By Doc Kennedy
Clemson, a struggling team searching for answers and coming off an open week, came to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina, a struggling team searching for answers and coming off an open week. Which team would find its footing?
It took one play to find out.
Clemson scored on a trick play, a 75-yard double pass for a touchdown on their first snap, and the rout was on for the Tigers in a 38–10 win. Although Carolina scored a field goal on their first possession (after not converting after having 2nd-and-2 in the red zone), the rest of the first half was an exhibition of bad football by the Tar Heels.
The heretofore offensively challenged Tigers exceeded their season-high in points in just the first quarter, and Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik looked like the preseason Heisman candidate he was touted as. Meanwhile, UNC had blown coverages on defense, Max Johnson had defenders in his face all game, and special teams were a mess. For much of the first half, it appeared Clemson could name the margin of victory, and this piece was going to be called the Gross, Brutal, and Unimaginable Report. Clemson racked up 367 yards of offense in the first half alone as Klubnik went 21 of 23 for 251 yards and 4 touchdowns while leading the Tigers to a 35-3 halftime lead.
The second half settled in as Carolina finally started to move the ball a little bit, with its first drive ending in a missed 50-yard field-goal attempt and its second drive on downs in Clemson territory before finally finding the end zone on its third possession.
Meanwhile, Clemson called off the dogs in the third quarter, sitting Klubnik and making some mamas happy by playing a lot of second and third-team guys down the stretch, allowing UNC to “win” the second half 7–3.
With that in mind, here is the Clemson version of the Good, Bad, and Ugly Report:
Good
Max Johnson
His stat line wasn’t great (26 of 42 for 213 yards), but the fact that he is even playing football is a miracle. And while his accuracy was inconsistent, he is clearly a better passer than Gio Lopez and makes the offense more diverse when defenses have to respect a pass.
Rush defense
On a day when the Tigers were cutting through the Tar Heels like a warm knife through butter, the damage wasn’t done on the ground. Clemson only managed 89 yards for a 2.9 average, and 30 of those yards came on the final drive against Carolina’s reserves.
Bad
Offensive line
To be fair, Clemson’s defensive front is a team strength, but the O-line wasn’t able to keep defenders out of Johnson’s face all day. And while UNC was throwing after being down early, Carolina only managed 54 yards on the ground. Rough day up front.
Fourth-down conversions
While UNC was a solid 4 of 12 in third-down conversions, the Tar Heels allowed Clemson to convert on three of four fourth-down attempts, and the fourth was less than a yard away.
Ugly
Defensive backs
Carolina gave up nearly 400 yards in the air, and the D-backs were flagged four times for pass interference. Woof.
Open week improvements
As in, there was none. Improvement coming out of the extra week of practice was hard to find. There were blown coverages everywhere, a significant increase in penalties over the first four games, and three(!) times UNC was flagged for illegal formations. These are first-week-of-camp issues, not things you see at almost the mid-point of the season. One of the expectations of Carolina fans was that, even if the team wasn’t as talented, they would be well-coached. Unfortunately, there’s not much evidence of that after five games and an open week.
With the loss, UNC falls to 2–3, including 0–3 against Power Four competition, having been outscored 120–33 in those three games. Unfortunately, the Tar Heels have an argument for being the worst Power Four team in the country.
Clemson played inspired football, as to be expected given their struggles and preseason expectations, but Carolina in the first half was the exact opposite. UNC looked uninspired, lethargic, and just going through the motions. It’s one thing to lose to a better team, but it’s another thing to look awful doing it. The second half takes some of the sting out of it, as both UNC played better and Clemson called off the dogs, but UNC’s first half performance was just about as bad as it gets and fans voted with their feet as Kenan was a ghost town after the third quarter.
Through a schedule quirk, UNC has its second open date this upcoming week before heading cross-country to play a better-than-predicted California team in Berkeley. After two small steps forward following the season-opening debacle vs. TCU, Carolina has taken two giant steps back. Fans can only hope Bill Belichick and his staff dial up something better in this open date than they did in the last one.
Doc Kennedy is an alum, longtime UNC fan, and former high school and college basketball coach who wrote this report for years on Tar Heel Blog.
Photo by Joshua Lawton
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