Clemson Dominates Syracuse

Story and photo by Matt D'Ambrosi

CLEMSON, S.C. — It all started with Ryan Carter.

With a little under five minutes remaining in the first quarter of Saturday’s ACC game between the third-ranked Clemson Tigers (9-0, 6-0) and the Syracuse Orange (4-5, 2-3) and Clemson ahead, 3-0, the Tigers' cornerback picked off Syracuse’s Eric Dungey.

Carter returned the interception 17 yards down to the Orange’s 15-yard line. From that point forward, the Tigers never looked back.

The 54-0 win is the largest margin of victory in an ACC game this season.


Dungey down

Quarterback Deshaun Watson ran it in to the end zone from one yard out on the ensuing offensive possession. The score gave Clemson a 10-0 lead when Dungey and company returned to the field to start the fourth Syracuse drive of the game.

That drive, however, is when Dungey went down after a hard hit from Clemson linebacker Dorian O’Daniel and left the game and whatever chance Syracuse had of staying in it went with him. 

“It’s pretty typical, even in the NFL," Syracuse Head Coach Dino Babers said. "You lose your starting quarterback early in a game, it normally doesn’t work out well for you."

He was right. With Dungey out the Tigers just kept on rolling.

Tigers explode in second quarter

Clemson scored touchdowns on three straight possessions in the second quarter starting with a 65-yard bomb from Watson that was reeled in by sophomore wide receiver Deon Cain. The Tigers scored in two plays, starting at their own five-yard-line.

After the touchdown pass to Cain, redshirt junior quarterback Austin Wilson, who had stepped in at the end of the first quarter for the injured Dungey, came back out on the field again for the Orange. But Syracuse just couldn’t get anything going and punted to the Clemson eleven. 

That gave the Tigers the chance to take the ball 89 yards in 13 plays during a drive that was capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Watson to wide receiver Mike Williams.

Clemson missed the PAT but with 7:04 left in the first half, the Tigers had amassed a 23-point lead over the Orange.

Orange glimmer, then gloom

A huge return on the following kickoff by wide receiver Sean Riley allowed Wilson and the Syracuse offense to set up shop at the Clemson 32. That was quickly negated, however, when Wilson threw a pass that was intercepted by Clemson cornerback Cordrea Tankersley.

Watson and the Tigers came on the field after the turnover and were moving the ball up field with ease. After an incompletion on first down from Syracuse’s 35-yard line though, Watson left the game with an apparent shoulder injury and did not return to action.

Backup quarterback Nick Schuessler ended up primarily finishing the rest of drive (and the game for that matter), and connected with junior Artavis Scott for a five-yard score just before the end of the first half.

Clemson went into the break up 30-0 over Syracuse.

Backups' duel

Due to both Clemson and Syracuse losing their starting quarterbacks in the first half (Watson for Clemson, Dungey for Syracuse), Saturday’s game saw six different players under center between the two teams.

Watson was shining for the Tigers until he was taken out of the game after sustaining a “bruised shoulder” towards the end of the second quarter. He had thrown 13 passes on 19 attempts for 169 yards and two scores while also recording 39 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.

Regardless, he never returned to the field and that paved the way for Clemson backups Nick Schuessler and Kelly Bryant to get some reps. Schuessler filled in well for Watson finishing with a passer rating of 191.0. He went eleven for 17 accumulating 177 yards and tossing two touchdowns. Bryant only threw it four times, completing two passes for 21 yards. 

"When Deshaun got banged up, we felt we had good control of the game and he was ready to come back in the second half, but Schuessler did a great job stepping up today," Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney said. 

For the Orange, Dungey had thrown it just nine times before leaving game. Therefore, it was Austin Wilson who took the lion’s share of the snaps for Syracuse. Wilson went 17 for 27 on the day finishing with 116 yards and two interceptions.

“It was an honor to play against them,” Wilson said. “But at the end of the day, we didn’t get the job done which hurts right now. But it was a big task. And I think we were up for it.”

Junior quarterback Zack Mahoney got some time for the Orange as well, completing one pass on four attempts for eight yards. Mahoney was listed as the backup on SU's depth chart going in.

Asked about playing Wilson over Mahoney, Babers said "Austin was the next guy we were going to bring in in that situation," and declined to elaborate.

As for Dungey, "The medical people haven't given me the details," Babers said. "They just said he couldn't come back into the game." 

Takeaways & what’s ahead

In spite of the crushing defeat, Babers indicated that playing a team like Clemson and experiencing a venue like Death Valley does benefit him as he tries to build the Syracuse program.

“There’s a part of the fourth quarter there where I’m just sitting there, and I’m just surveying,” Babers said. “And I’m like, ‘now that you know what the top of the mountain is. Now you have a plan to get there.'”

For now though, Babers is stuck with dealing what’s in his immediate future: the rest of the season. Both Syracuse and Clemson have three games remaining in the 2016 regular-season campaign.

Saturday’s win helps Clemson inch ever closer to securing a spot in the College Football Playoff. For Syracuse, the loss means the Orange will have to win two out of its next three games to have a legitimate shot at a bowl game. Syracuse hasn’t played in one since the Texas Bowl in 2013.

Clemson will look stay unbeaten next Saturday when Pitt (5-4, 2-3) comes to Death Valley, while Syracuse will host N.C. State (4-5, 1-4) at the Carrier Dome.

Notes

Syracuse wide receiver Amba Etta-Tawo’s nine catches for 84 yards on Saturday were good enough to break school records for receptions and yards in a single season.

Etta-Tawo now has 75 catches on the year, giving him five more than the previous record set by Alec Lemon in 2012.

His new total of 1,158 yards receiving is 27 more than Marvin Harrison’s mark of 1,131, which was set back in 1995.