Can two teams with the same record look any different? It’s a genuine question as both Carolina and Clemson stare at 2-3 records after Saturday. Yet one team left Saturday feeling like they had a get-right game that may have kick-started the rest of their season. The other looks at the rest of their slate and wonders where the bottom might actually be.
It really was that bad for Carolina, as the 38-10 loss was only because Clemson completely took their foot off the gas in the second half. The Tar
Heels actually won the second half 7-3 but pretty much all Carolina fans had long since shifted to other things. Kenan had emptied out as the majority of folks either tried to beat traffic or get a good seat at the Blue and White game. In six weeks, what looked like the start of a new era for Carolina appears to just be more of the same.
So who were the winners, losers, and honorable mentions for the loss against Clemson?
Winners
Jordan Shipp – Maybe the best play of the day came early, when Shipp saved what would have been an interception by coming back to a tipped pass and making a great catch among multiple Clemson defenders. As he got up, he pointed to the number on his chest, which happened to be 13 instead of his usual number 1. The name was different too, and that was because he was honoring Tylee Craft who would have celebrated his birthday this past week. He was also someone who earned praise after the game despite how bad everything looked. You just hope that he decides to hang on, because his leadership will be needed.
Cade Klubnik – Clemson’s senior quarterback has struggled to start the season, and seemingly can’t rise up to the expectations that have been put on him — unless he’s facing the Tar Heels. This is the third time Carolina has seen Klubnik, and each time he has inflicted an enormous amount of pain. He came off the bench to ignite the Tigers in the 2022 ACC Championship Game, then had a tidy 21-32 for 219 yard game in the 2023 at Clemson. Now, after struggling all season, he had a ridiculously efficient 22-24 game, passing for 254 yards and four touchdowns. He didn’t even have to play the majority of the second half because of the dominance he displayed in the first one. We’ll see if this ends up being Klubnik’s apex for the season or if it’ll be a springboard to lead Clemson back into ACC contention.
Anna Yi – I don’t know what ESPN producer found this gem, or how Yi was so inspired to give just a perfect answer, but all credit to ESPN on a rough broadcast for pulling this out at seemingly the perfect time. The Tar Heels were already down 28-3 early in the second quarter and it seemed pretty clear where the rest of the game was going.
I suspect the reaction from Carolina fans was pretty universal, as this is what my wife posted not long after this aired:
We all know the answer to that one. Thank you, Anna, for putting to words how we all felt not only after TCU but now this football season.
Losers
Max Johnson – Honestly, his line wasn’t bad at 26-42 and 213 yards, but he didn’t have a single passing touchdown, his longest completion was just 21 yards, and he just looked like a player coming back from a broken femur. The defense wasn’t scared of him, and you can absolutely see why Gio Lopez was the quarterback playing until they literally couldn’t play him any more. It was to the point where you may begin wonder why we haven’t seen Au’Tori Newkirk or Bryce Baker. Then you realize that these two freshmen likely want to preserve their redshirt status as long as they can so they can get a full four years…somewhere. The longer this goes, the longer you wonder just how possible it’ll be for either to want to stay in Chapel Hill
UNC Running Backs – It feels unfair to name one of them here cause frankly, no one took the opportunity to show up and try to save the day for the Tar Heels. Recent hero Demon June only had five attempts for 16 yards. The really funny thing is that in terms of gained yards, Max Johnson had the second most with 17. Yes, the quarterback recovering from the broken femur that almost took his leg gained more yards than all but one UNC running back. You can try to blame the way that Clemson just laid it on Carolina early, but the fact is that with how much of the game was played, it’s still insane that the running backs had a total of 18 attempts for just 57 net yards.
Bill Belichick – Sometimes, the easiest place to go still has to be said. There have been — and will be — a lot of words typed and spoken about just how bad of a thud this has been for the coach. Last week, his mouthpiece Michael Lombardi went out to try and preach patience both to the boosters and on the weekly radio show. The problem is the hype they invited to his move. This has been so bad for Carolina that the words “theft” and “fraud” have been used to describe the remaining time that this staff has on their contracts. There was nothing on display Saturday that would give fans any sort of hope for competitive football for the rest of the year, and a schedule that looked like it would be easier suddenly has ACC Title contenders on it. It looks really bad when a Virginia team that was expected to be on a longer rebuild now looks like a more stable program than you. We could go on, but if you want to know more of my thoughts here just listen to my call into the Ovies and Giglio Sports Phone. At least there I can swear (you’ve been warned).
Yes, I kept my Boston area code because it is so much easier to keep the phone number than trying to update it everywhere.
Honorable Mentions
Twelve players managed to record their name in the scoresheet at catching a pass, so even though the running backs did not have a great day at least the pass catchers got a chance. The problem, of course, is that it really didn’t look like Carolina had a real deep threat they could use. Either that or the quarterback can’t get the ball that deep…as bad as the defense was on Saturday, they still managed to record two sacks. CJ Mims and Andrew Simpson both added to the sack total for Carolina this year so at least the blitzes were able to get through for something — although it also ended up being the cause of some of the biggest gains of the day…in the “You can’t make this up” department, the Marching Tar Heels halftime show on Saturday? Circus themed. These shows are decided pretty far in advance but man, how appropriate is it for this clown show that is currently being put forth by the football team?
