Welcome to the Senior Day edition of What We Are Hearing!
It’s hard to believe we’ve already reached the final home
game of the season. By Clemson standards, the season ended weeks ago for all
intents and purposes. The Tigers lost any hope of repeating as ACC champs, and
the historic 12-year streak of 10 or more wins went by the wayside. 2024 cannot
get here soon enough. This will always be a season of what could have been.
What if the Tigers were just average in fumbles instead of dead last?
What if they played Pitt, Virginia or VA Tech in the opener instead of at Duke?
What if Weitz made that 29-yard field goal to beat No.3 FSU? This team was
talented enough to win a national championship, and it's been a bizarre and
frustrating season. However, the team never gave up or phoned it in, and
Clemson fans can take solace in seeing them finally show what they are capable
of over the last couple weeks with a big win over Notre Dame and a blowout of a
Tech team that was playing great offense this season with a couple big road
wins. We saw confirmation that the future is as bright as ever for the Tigers,
with several freshmen starting and making huge plays last week, including 4
interceptions, a couple tackles-for-loss and 2 touchdowns. Not to mention that
there are several talented freshmen waiting in the wings that we haven’t even
seen yet, and two of the Tigers’ best three receivers—Cole Turner and Antonio
Williams—have been out all season! The 2015 BYOG win over Notre Dame was the
beginning of a historic and unprecedented 6-year playoff run by the Tigers. The
next time the Irish came to Death Valley was a couple weeks ago, and perhaps
that win will be another spring board for the Tigers. If they can finish the
season on a 5-game win streak that includes top-20 wins over Notre Dame and
UNC, a revenge win at South Carolina and a bowl win, the Tigers will carry a
lot of momentum into next season! Dabo said after the Notre Dame win that if
Clemson is a stock, then you better buy all you can get right now, and I
believe him. The Tigers will look to keep the momentum going on Saturday as the
seniors say goodbye to Death Valley in a rematch of last season’s ACC
Championship! In case you missed it, here’s what Mack Brown said about Clemson
this week:
Mack had an early influence on Dabo, helping the young head
coach shortly after he took over the position at Clemson, and the two have become
close friends with genuine mutual respect. Interestingly enough, Dabo and Mack Brown are two of the only four head coaches in history to win 10 or more games for at least 9 straight years. The Tigers' streak, of course, ended this season at 12 years, which is the third-longest streak, and Mack Brown did it 9 straight years with Texas for the fourth-longest streak. The first meeting between the Hall
of Famer and future Hall of Famer was a thriller that came down to a 2-point
conversion attempt in Chapel, keeping the Tigers’ nation-leading win streak
alive. Last season’s meeting in Charlotte was a blowout by the Tigers, but this
one could very well come down to the last play again. On to the matchup…
MISCELLANEOUS
Clemson leads the all-time series with UNC 39-19-1 and has
won 5 straight…A win Saturday would make UNC the 6th program against which
Clemson has won at least 40 games…Clemson is 9-3 all-time against Mack Brown…Dabo
is 36-5 against teams from the state of North Carolina…A win Saturday would be
the Tigers’ 6th home win of the season, extending their streak of at least 6 home
wins to 13 years, the longest active streak in the nation. The second-longest
is Coastal Carolina with 3…Clemson is 29-12 against AP top 25 teams in the playoff
era. A win Saturday would make Clemson the 4th program with 30 such wins in the
playoff era (Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia)…Clemson is 14-3 against AP top 25
teams at home since 2011…With the Notre Dame win, Clemson has beaten at least
one AP top 25 team at home for 9 straight years, the longest active streak in
the nation…A win Saturday would be the 8th time Clemson has had multiple home
wins over AP ranked teams in a season…Dabo has 38 wins over AP top 25 teams,
second-most of any coach behind Saban since 2009…Clemson is 92-12 since 2015
with 10 losses of 10 points or less…Clemson is currently tied with Alabama for
the best home record in the playoff era at 64-3…Clemson has rushed for a
touchdown in 52 straight home games, the nation’s longest active streak.
