— by Patrick Magoon (patrickmagoon.com) of WIZS
— photo by Patrick Magoon
Clemson’s Saturday night game at Clemson Memorial Stadium was a special event for several fans, coaches, players and veteran soldiers in attendance. Before kickoff, current and former military personnel and Tigers’ seniors playing out their final home game of this season received words of encouragement and roaring applause from the nearly packed stadium. Fans of the Tigers’ stood in awe as a group of men in military uniforms shot their rifles in the air to honor the fallen soldiers who dedicated their lives to protecting this country.
Clemson advances to 11-0 on the season and remains undefeated against Duke after solid performances from defensive end Clelin Ferrell, senior Christian Wilkins, safety Tanner Muse and quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Here is a recap of Clemson’s 35-6 bounce-back win over Duke.
The first half featured an intense battle between Duke’s defensive unit and Clemson’s potent offense. Duke’s energetic defense came out and made a statement early on in the first quarter by limiting Clemson’s offense to four plays or less on each of their first three offensive drives. The Tigers’ failed to put together a scoring play in the first quarter. Lawrence and company went 0 for 7 on third down in the first half, and their ground game was ineffective. The Tigers’ averaged just 1.7 yards per carry and accumulated 17 total rushing yards in the first half.
Duke, on the other hand, moved the ball well, reaching the red zone twice in 15 minutes, which allowed them to take an early 6-0 lead over Clemson. Blue Devils quarterback Daniel Jones was able to string together several quick passes and an impressive 37-yard pass to tight end Daniel Helm.
At the top of the second quarter, the Tigers’ picked up the pace. Lawrence, with the help of receivers Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross, put together an impressive 75-yard touchdown drive, which granted Clemson their first lead of the game. Ross’ highlight-worthy 41-yard touchdown catch down the sideline ignited a fire inside his teammates and gave Clemson the confidence they needed to keep Duke’s offense off of the field. Then with under two minutes left in the first half, Laurence led his offense down the field in eight plays – the result, Ross earned his second touchdown of the night, and the Tigers’ entered the locker room at halftime with a comfortable 14-6 lead. Duke never recovered after that drive.
The Blue Devils received the ball to start the second half and came up empty. Duke’s one chance to put more points on the scoreboard in the second half went down as a missed opportunity after Collin Wareham could not successfully clear the posts on a 42-yard field goal attempt.
Duke did an excellent job of slowing down Clemson’s rushing attack in the first half, but they could only contain Travis Etienne for so long. The Tigers’ wore out Duke’s defensive unit by pounding them with a physical ground game. Clemson controlled the pace of the game for most of the fourth quarter.
Clemson will travel to Pennsylvania to take on ACC coastal conference leader Pittsburgh Panthers on December 1, 2018, at 8:00 P.M. EST.