Clemson football: 3 takeaways from huge comeback win over Syracuse

It wasn’t easy, but when you’re the No. 5 team in the country, nothing ever is. Clemson football pulled off a nice comeback win over No. 14 Syracuse to improve to 7-0 on the nation, but it didn’t look good there for a while.

In fact, Syracuse raced out to a 21-7 lead right before halftime and then Clemson shut the door defensively. Nothing came easy for the Orange in the second half.

Following a field goal in the final minute of the first half, Clemson went on to score 17 straight points to beat the Orange 27-21 on Saturday afternoon at home.

Dino Babers’ team put up a valiant effort, but it just wasn’t quite enough.

What’d we learn?

3. The defense was clutch

We can talk all day long about how Cade Klubnik came up big in the second half against the No. 14 team in the country and didn’t look fazed (we will in a bit), but the defense really got back to the basics and dominated the Orange in the second half.

It looked a little shaky early on, giving up 14 points in the first half (obviously not going to count the fumble recovery for a touchdown) but it settled down and made plays.

It was only fitting that the game was ended by an interception as RJ Mickens picked off Garrett Shrader to close the book on the win. While the Tigers didn’t win the turnover battle, the defense proved that it could play at a high level after an inconsistent first half of the season.

Dabo Swinney had to be thrilled.