4. Revenge against Syracuse in late September.
A season ago, Clemson had one loss. That loss came in a very close game to Syracuse, a game that truly shocked the nation. No one gave the Orange a chance in that game and for them to pull off that upset left many in awe. For Clemson, that same kind of upset almost came against Texas A&M, but they avoided that one.
In 2018, Syracuse week had an extra bit of umph to it for sure. The Tigers knew what the Orange were capable of, but still weren’t able to waltz past the Cuse with nearly as much ease as they dispatched the rest of their competition. Their victory came, in larger part, due to a masterful performance from running back Travis Etienne.
This game was down to the wire. It took a two-touchdown fourth quarter and a three-score effort from Etienne to win this game for the Tigers. Trevor Lawrence didn’t throw a single touchdown pass in this one and was knocked out due to injury that looked as if it could be bad. We can’t lie and say that there wasn’t a fan or two calling for Kelly Bryant, who had already announced his transfer.