Clemson has rushed for at least one touchdown in 76 out of 79 games since 2018
with multiple rushing touchdowns in 63 of those games, also the most in the
nation over that span…Clemson has won the turnover margin in each of the last
two games. The Tigers have not won the margin in three straight games since a
four-game span in 2020…The Clemson defense has 4 pick-sixes this season, tied
for the program record set in 1990…Safety Khalil Barnes is the first freshman
under Dabo with multiple interceptions and multiple forced fumbles…Briningstool
needs 3 catches to be the first Clemson tight end with 40 catches since Jordan
Leggett’s 46 in 2016. One more TD would make Briningstool the 7th tight end in
Clemson history with 10 career touchdowns…Tyler Davis will be the first
defensive player in Clemson history to start 50 games. The only other Clemson
players to start 50 or more games are Will Spiers, Mitch Hyatt, BT Potter and
Chandler Catanzaro…Cade Klubnik is 2 TD passes shy of Steve Fuller for 13th on
the Clemson all-time career pass TD list…Clemson and Florida are the only Power
Five teams with 2 running backs that have rushed for at least 575 yards…TJ Parker
needs 3 sacks to tie the Clemson freshman record held by Michael Dean Perry,
Chester McGlockton and Dexter Lawrence, all NFL greats. Parker would join
Lawrence as the only true freshmen to accomplish the feat…Jalyn Phillips can
become the 7th player in Clemson history to play in 60 career games…Will Putnam
is one of six Clemson players to play 3,000 career snaps. He has the third-most
snaps behind Mitch Hyatt and Dalton Freeman…Will Shipley needs to rushing
touchdowns to tie his position coach, CJ Spiller for 6th on the all-time
Clemson list. 3 would tie him with Andre Ellington for 5th…Shipley needs one
more 100-yard rushing game to become the 11th Clemson player with at least 10
such games in his career…Trotter and Wiggins each have 2 career pick-sixes. One
more by either would tie the Clemson record set by Arrington Nunn…If the Tigers
win their last 3 games, the seniors will be the 10th straight class at Clemson
to win at least 40 games in their career. This senior class has won 30 games
against Power Five opponents, the fourth-most in the nation, with 8 wins over
AP top 25 teams…Clemson is one behind Alabama for the most Power Five wins
since 2013. Ohio State has 4 fewer, and Georgia has 11 fewer…Dabo won 161 of
his first 200 games coached, ranking him tied for 5th all-time with Bob Stoops
and Robert Neyland, one win shy of Penn State legend Joe Paterno and Nebraska
legend Tom Osborne. Urban Meyer had the most at 170…Dabo’s win percentage is
.795, just behind Nick Saban’s .804, for 14th all-time. Dabo has the best ACC win
percentage (min. 3 seasons) in history at .816, just ahead of Bobby Bowden’s
.813…
UNC SYNOPSIS
The Heels come in with an 8-2 record and ranked No.20 in the CFP rankings. They opened the season with a blowout win over the Gamecocks in
Charlotte and survived a 40-34, double-overtime scare against App State, but
they had back-to-back baffling losses at the end of October: 31-27 at home to
Tony Elliott’s UVA team and 46-42 at Georgia Tech. They are coming off an
emotional double-overtime win over their arch-rival, Duke, last week after
trailing by 3 with 42 seconds left.
It’s not the first time Drake Maye has engineered a comeback
win in the final minute or two of a game. He’s like a point guard playing
football and might be the No.1 overall pick in the next NFL Draft. If it’s a
one-score game, you better run the clock out and not give the ball back to him
with any time because he thrives in those moments. The Tigers blew out Maye
and the Heels 39-10 in Charlotte last season for the ACC Championship, but Maye
was still 26-42 passing for 262 yards, and he ran for their only touchdown. The
Heels had nearly 400 yards of offense, but the Tigers did a great job in the
red zone and picked Maye off twice, including a pick-six by Nate Wiggins. Cade
Klubnik came off the bench as a true freshman and had an MVP performance, going
20-24 for 279 yards with a pass TD, rush TD and no interceptions. It’s been a
rocky road for Cade since then with ups and downs, catastrophic turnovers and
freshman-like mistakes, but he’s also played at an elite level at times, and
this season of growing pains will pay huge dividends next season and beyond as
he grows into a superstar. Incidentally, true freshman Cole Turner had a coming
out party in that UNC game with 3 catches for 101 yards, but the Tigers have
been without his services the entire season.
Drake Maye, meanwhile, is having another stellar season,
completing 66 percent of his passes for 3,145 yards and 21 touchdowns with 6
interceptions. He also has rushed for 276 yards, down from his 698 last season,
but he has 8 rush TD’s this season compared to 7 last season. The Gamecocks
were unable to sack Maye in the opener, but he’s been sacked at least twice in
every game since, including 5 apiece by Pitt and Miami.
Maye didn’t have his best receiver, Tez Walker, to pass to
until October 7 against Syracuse. One of the big storylines early in the season
was that the NCAA did not grant his waiver of the transfer rule earlier,
holding him out of their first 4 games. After 6 catches in a blowout win over
Syracuse, the Kent State transfer had his Power Five coming out party in his
second game with 3 touchdowns in their 41-31 win over Miami. He had 6 catches
for 132 yards in that game and 2 carries for 19 yards. Walker had 11 more
catches for 146 yards and a touchdown the following week in their stunning
4-point loss to UVA, and his only 2 catches against Campbell a couple weeks ago
went for touchdowns, giving him 6 on the season. Surprisingly, he did not score
last week against Duke, but he did have 7 catches for 162 yards. The 6’3,
200-pound junior from Charlotte is an absolute difference maker, averaging 17
yards per catch, and he will be a real challenge for the Tigers’ secondary to
lock down.
