The good, the bad and the ugly from Clemson’s escape of Syracuse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — No. 25 Clemson was involved in yet another white-knuckler Friday inside the Carrier Dome. And again, the Tigers found a way to prevail against Syracuse, keeping themselves in ACC contention for another week. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from Clemson’s 17-14 win.

The good

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney didn’t hesitate to call Friday’s performance D.J. Uiagalelei’s best of the season. It’s one man’s opinion, but the Tigers’ quarterback made improvement on the inaccuracy that’s plagued him throughout the season.

Uiagalelei finished 21 of 34 passing for a 62% completion rate, his highest since going 18 of 25 against Georgia Tech back in Week 3. It’s the most passes Uiagalelei has completed in a game this season. There were still a couple of misses, but it wasn’t nearly as often, particularly on the intermediate throws. There was a 19-yard connection with Joseph Ngata for a touchdown. There was a 15-yarder to Justyn Ross over the middle to set up Clemson’s second score and a well-placed 23-yarder to Beaux Collins between a corner and a safety.

All of those completions totaled just 181 yards, but Uiagalelei was on the mark with most of his throws down the field. Those misses were more of a lack of help he got from his receivers.

Meanwhile, Kobe Pace had another productive night with the chances he got on the ground. The sophomore running back was Clemson’s leading rusher with 76 yards on just 14 carries. He’s averaging 6.2 yards a pop over the last two games.

Davis Allen could be emerging as a safety valve for Uiagalelei. His eight catches were a career-high and the most for a Clemson tight end since 2012. B.T. Potter connected on a 40-yard field goal, his only attempt of the night, that ultimately made the difference in the three-point win and improved to 6 of 7 on field goals this season. And the offense stayed away from turnovers for the second straight game, helping Clemson win the turnover margin again. 

The bad

For the fourth time this season, Clemson started a different combination along the offensive line. And once again, the unit’s performance was very much a mixed bag.

Will Putnam returned at right guard after missing the Boston College game with a toe injury, but Mason Trotter got his first career start at center with Hunter Rayburn out because of COVID-19 protocols. Matt Bockhorst was back at the left guard spot he played most of last season, but he also played some right guard with Marcus Tate getting some reps back on the left side.

Clemson rotated other linemen in and out, too. There were more whiffs on blocks that allowed Syracuse to blow some plays up in the backfield, and the pass protection was spotty. The Orange technically only recorded two sacks, but they could’ve easily had a handful had Uiagalelei not been able to shake off some would-be tacklers in the pocket.

And the consistency that showed up in the running game against Boston College the last time out (231 rushing yards) was nowhere to be found Friday. Outside of Pace, Clemson generated just 40 yards on the ground. The Tigers averaged just 3.1 yards per carry.

Meanwhile, Clemson’s defense gave up more big plays than usual. Syracuse had runs of 54 and 39 yards as well as Garrett Shrader’s 62-yard touchdown pass to Trebor Pena in the fourth quarter that quickly trimmed the Tigers’ lead to one score. Clemson held Syracuse to 27 rushing yards in the second half, but it looked like some of the injuries — defensive tackles Bryan Bresee and Tyler Davis, in particular — could be catching up to the Tigers on that side of the ball.

Speaking of injuries…

The ugly

They continue to pile up. Receiver E.J. Williams didn’t make the trip after undergoing a knee scope recently, but the surprise omission was Andrew Booth. The Tigers’ starting corner was a late scratch with what Swinney described as a tight hamstring, the kind of injury that’s always tricky given it’s hard to completely heal without shutting things down for a while.

As for the players who were on the field, they continued to plague themselves with more self-inflicted issues. For the offense, it was more blown blocking assignments at times and penalties that often pushed the unit behind the chains. Clemson finished with seven penalties for 60 yards.

One of those was when Tyler Venables was flagged for roughing the passer to help extend a Syracuse drive after an incompletion on third-and-long. A bad snap also killed one of Clemson’s drives in the second half, and drops were an issue as well. Justyn Ross had a couple, including one down the field on Clemson’s second possession with no one around him.

The Tigers’ margin for error is too small to expect them to keep getting away with those kinds of miscues.