Clemson hit the road for the first time this season when the top-ranked Tigers traveled to Syracuse on Sept. 14, the site of Clemson’s last regular season loss two years ago. In front of a sellout crowd at the Dome, the Tigers downed Syracuse 41-6 to improve to 3-0 on the season. Clemson’s defense looked stellar, and the offense showed progression. The Tigers are trending upward as they head into week four.
Paws Up: Brent Venables deserves every penny and more
Once again, the Clemson defense was phenomenal against Syracuse. The Tigers held the Orange to 187 yards of total offense, including just 15 yards rushing on 42 Syracuse attempts. This was by far Clemson’s best defensive performance of the year. The Tigers racked up eight sacks on the night and picked-off Syracuse quarterback Tommy DeVito once. Most of the questions during the preseason surrounded the Clemson defense, but Venables has once again revamped his unit and brought a dominating scheme to the table. This defense could be his best yet.
Paws Down: Clemson’s offensive game plan
Clemson’s offensive “struggles” per say have been the highlight of the Tigers’ young season. After a dominating offensive performance against Alabama in last year’s title game, many people expected to see that on another level this year, but the offense has not played at its best yet. There did not seem to be much of a game plan on Saturday night; most of Trevor Lawrence’s throws were deep shots to Tee Higgins or Justyn Ross. There was no throwing attack over the middle of the field (probably because there has not been a replacement for Hunter Renfrow yet), and the Tigers seemed to abandon the run game completely, despite Travis Etienne being the highlight of the offense so far this season. Clemson still racked up 600+ yards of offense and Lawrence threw for a career high 395 yards. The good news: the Tigers still dominated with a B- offensive game. Not a terrible problem to have.
Paws Up: Clemson avenges last ACC loss
It has been two years since the Tigers’ last ACC loss, which came on the road against Syracuse. Lots of “experts” put Clemson on upset alert strictly for that reason, completely neglecting the fact that the Tigers lost their quarterback two years ago and faced a really good Syracuse program on the rise. This year, however, the Orange have taken a step back, and the Tigers have taken numerous steps forward. This was a blowout as satisfying as any other. 18 straight wins. Enjoy this, Tiger fans.
Paws Down: Syracuse’s mascot
Can we talk for a second about how terrible Syracuse’s mascot is? An orange? Really? That is all you northerners could come up with? No wonder football is not a huge deal in New York. Otto the Orange is not appealing and is a disgrace to mascots everywhere. This is not debatable.
Hope the Syracuse faithful enjoyed their small glimpse of relevance. Clemson is still king of the ACC. Bring on the 49ers.
