Clemson Football: 3 takeaways from heart-wrenching win over North Carolina
By Zach Bigalke
1. Defense saved Clemson from embarrassment of Clemsoning
On a day when the offense sputtered and struggled to keep pace with North Carolina for much of the day, Clemson was that their defense was able to hold the Tar Heels to only 20 points. Mack Brown’s squad certainly had their chances throughout the contest, including a two-point conversion attempt with just over a minute left in the game, and without a stout effort by the Tigers defense they would have suffered their first loss in 20 games.
Sam Howell completed 15 of his 27 passing attempts, and he threw two touchdown passes over the course of the game. But Howell also threw for only 144 yards through the air, as the Clemson secondary did a great job of blanketing his receivers downfield and forced him to look for short and intermediate routes.
Michael Carter ran 16 times for 99 yards, and Javonte Williams chipped in 49 yards and a touchdown on the ground. The Tar Heels had few issues picking up yards on the ground, and the backfield finished with 146 yards on 36 carries. At the end, however, they were unable to get the last three yards that would have completed the upset.
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Clemson’s offense seemed happy to let their defense do the heavy lifting. And while defense wins championships, they will not be able to get the job done all by themselves. The defending champs still have a lot of work to do to compete with the best in the country, and they might drop a spot in the AP Top 25 this week as a result of this narrow victory.