If there was ever confirmation on who reigns supreme in the ACC, it was displayed Saturday night in Death Valley as the Tigers devoured the Canes on both sides of the ball.
These two teams have their own history, meeting in the ACC Championship game back in 2017. Going into Week 6 of the 2020 season, both teams were projected to be among each other’s toughest opponents.
Having lost Isaiah Simmons and A.J. Terrell to the NFL, Clemson would return only three defensive starters from last season. The Tigers defense was viewed to possibly be the team’s biggest concern, but would soon prove to instead dominate the game.
Hurricane’s objective? Keep Trevor Lawrence down.
With the first half underway, Miami senior DL Quincy Roche was penalized with an offsides on fourth down, saving the Tiger’s first drive of the game. That drive resulted in a touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence to true freshman Braden Galloway, his first touchdown of the season.
Tigers defense wanted in on the action as junior linebacker, Baylon Spector, and freshman defensive end, Myles Murphy made two key sacks, limiting Miami quarterback, D’Eriq King, to a short and unproductive first drive.
The Hurricanes would then take another hit or coincidentally offer a costly one. Miami would lose the captain of their defense, senior Amari Carter after a targeting call on Trevor Lawrence.
The Clemson offense didn’t show any progress in the 2nd quarter and ultimately put the ball in the hands of NFL bound running back Travis Etienne for the 2-yard touchdown rush. Clemson, now up by two touchdowns with Miami still not yet on the board.
As the game progressed, the Tigers defense continued to heave through the Hurricanes, holding them to a field goal in scoring. The Tigers offense then followed up with another touchdown as Trevor Lawrence fed an 11 yd pass to Galloway with about a minute left in the 2nd quarter.
The Tigers defense and offense continued to take turns unleashing their own storm and offered no grace to the Hurricanes.
Trevor Lawrence was consistent in converting on 3rd down, putting his team in field goal range on the Tiger’s final drive before halftime.
With Tiger’s up 21-3 and only three seconds left on the clock, head coach Dabo Swinney was thirsty for more. He assigned junior B.T. Potter with the field goal attempt. In a plot twist of events, the Tigers field goal was denied.
And it did not stop there.
The ball was recovered by Hurricane junior cornerback, D.J. Ivey. It was then a foot race between the special teams and Ivey, who took the ball to the house, igniting the beaten-up Canes, and creating a regretful Dabo Swinney at intermission.
In the second half, the Tigers would right a slip up, a fumble made by Trevor Lawrence and get the ball back as sophomore cornerback Sheridan Jones intercepted a pass by King in the end zone. This would be Jones’ first pick.
After a nice handoff from Lawrence, Etienne would put another showstopper for his team in a feisty 72-yard touchdown run.
Not sure what Swinney said to his team at the half, but they came out almost hungrier and deadlier than before.
An underlying sense of déjà vu seemed to plague the Hurricanes’ defense throughout the game. They would either create an opportunity only to fall short or make the same costly mistakes.
Late in the 3rd quarter, the Hurricanes made another field goal block and even managed to come up with the ball in the end. Despite their best efforts, the drive proved unsuccessful as Derion Kendrick, Clemson’s only returning starting defensive back from last season, would soon force an interception.
With the 3rd quarter coming to an end, hurricanes defense continued to shoot themselves in the foot as they collected another targeting call on QB Trevor Lawrence, who almost seemed fueled by the now second round of targeting from his competitors.
With new added vigor and gusto, Lawrence would put up his own touchdown on the board in the quarterback keeper with 2:31 second left in the third quarter, extending his team’s lead to 35-10.
Hurricanes QB, D’Eriq King managed to muster up enough motivation to power through in the 4th quarter offering his own quarterback answer and putting what would be his team’s final touchdown on the board with 8:30 left of play.
No matter the small battles won, it was clear that the Hurricanes were no match for their opponents. Trevor Lawrence would go on to seal the fate of the game with a 22-yard pass to sophomore tight end, Davis Allen, bringing the final score to 42-17.
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