CLEMSON, S.C. — It was just a regular season win, but it also was much more than that. In this quarterback-centric era, flimsy programs regress into irrelevance if their signal caller does not deliver, but Clemson did not allow that to happen Saturday.
The third-ranked Tigers staged a 94-yard drive with a quarterback who started the week as their third-stringer, took the lead on a touchdown with 41 seconds to play and held on to beat visiting Syracuse, 27-23 .
“This will be a defining moment,” Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney said. “I saw a team stand up.”
Before his postgame news conference following home games, Swinney spends an hour — sometimes longer — with recruits, selling his program. Games such as this are the reason he devotes so much attention to finding the next batch of Tigers, and the depth and breadth of Clemson (5-0, 2-0 ACC) were on full display Saturday.
Running back Travis Etienne had 203 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries. The defense held the Orange to 61 yards on the ground, putting everything on quarterback Eric Dungey (26-for-41 passing for 250 yards, with one interception). Clemson punter Will Spiers averaged 40 yards and did not allow a return.
The Tigers needed all of that to avoid getting upset by Syracuse (4-1, 1-1) for the second straight season.
“I always tell our guys, always talk to them, about the heart of a champion,” Swinney said. “It’s hard to define. You just know it when you see it, and you know it when you don’t.”
All of that heart on display capped a heart-stopping weak for the Tigers. On Monday, Swinney named freshman Trevor Lawrence his starting quarterback over Kelly Bryant, who had gone 15-2 as a starter. Bryant told the Greenville News that it “was a slap in the face” and left the team, intending to transfer.
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In his first start Saturday, Lawrence, a high school all-American, was decent, not great, for a half (10 of 15, 93 yards). Then, with 4:56 left in the second quarter, he was flushed from the pocket, stumbled at the end of his run along the Syracuse sideline and was tackled in the head and neck area.
Swinney said Lawrence had concussion-like symptoms, and doctors would not let him return to the game.
There was distress all around Death Valley. The crowd went limp as Lawrence wobbled from the playing field. Even the ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley — a former governor of South Carolina — showed her distress in a tweet: “I so wish Kelly Bryant would come running out on the field.”
For the record, Swinney after the game shut the door on Bryant returning.
“I have no idea and — not talking about anything about Kelly,” he said. “I’m just going to talk about our team. I’ve addressed everything I’m going to address on Kelly. Wish him all the best and — we’re moving on.”
Enter Chase Brice, a redshirt freshman. He was not sharp, but he didn’t have to be because the offensive line and Etienne did the heavy lifting.
“The offensive line talked on the sidelines before the third quarter,” right guard Gage Cervenka said. “We said, ‘This game’s on us.’ ”
The Tigers were down 23-13 before Etienne cut the deficit to 23-20 with a 26-yard touchdown run with 11:08 to play.
Clemson was 3 for 8 on third down behind Brice before it started its winning drive at its 6-yard line with 6:06 to play. The Tigers ran the ball seven straight times to the Syracuse 47. On fourth and one, Cervenka almost cost his team the game with a false start, and he certainly cost it five yards.
“I was just sick,” Cervenka said. “Just sick.”
It was up to Brice, and he delivered: He threaded a pass through a small window to wide receiver Tee Higgins for a 20-yard gain. Five plays later, Etienne scored from two yards away, and there was delirium in Death Valley.
“It was definitely an opportunity,” Brice said. “I had to step and take it. . . . I didn’t really have time to get nervous.”
After a week of drama and a Saturday that unfolded in a way he could not have expected, Swinney could only marvel at his team’s pluck.
“It’s been a very tough week,” he said. “I’ll never forget this one. This one will rank up there as one of the biggest ones I’ve ever had.”
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