
Cade Klubnik Clemson Tigers 60.4 58.8 (10th)
Kyron Drones Virginia Tech Hokies 59.7 63.9 (9th)
Thomas Castellanos Boston College Eagles 56.8 51.9 (11th)
Brennan Armstrong NC State Wolfpack 42.5 41.0 (12th)
Phil Jurkovec Pittsburgh Panthers 38.1 37.5 (13th)
Mitch Griffis Wake Forest Demon Deacons 37.3 30.7 (14th)