This afternoon’s game between Clemson and UNC really only had two potential outcomes. Either UNC was going to play a close, bad game with the Tigers that resulted in their hearts being ripped out, or Clemson was going to look like world-beaters and blow them out of the water. Optimists likely thought that the Heels had a chance, and while it is a respectable position to hold, the fact of the matter is that this was always destined for pain. That is exactly what we got this afternoon.
The game opened
with Cade Klubnik pitching a lateral pass to wide receiver Antonio Williams, who threw a bomb to T.J. Moore for a 75-yard touchdown. Immediately in the hole, UNC tried to respond by immediately marching down the field to get into the red zone, but two missed passes by Max Johnson with one yard left to gain led to a field goal to make it 7-3. The 58-yard drive from the Heels is the most production we would see from the offense in the first half, because everything after that tragic to say the least. In the four drives that followed, this is what happened:
Drive 2: gained five yards, and then punted.
Drive 3: lost four yards, and punted.
Drive 4: lost three yards, and punted.
Drive 5: lost three yards, then punted.
Eventually the Heels would gain 17 yards before going into halftime, but Clemson meanwhile continued to pummel UNC’s defense. Cade Klubnik completed 21 of his 23 passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns and no picks. Again, this was just in he first half. The Tigers’ run game never really got going, which is the only positive in what was otherwise a painful performance by the Heels defense. Tracking with the lack of rushing yards, the front seven was able to generate pressure on Klubnik, but the secondary couldn’t keep up with their receivers to save their lives. After countless mistakes, miscues, and flat-out bad play, both teams went into the locker room with Clemson up 35-3.
In an attempt to reset things in the second half, UNC was able to move the ball down the field, but they weren’t able to finish off the drive with a score. They were forced to settle for a field goal, but Rece Verhoff’s kick bounced off the goal post and missed. The rest of the third quarter was a snooze fest for both teams. Clemson eventually put in their backup quarterback, Carolina moved the ball a bit but couldn’t get anything done, and from there things went into the fourth quarter.
In an effort to keep the 10 fans left in attendance engaged, Max Johnson was able to help march the Heels down the field in the fourth quarter. They completed a five-play drive for 75 yards, which resulted in a garbage time touchdown scored by Benjamin Hall. The Heels would continue to roll out Johnson for the rest of the game despite the outcome being decided, and eventually everything came to a merciful conclusion.
When looking at what went wrong in this game, the Heels had multiple problems on offense, beginning with the offensive line. Max Johnson had a bad time getting the ball off at various points of the game because there was a Clemson player in his face within a couple of seconds. Because of the line having a bad time with the Tigers’ front seven, the run game also never got going. Johnson did have some good moments, but he undoubtedly struggled at times whether he had time to throw or not. A Clemson wide receiver threw more touchdowns than he did today, and that should say enough.
Defensively, the first quarter was the worst quarter of football that we’ve seen from this unit so far. It’s hard to even grade the remaining three quarters because it felt like Clemson let off the gas pretty quickly after realizing UNC’s offense was dead in the water. It just felt like everything that could’ve went bad in this game did, but it wasn’t because of luck — a bad Clemson team was just much better than a bad Carolina team. Interpret that how you will.
Next up, UNC will have another lengthy break before facing off against Cal on October 17th in a 10:30PM/ET west coast game. One would imagine that some soul-searching would transpire during this upcoming break, but we just witnessed what happened after coming out of their first bye week. It’s hard to say what will get this team on track, but something needs to change, and quickly.
