One Last Rewind: Charlotte
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Clemson played a school-record 111 players against Charlotte. That stat isn't Heisman worthy, but it's important for the development of the entire team moving forward. Will this continue to be the theme of this team moving forward?
Things went as expected as Clemson picked up their 19th straight win beating the 49ers 52-10. The two teams met for the first time in school history.
Smooth operation
Saturday had to be refreshing for Clemson fans to see the offense operate cleaner, putting up 466 yards even though it was against a team they overmatched.
Trevor Lawrence’s night was over after two touchdowns, one to Tee Higgins and the other to Cornell Powell. He finished 7 of 9 for 94 yards and looked to be in rhythm given the limited sample size.
Saturday was a night for the backups: Five quarterbacks played. Joseph Ngata caught his first touchdown from Chase Brice in the third quarter. Mikey Dukes scored on a 24-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Guys like Taisun Phommachanh, Chez Mellusi, and Darien Rencher also saw meaningful action.
“It just builds us as a team. I think we all went out there. Coach [Dabo] Swinney, he likes to set up a lot of guys, so we all went in there and just did what we did,” Phommachanh said.
Answering another challenge
Charlotte came into the contest averaging 296.7 rush yards and 47.4 points a game but Brent Venables’ group answered the call.
K’Von Wallace stepped in front of a Charlotte receiver on a run-pass option. Wallace took it to the house on a 66-yard interception in the first quarter. Saturday was the eighth straight game where the Clemson defense had an interception. Keep an eye on this Clemson secondary, they have the ability to make game-changing plays on a regular basis.
Charlotte tried to move the pocket with quarterback Chris Reynolds early but many of his passes were knocked down by a defensive front that is improving week to week.
As with the offense, the backups also saw action. Lannden Zanders and KJ Henry took advantage of their opportunities. Zanders recorded a sack and showed that he has a bright future at Clemson.
“Those guys are grinding. They probably surprise you a little bit, their ability to go out and execute and make plays and it’s a great opportunity for them,” Venables said.
Looking Ahead
The big takeaway from this game as we wrote about on Monday was that lots of guys got to see action.
Those snaps are critical for the development of the younger guys as they are able to see themselves on film. It’s also critical for them to have game experience should something happen to the starters.
Clemson heads to Chapel Hill on Saturday to take on North Carolina in a game that looked appealing two weeks ago. Now, it doesn’t look nearly as potent as the Tar Heels have dropped their last two games and now sit at 2-2.
Anything can happen in college football, but the Tigers once against outman their opponents on Saturday.