Clemson rallies to hand UNC their first loss of the season

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Sometimes sports can very predictable in really silly ways. Going into halftime of today’s game between UNC and Clemson, anybody outside the Tar Heel fanbase probably said that the mojo was on their side and they had a great chance to pull off a needed win in Death Valley to end a horrendous losing streak against the Tigers. For any Carolina fans like myself, however, there was this sinking feeling that the Heels would find a way to choke, and boy did they ever.

Before we get too far down the rabbit hole, let’s first address the first half. UNC opened the game by pounding the ball down Clemson’s throat, which resulted in taking an early 14-3 lead. Clemson freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds had a difficult time getting going early on mostly because of nerves, but it didn’t help that the Heels’ defensive line was forcing him to make some iffy decisions. Reynolds would eventually find his footing, though, but Clemson still couldn’t find their way into the end zone. UNC went into halftime up 17-6, and it felt like maybe momentum was on Bill Belichick’s side.

To start the second half, though, Reynolds & Co. continued to apply pressure against the Heels’ defense. The Tigers scored 10 unanswered points in the second half, and after a while it was clear that UNC didn’t have much of an answer. On the offensive side of the ball, Clemson’s defense clamped down on UNC’s potent run game, which means Billy Edwards Jr. had to prove that he could beat them with his arm. That didn’t go well, to say the least, but they were eventually able to get into field goal range in the fourth quarter to make the score 20-15. The three points were scored after yet another severe weather delay thanks to lightning in the area.

When Clemson got the ball back, they ran four plays for 68 yards and got into the end zone. The Heels proceeded to turn the ball over on downs, which then led to the Tigers running five plays and getting into the end zone yet again. On UNC’s last possession, Edwards tried to be a hero and connect on a desperation Hail Mary, but the pass was intercepted to end the game.

For anybody wondering how UNC could let such a winnable game slip away, look no further than Edwards’ sub-par performance. While he was able to escape pressure with his feet, throwing the ball this afternoon was a disaster. He connected just 13 of his 30 passes for 135 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. He threw a number of bad passes to his targets, missed some guys entirely, and overall just looked bad. Ben Hall and Demon June did a great job of trying to carry the offense on their backs, but ultimately you can’t beat many Power Four teams with poor quarterback play. Hopefully it was just a bad day that won’t repeat itself, but Notre Dame won’t make things any easier in a couple of weeks.

As far as the defense goes, it just seemed like Reynolds proved to be a problem for them once he shook off the nerves. While they deserve a lot of credit for what they were able to do earlier in the game, Reynolds picked them apart from the end of the second quarter onward, and it eventually wore them down. Perhaps things would’ve went better if Melkart Abou Jaoude wasn’t injured, but really we’ll never know. Credit to Reynolds for saving Dabo Swinney from embarrassment, but this is a loss for the Tar Heels that will sting for quite some time.

Up next for the Tar Heels is a by week next week, and then the week after they will face off against Notre Dame in Kenan Stadium.

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