Although Walker now leads the team in receptions, yards and
touchdown catches, he’s not the Heels’ only weapon in the passing game. 6’2,
210-pound junior JJ Jones (#5) from Myrtle Beach has 33 catches, averaging 16.2
yards per, with a touchdown. 5’9, 185-pound junior Nate McCollum (#6) from
Atlanta has 36 catches and a touchdown. 6’5, 190-pound sophomore Kobe Paysour
(#8) only has 22 catches but has scored 3 times. The Heels have a couple other
receivers with touchdowns, and their two tight ends have combined for 8 scores.
6’5, 235-pound junior Bryson Nesbitt (#18) from Charlotte has 36 catches for
508 yards and 5 touchdowns. 6’3, 240-pound junior John Copenhaver (#81) from
Roswell has 11 catches for 197 yards and 3 scores.
In the backfield, sophomore Omarion Hampton (#28) leads the
rushing attack at 6’0 and 220 pounds. He’s averaged 6 yards per carry for 1,236
yards and 13 touchdowns this season. 5’11, 225-pound senior British Brooks (#24)
averages 4.6 yards for 311 yards and 2 scores. Junior Caleb Hood averaged 5.8
yards per carry last season but only played in 3 games this season. He suffered
a season-ending injury in the Pitt win with just 15 carries for 43 yards.
Defensively, senior linebacker Kaimon Rucker (#25) from
Hartwell leads the way with 8.5 sacks this season. He had 2.5 sacks in the
Miami win. Another senior LB, Cedric Gray (#33) from Charlotte, leads the team
in tackles and has 4.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and a recovery. Another Charlotte
native, Power Echols (#23) rounds out the linebacking corps with an
interception and a forced fumble. Up front, 6’6, 270-pound freshman DE Beau
Atkinson (#12) leads the defensive line with 3.5 sacks and has a forced fumble.
Surprisingly, 6’5, 310-pound senior DT Myles Murphy (#8) recorded his first
sack of the season last week against Duke. He also has a fumble recovery and is
a great run stuffer. He was out for the loss at Georgia Tech, and the Jackets
racked up 348 rushing yards in that game. 6’6, 275-pound senior DE Desmond
Evans (#10) is a former 5-star prospect and has 2 sacks this season. On the
back end, the Heels have 3 defensive backs with at least 2 interceptions. Junior
Alijah Huzzie (#28) has 3, while seniors Don Chapman (#2) and Armani Chatman
(#9) have 2 apiece. As a team, the Heels have 12 interceptions, which is tied
for 10th nationally, and 7 fumble recoveries this season, which is tied for 28th. By the way, Defensive Coordinator Gene Chizik, who beat Dabo as the head coach at Auburn in 2010 en route to a national championship and had his win streak ended by Dabo in 2011, was a GA at Clemson long ago!
In the kicking game, the Heels lost their starting place
kicker and punter to injuries. Graduate Ryan Coe was 1-1 against the Gamecocks
and 2-3 with a 47-yarder in the overtime win over App State before he was
knocked out for the season. However, junior Noah Burnette has been incredible
in his steak. He is a perfect 38-38 on PAT’s and 18-19 on field goals with a
long of 48 against Pitt, which was his longest attempt. He was 6-6 in their
double-overtime win over Duke last week, including the clutch, last-second
43-yarder to tie the game at the end of regulation. He has never kicked in an
environment like Death Valley, but Burnette has been one of the biggest stories
of the season for the Heels. Meanwhile, graduate punter Ben Kiernan suffered a
season-ending injury in mid October, and his replacement, Tom Maginness, only
averages 39.6 yards per punt. However, his long is 57 yards. Clemson transfer
Liam Boyd from Asheville took over the kickoff duties when Coe was injured and
has done a good job with 40 touchbacks on 56 kicks. He redshirted as a freshman
for the Tigers last season, so I’m sure he can’t wait to kickoff in Death
Valley! The Heels have a couple dangerous return men as well. Defensive back
Alijah Huzzie averages 17.3 yards per punt return with a 52-yard touchdown. Another
DB, Don Chapman, has a 52-yard kickoff return.
