One Carolina down, another Carolina to go: Tigers drop Heels on Senior Day

Shipley scoots past a defender Saturday (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Nov 18 19:44:21 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – One Carolina down, another Carolina to go.

Clemson made the plays when it mattered most on both offense and defense, and the Tigers held on for a third consecutive win in beating North Carolina 31-20 in Death Valley Saturday afternoon.

Clemson improves to 7-4 overall and 4-4 in the ACC, while North Carolina falls to 8-3 overall and 4-3 in the league. The regular season concludes next Saturday when the Tigers travel to Columbia to take on arch-rival South Carolina at 7:30 pm.

Clemson’s defense forced two turnovers inside its own 10-yard line, including a strip fumble just as the runner was about to score, forced three turnovers overall, and held UNC to 2-of-5 on fourth down. The Tigers sacked UNC quarterback Drake Maye four times.

Clemson rolled up 466 yards of offense – 219 through the air and 247 on the ground. Will Shipley carried the ball 18 times for 126 yards and caught two passes for 53 yards. The defense held Maye to just 16-of-36 for 209 yards but was gashed for 248 rushing yards, 178 (on 19 carries) by Omarion Hampton.

Clemson worked itself into an early hole as the Tar Heels racked up 198 first-quarter yards, but it could have been worse. The Heels took the opening kickoff and marched down the Clemson seven, but running back Omarion Hampton was stripped by DeMonte Capehart and TJ Parker recovered at the line of scrimmage.

The Tigers were unable to take advantage of the turnover, and the teams once again traded punts. The Tigers reached midfield and faced a 4th-and-1 at the UNC 48. The Tigers kept the offense on the field, and it looked like they were going to go for it, but Swinney called timeout and ran his punt team on the field. Senior Tyler Davis took the snap as the upback, but he was swarmed, and the Heels took over at the Clemson 46. Three plays later, Drake Maye hit JJ Jones on a 33-yard touchdown pass, and the Heels led 7-0.

Following another Clemson punt, Hampton rushed down the right sideline for 64 yards, and the initial call was a touchdown. However, Nate Wiggins stripped Hampton at the one and the call was overturned. Clemson took over at its own 20 and marched 80 yards in 14 plays, scoring on a three-yard pass from Klubnik to Briningstool. With 10:10 left to play in the half, it was tied at 7-7.

The teams traded possessions for most of the second quarter – the Clemson defense dialed up the pressure on Maye – but the Tigers were able to score at the end of the half. Following a UNC punt, the Tigers took over at their own 43 with 1:14 left to play in the half. The Tigers dinked their way down the field but faced a third-and-goal from the three with eight seconds left and no timeouts. It was a called pass play, but Klubnik took off, shook off a tackler, and barely got the nose of the ball over the line for the score with three seconds left. Clemson led 14-7 at intermission.

North Carolina’s first drive of the second half was stopped with a turnover on downs. The Heels faced a 4th-and-6 at the Clemson 42, but Maye was sacked by Khalil Barnes for a two-yard loss. A 31-yard pass to Adam Randall started the drive, and Mafah went into the Wildcat and scored from three yards to end the drive for a 21-7 Clemson lead.

It didn’t take the Heels long to answer, with Hampton scampering 55 yards for a touchdown that made it 21-14 with 6:20 left in the third quarter. On the ensuing possession, Shipley started the drive with a 31-yard run and ended with a 33-yard scoring run to put the Tigers back on top by two scores at 28-14. Clemson added a 21-yard field goal from Jonathan Weitz early in the 4th quarter to go up 31-14, but the Heels drove right back down the field and scored on Hampton’s three-yard run. UNC went for two, but the conversion pass was broken up, and Clemson led 31-20 with 7:03 to play.

The Tigers ran it three times and punted on the ensuing possession, but North Carolina was unable to gain yardage and failed on a 4th-and-20 try at their own 20. Clemson took over at the UNC 20 with just over four minutes to play. The Tigers again went ultra-conservative, and Weitz missed a field goal to give the ball back to UNC at the 25 with 2:41 to play. However, Maye’s first pass was picked off by Wiggins, who returned it to the 25 with 2:37 remaining.

Clemson-UNC box