Clemson clobbers UNC in ACC Championship. How the Tigers ran away with a 39-10 win
North Carolina had its chances.
Look at the three drives the Tar Heels marched inside the Clemson 15, and three times they failed to score a touchdown. The Tigers, on the strength of Nate Wiggins’ 98-yard interception return for a touchdown, actually outscored UNC 8-3 on those possessions.
It was too much for the Heels to overcome as their second-ever appearance in the ACC Championship game ended with another loss to Clemson, 39-10, in Bank of America Stadium on Saturday. The Tigers won their seventh league title in the past eight years.
“We had our chances to play better,” UNC coach Mack Brown said. “We had our chance to be in the game in the fourth quarter and that’s what we needed to do. In the third quarter, first and goal from the 10, we had a chance to cut it to 24-17. So we got to a point where we had our chances, we just didn’t cash in on them and that’s what we’ve got to do better.”
It’s actually been the same story during Carolina’s current three game losing streak. Against Georgia Tech, it converted just one touchdown in five red zone trips of a 21-17 loss. Against N.C. State, it converted three touchdowns in seven trips inside the 20 of a 30-27 overtime loss.
Against the Tigers, the Heels scored a touchdown on their first drive of the game and did not score one on their next four red zone opportunities.
“Down in the red zone, you got to have players make plays and tonight, we didn’t do that and it starts with me,” said UNC quarterback Drake Maye, who threw two interceptions and was held without a passing touchdown for the second time in three games.
Clemson had no such problems scoring after starting quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei was benched in favor of Cade Klubnik after two three-and-out drives to start the game.
Klubnik completed his first 10 passes — his first incompletion came with 19 seconds left in the first half — and guided the Tigers on scoring drives on his first four possessions for a 24-10 lead at halftime.
Klubnik finished 20 of 24 for 279 yards and a touchdown passing and one rushing. Klubnik also continued an odd narrative that UNC’s four losses on the season all came to backup quarterbacks.
“He was able to pass the ball very effectively,” linebacker Cedric Gray said. “That was really the killer. That’s why they brought him into the game. Early on, we kind of showed that we weren’t gonna let them run the ball. And I think that was their game plan once he came in the game.”
It didn’t help that Carolina was without two starters in the secondary. Both senior safety Cam’Ron Kelly and junior cornerback Storm Duck were out with injuries, forcing freshman safety Will Hardy and freshman cornerback Marcus Allen to start in their place.
“We’ve got a sophomore and two freshmen starting in the secondary and you don’t want to blitz because when you do, you leave them out there by themselves,” Brown said. “That’s what we had to do the second half and gave up some big plays.”
Klubnik’s play wasn’t what won the game for Clemson. It was the Tigers defense that always tightened up when the Heels were on the brink of a touchdown.
Carolina trailed 14-7 when it marched 61 yards on 17 plays on a drive that lasted 7:36 of game clock. Along the way, the Heels converted a third-and-17 when Antoine Green made his first catch of the game for 18 yards.
But the drive stalled from there. A fade pass to Green in the end zone was broken up by Wiggins. And he would be a nemesis to the Heels again on Noah Burnette’s 31-yard field goal attempt.
Wiggins raced from his spot on the left side of the line to block Burnette’s kick, leaving Carolina scoreless on one of its longest drives of the season.
The Heels’ ensuing drive, now trailing 21-7, reached the Clemson 6. But on third and goal, quarterback Drake Maye had room to run and likely would have scored, but Jeremiah Trotter Jr., got enough of his leg to trip him up for a two-yard loss. It led to a 25-yard field goal with 1:20 left before halftime.
The Tigers’ nullified any boost Carolina may have felt from scoring with a 52-yard field goal from B.T. Potter as time expired in the first half.
And Clemson essentially ended the Heels’ hope for the title on their first trip to the red zone in the third quarter.
Carolina looked to pull within a touchdown and faced second and goal from the Clemson 5. Trotter pressured Maye into an incomplete pass over the heads of receiver Gavin Blackwell and J.J. Jones, who were in the same area of the end zone.
On third down, pressure again forced Maye from the pocket and sent him scrambling to the right. Maye looked to dump the ball to tight end John Copenhaver and said he expected Copenhaver to stop, but he moved a bit to the right. The pass went right into Wiggins’ hands and he returned it 98 yards for a touchdown.
“We have two routes coming over top, I didn’t see anything, I probably should have thrown it out the back of the end zone,” Maye said. “I tried to make a play out of it and it ended up costing us — probably the play of the game.”
Instead of a one score game, Carolina now trailed Clemson 32-10.
It was the second turnover of the game for the Heels that also led to a touchdown.
In the first quarter, Maye and running back Omarion Hampton mishandled the ball on a run-pass option play. Maye was going to give the ball to Hampton, but the freshman thought Maye was going to keep it. When Maye pulled his hands away, the ball popped free and Clemson recovered at the UNC 23.
Two plays and 40 seconds later, the Tar Heels found themselves trailing the Tigers 14-7, and they were never within one score again.
“When you play a team that’s been in the playoffs every year for about six out of the last eight I think, it shows you what you got to do to get where we want to go,” Brown said. “And we’re not there yet. We’re better than everybody else because we got here, but we weren’t better than they were.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2022 at 11:39 PM.