Chain Reaction: No.1 Clemson Coasts Past No. 7 Miami 38-3 for Third-Straight ACC Title
Andy Staples, a Sports Illustrated staff writer, said earlier in the week that he feared that Clemson had flipped a switch into “Championship-Destroy-Everyone-Mode” heading into the ACC Championship.
“There’s a switch somewhere in their fancy new football complex,” Staples said. “Either by the slide or next to the bathrooms. Dabo just walks by and says ‘Ok, time to stop messing around,’ and he just flips the switch and they start killing everyone.”
This is considered “Championship Phase” at Clemson, nothing new or out of the ordinary.
If that switch wasn’t flipped before the ACC Championship game, consider it flipped now and the lights beaming.
The No. 1 Clemson Tigers coasted by the No. 7 Miami Hurricanes 38-3 to win their third consecutive ACC championship.
This marked the 50th win for Clemson’s senior class, an ACC record, and they aren’t done quite yet.
This performance wasn’t just a coast it was an annihilation.
An annihilation of the Hurricanes’ chance at a playoff berth and an annihilation of every doubt in the country that Clemson shouldn’t be the consensus number one team.
Remarkable considering not many believed that the Tigers would be in this position again.
“We're the attacking champs,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “We're attacking for another one. That's been our mindset all year. We're not defending anything.”
Clemson’s offense lived up to its “attack-mode” mentality from the opening kickoff.
The Tigers picked up right where they left off last week in Columbia and took the opening drive right down the field for a touchdown.
A pair of third-down conversions and a 23-yard completion to Hunter Renfrow set up a Travis Etienne touchdown run from four yards out, his 13th of the season.
Miami’s first drive stalled, but a Ray-Ray McCloud muffed punt brought Miami’s turnover chain out.
But that didn’t phase Clemson’s defense one bit.
After getting the ball on Clemson’s 37-yard line, Miami’s offense couldn’t keep the momentum going. A missed Miami field goal from 46 yards out gave Clemson back all the energy it needed.
Again, Clemson’s offense made it look way too easy.
Well, except for another McCloud miscue. The junior receiver caught a 25-yard pass but coughed it up right into a Miami defender’s hands. Luckily for McCloud, Milan Richard swooped in for the recovery after Miami wasn’t able to scoop it.
Even with McCloud seemingly in the doghouse, Swinney showed trust in his play-making receiver and went right back to him on a third-and-three. Two plays later, Bryant scored on a 12-yard keeper to build Clemson’s lead to 14-0. McCloud finished with six catches for 100 yards.
The rout was on from there.
“We’ve been talking about the Triple Crown, and we knew this was the last race until the playoff,” co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. “So we wanted to start fast. Our guys knew how important it was for us to get a lead.”
Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant completed his first 15 passes of the game, breaking an ACC championship game record previously held by someone named Deshaun Watson.
Watson’s replacement finished with 23 completions on 29 attempts for 252 yards and one touchdown against the No. 2 defense in the country regarding tackles for loss, and No. 1 for sacks. He walked off the field as the game’s MVP.
“All he does is win,” co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said with a smile.
Miami’s Malik Rosier struggled against a Brent Venables defense that, again, played with an edge and dominated the opposition. Rosier completed 6-of-12 passes in the first half for only 27 yards.
You wondered if the fan that won the Dr Pepper Challenge at halftime throwing chest passes with the football was more efficient than Rosier was all night. He finished 14-of-29 and threw two interceptions.
While everyone had their eyes on the turnover chain tonight, the main story of the game was Clemson’s ability, and Miami’s inability, to convert on third down.
As we mentioned in our “Last Look,” Clemson came into the game 10th in the country in third-down conversion rate at 46 percent. Miami came in 121st out of 129 teams in that category (30.6 percent).
Clemson converted on its first seven third downs, including a third-and-goal touchdown run from Adam Choice to give Clemson a 21-0 lead.
Miami didn’t convert a third down until 11:40 left in the second quarter. By that point, it was too late as Clemson already had built an almost insurmountable 21-0 lead.
Miami only converted three third-downs on 16 attempts all night, two in the first half and one in the second, falling well below their season average.
Clemson finished right at the 50-percent mark and was 9-of-18 in that regard.
The second half was all about Clemson’s defense creating the turnover magic that Miami was supposed to generate.
In the third quarter, Ryan Carter snatched Miami’s turnover chain by forcing two of his own. The redshirt senior forced a fumble and caught an interception on two consecutive possessions. A Tavien Feaster 11-yard touchdown run sent Miami fans towards the exits with their team down 31-0.
Rosier threw another interception on the ensuing possession, this time right to Kendall Joseph after Dexter Lawrence tipped the ball at the line of scrimmage.
"From the onset, there was just hunger and a focus that no matter what happened they weren't going to be satisfied," Venables said.
Again, Miami’s defense had a chance to scoop a fumble and generate some momentum on Clemson’s next possession but wasn’t able to recover. On the next play, Deon Cain caught a 27-yard touchdown pass to give Clemson a 38-0 lead, the largest in ACC Championship game history.
Clemson's defense won the turnover battle 3-1, and a couple of Clemson players donned some personal gold chains of their own after the game.
The Tigers finished with 331 total yards on offense, but it felt like about 600 the way they controlled the game.
The scariest part about this Clemson team is that they just played their best game of the year on the biggest stage of the year.
Yet, they are still getting better.
Take it from the head man himself: “That was our goal, was to play our best four quarters tonight, championship football. When you're a part of championship football, you got to be at your best.”
The 38-3 victory over No. 7 Miami was the largest victory margin over a ranked team in Clemson’s history.
After it continued to prove the doubters wrong, Clemson will most likely head to New Orleans to play in the Sugar Bowl as the number one team.
The venue may be different, the team may be different, but this phase is nothing new to Swinney and his program.
“We're four quarters away. We worked all year to have this opportunity,” Swinney said. “We've earned it. We look forward to playing on that stage and putting our best foot forward.”
Miami can keep its turnover chain. Clemson now has another national championship ring to chase.