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Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney liked most of what he saw from his Tigers Saturday night in Death Valley, but still saw room for improvement. Coach Swinney took time to callout Lyn-J Dixon and praised some of the Tigers’ freshmen.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney liked most of what he saw from his Tigers Saturday night in Death Valley, but still saw room for improvement.
Coach Swinney took time to callout Lyn-J Dixon and praised some of the Tigers’ freshmen.
Clemson, S.C. – The Tigers were back in Death Valley for the season opener and so were the Clemson fans. Check out some great pictures from the Tigers’ 49-3 win over South Carolina State in Bart Boatwright’s Photo Gallery.
Clemson, S.C. — The Tigers were back in Death Valley for the season opener and so were the Clemson fans.
Check out some great pictures from the Tigers’ 49-3 win over South Carolina State in Bart Boatwright’s Photo Gallery.
Sixth-ranked Clemson did what it was supposed to do during the team’s 49-3 win over South Carolina State at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. Here’s a look back at how the Tigers came out on top in their home opener. What happened? Clemson more than …
Sixth-ranked Clemson did what it was supposed to do during the team’s 49-3 win over South Carolina State at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Here’s a look back at how the Tigers came out on top in their home opener.
What happened?
Clemson more than emptied its depth chart during the team’s first win of the season.
Taisun Phommachanh, Hunter Helms and Will Taylor took most of the team’s snaps under center for the majority of the second half.
The Tigers entered the halftime locker room with a 32-point lead, but the game was already over, much before then.
Offensive coordinator Tony Elliott went back to the basics — running the ball — something Clemson failed to do effectively in its loss to Georgia. The Tigers rushed for 177 yards in the first half alone. The team’s rushing attack, led by Will Shipley and Kobe Pace, accounted for 235 of the team’s 504 total yards.
Besides that, Clemson was able to pick up where it left off from a defensive standpoint. The team’s defense held S.C. State to just 235 yards on the night, even if the Bulldogs did hold the cards when it came to the time of possession.
Clemson’s first sack didn’t come until around 55 minutes into Saturday evening’s contest. Freshman linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. got into the backfield for the first sack of his young career. Trotter was second on the team with four total tackles.
And yet, it didn’t matter.
The Tigers dominated the Bulldogs in every aspect of the game, as expected.
What went wrong?
D.J. Uiagalelei didn’t have quite the bounce-back performance that Clemson would’ve hoped for.
The sophomore quarterback completed 15 of 26 passes for 186 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Uiagalelei never looked quite right, often making throws flatfooted, leading to errant passes, an interception and some missed opportunities in the red zone.
Clemson’s first-team offense was by no means “stifled” during Saturday’s 49-3 win, but most of the team’s offensive success didn’t come at the expense of QB1.
Game-changing moment
There was no critical turning point in Saturday’s action. The game was over before it started.
Clemson scored the only touchdown it would need on Uiagalelei’s quarterback keeper to make the score 7-0 with 11 minutes and 38 seconds remaining in the first quarter. From there, the Tigers would tack on 42 more points, while holding the Bulldogs to a mere 27-yard field goal just before halftime.
S.C. State had its chances to find the end zone, but it wouldn’t have mattered. By the end of the first quarter, the scoreboard read: 28-0; and that was that.
Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!
Clemson jumped out to a 35-3 halftime lead over South Carolina State in its return to a full-capacity Memorial Stadium in Clemson. The sixth-ranked Tigers responded with plenty of offense with 315 total yards including 177 yards on the ground after …
Clemson jumped out to a 35-3 halftime lead over South Carolina State in its return to a full-capacity Memorial Stadium in Clemson.
The sixth-ranked Tigers responded with plenty of offense with 315 total yards including 177 yards on the ground after a defensive slugfest in the season opener against Georgia last week.
On the first play from scrimmage, Lyn-J Dixon was able to surpass Clemson’s two-yard rushing total from the week prior with a 16-yard carry.
Dixon returned to action after head coach Dabo Swinney held him out for the first half of Clemson’s season opener for a violation of team rules.
The elder statesman of the Tigers’ running backs got the start out of the backfield on Saturday but split time with Kobe Pace, Will Shipley, Darien Rencher and Michel Dukes in the first half.
The Tigers got back to the basics in the first half. In the first quarter alone, Clemson rushed for 121 yards on 15 carries with three rushing touchdowns. At halftime, Clemson averaged 8.4 yards per carry.
As far as the defense was concerned, Clemson’s unit rose to the occasion for the second week in a row.
Clemson held S.C. State to 123 yards of offense. The Bulldogs were no match for Clemson’s starting defense, which played the bulk of the first half.
After jumping out to a 28-0 lead, things started to slow down for the Tigers.
D.J. Uiagalelei made an errant throw that was nearly intercepted with the team backed up in its own territory.
On the ensuing drive, reserve sophomore linebacker R.J. Mickens intercepted SC State quarterback Corey Fields. Clemson had a short field with the end zone in sight, only for Uiaglelei to be intercepted on an overthrown screen pass, intended for Rencher, the super senior running back.
Uiagalelei looked shaky at times, made some errant throws, including missing Justyn Ross multiple times in the end zone for should-be touchdowns.
He did make up for it by converting with Ross for an 11-yard touchdown.
All in all, Uiagalelei completed 11 of 21 passes for 138 yards with a touchdown and interception. He also had 16 rushing yards on three carries and two scores, both of them coming when he called his own number in the red zone.
Uiagalelei wasn’t the only quarterback to receive some carries. As a wildcat quarterback, true freshman Will Taylor had 14 yards on two carries. Though, the Dutch Fork product’s most explosive play came on special teams on a 51-yard punt return.
It wasn’t perfect. There were two miscues — Uiagalelei’s interception and Dukes’ fumble — still, the Tigers showed what they needed to and headed into the locker room with a 32-point lead.
B.T. Potter was just short of a 58-yard field goal as time expired on the first half.
Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!
Levon Kirkland and myself talk about the ratings from last week’s Clemson-Georgia game and college football in general. We explain why college football has been the nation’s second best sport for several decades. We also discuss Justyn Ross and what …
Levon Kirkland and myself talk about the ratings from last week’s Clemson-Georgia game and college football in general.
We explain why college football has been the nation’s second best sport for several decades. We also discuss Justyn Ross and what they expect from the Tigers’ star receiver going forward.
How good is Clemson’s D-Line, even without defensive tackle Tyler Davis? Thomas Grant, Jr., from the Lexington Chronicle and the Orangeburg Times and Democrat, joins the podcast to tell us who are some of the players to watch at S.C. State and what we should expect from the Bulldogs.