The Heels have the No.8 scoring offense (39.9 points per
game), No.18 rushing offense (198.7 yards/game), No.8 passing offense (321.9
yards/game) and No.3 total offense (520.6 yards/game). They are ranked No.61 in
scoring defense (25.5 points/game), No.79 in rush defense (154 yards/game), No.84
in pass defense (235.5 yards/game) and No.82 total defense (389.5 yards/game). They
have the No.6 third down offense (51.7%) and No.68 third down defense (39%). Their
red zone offense is No.17 (92.16 scoring with 62.75% touchdowns), and their red
zone defense is No.31 (77.78% scoring with 63.89% touchdowns). The Heels are No.33
in sacks/game (2.60) and No.87 in sacks allowed (2.4/game), which is surprising
because Maye is a very good scrambler and adept at getting rid of the ball
quickly. They are No.3 in turnover margin, which has been the bane of the
Tigers’ season, at plus 1.1 per game. The Tigers have improved in that area in
the last two games and are now No.56 at plus 0.1 per game.
CLEMSON STATUS
The Tigers are healthier than they were in their last couple
losses, but Barrett Carter missed last week’s game and will be a game day
decision. Same with starting corner Sheridan Jones. Backup TE Sage Ennis tore
his ACL last week and will miss the rest of the season. He’s had some big
blocks this season and was just starting to emerge in the passing game, with a
big catch in each of the two previous games. Let’s hope Briningstool stays
healthy because that would be a major loss for the offense, especially with
Ennis out. Redshirt freshman Josh Sapp had 2 catches and his first TD last week,
but Riley doesn’t want to have to rely on the young tight end for blocking just
yet.
The Tigers got Will Shipley back last week after missing the
Notre Dame game with a concussion, and boy did he put on a show, just like I
thought he would! A lot of Clemson fans were barking about Mafah getting more
carries because his average per carry had been higher this season, but Ship
reminded them how valuable he still is. Incidentally, Shipley averaged 7 yards
per carry with a 32-yard TD last week, and Mafah averaged 5.6 with no scores! They
both had over 100 all-purpose yards, though, and represent a tough one-two
punch for any defense to handle, especially with improved blocking from the
offensive line. The Tigers have two starters out in Parks and Tate, but the
young offensive linemen have really stepped up in the last two wins. The Tigers
also got starting DE Justin Mascoll back last week, and it was a big shot in
the arm. He was injured in the 3rd quarter at Miami when the Tigers led, and
after he went out of the game, the Tigers could not get the Canes’ offense off
the field, eventually losing in double-overtime. Mascoll also missed the NC
State and Notre Dame games, although the defense played well enough to win both
games in his absence. Mascoll didn’t waste any time, sacking the quarterback in
the first quarter last week.
Cade might have played his best game last week, completing
23 of 34 passes for 205 yards in about 3 quarters, 4 TD’s to 4 different
receivers and just one interception. The touchdown throw he made to
Briningstool, threading the needle between 4 defenders, was elite stuff and
shows that his confidence is growing by the week. It reminded me of the dart
Trevor Lawrence threw to Renfrow in the end zone at Georgia Tech, while rolling
left, as a true freshman in his fourth game. That’s when Dabo knew that Trevor
was ready to take over as the starter.
As mentioned, the freshmen stole the show last week,
particularly on defense, and Tyler Brown made one of the best catches in
college football this season. I can’t wait to see how they follow that up on
Saturday! Weitz only had one field goal attempt last week, and just like the NC
State game, his make was preempted by a timeout to freeze him, and he missed
the one that counted. You always want to get touchdowns instead of field goals,
but I wouldn’t mind getting him an early close one to give him some confidence
with the Palmetto Bowl in Columbia coming up!
As with every game this season, the Tigers will win if they
at least break even in the turnover margin. If they are plus a couple like they
were last week, it will be a blowout. They’ve won the turnover margin in the
past two wins and didn’t lose any fumbles last week. Knock on wood! I have to
think that the law of averages have finally caught up with the Tigers and their
catastrophic turnovers are behind them.
PREDICTION
Dabo is 2-0 against one of his mentors, Mack Brown,
including an ACC Championship. The last one was a blowout, but this game might
very well come down to the final play like 2019 with strength going against strength.
The Heels have the No.3 offense, and the Tigers have the No.5 defense, so
something has to give. Bear in mind that a couple overtime wins have helped the
Heels’ offensive ranking, while 2 overtime losses have hurt the Tigers’
defensive ranking. The Death Valley crowd has been electric despite noon
kickoffs for the last two weeks, as they were for the FSU nooner, and they will
be even louder now that they’ve finally gotten a 3:30 start. It will be an
emotional day for all of the upper classmen playing their last game in Death
Valley, and the Tigers have just about always brought their A game on Senior
Day. Maye will move the ball and score some points because he is that good, but
I think the Tigers’ defense is better than the Heel’s offense, and I think the
Tigers’ offense is better than the Heel’s defense. Chalk up another one for
Dabo and the Tigers over Mack Brown, Gene Chizik and the Heels for the first
3-game win streak of the season!
CLEMSON 41 North Carolina 20
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