Watson, who last week was named ACC Player of the Year, made a strong case in his bid for the Heisman Trophy, accounting for 420 yards and five touchdowns while earning Most Valuable Player honors. We came out and fought to the end. They tried another onside kick and this time Clemson recovered and ran out the clock. Replay did not appear to show anybody misaligned.
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North Carolina coach Larry Fedora wasn’t shy with his feelings that the Tar Heels should jump from No. 10 into the top four with a victory over No. 1 Clemson.
Clemson still has to wait for the official announcement from the playoff selection committee on Sunday.
But that does not mean Clemson will be able to coast to a conference championship.
“It’s the same things that attract me to it right now”, he said then, “(and it’s) that we have all the pieces of the puzzle to do what we’re doing right now….
Clemson now improves to 13-0 and will be a prime contender for the national championship. 500 over the next two seasons.
“What a great crowd – it felt like a home crowd”, Swinney said. Watson may not win the award, especially considering the wild numbers from Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey or the absurd work load carried by Derrick Henry, but when Clemson was otherwise busting at the seams, the sophomore quarterback was totally in control.
DO-OVER: North Carolinas only loss came on this field to SC in Week 1. They forced the Tar Heels into two costly turnovers – cornerback Condrea Tankersley’s interception in the red zone when the game was still competitive, and defensive end Austin Bryant’s fumble recovery near midfield.
A win would be a big boost for the Tar Heels (11-1, 8-0 ACC, No. 10 CFP) resume given the national stage, but wouldnt guarantee them entry into the playoff.
This will be the first time the two programs have met at a neutral site since 1915 when they faced each other in Greensboro and the Tar Heels won 9-7. They ran off a school-record 11 straight wins before losing on Saturday night.
DOMINANT STARTS: UNC has been downright dominant in the first half of games in November. But some weaknesses that were seen earlier in the season were exposed again on defense. Defensively, Clemson football yields 160.8 yards in passing and 127.7 yards in rushing.
Watson’s counterpart, Tar Heel senior Marquise Williams, struggled mightily with the Tigers’ pass rush. However, UNC was flagged for being offside on the play – it was a controversial call. Henry’s output was enough to put him at 1,986 yards on the season, surpassing Herschel Walker’s 1,891 yards in 1981 for the SEC’s single-season rushing record. On the ensuing onside kick, UNC recovered at the 50-yard line with a chance to tie if they scored a touchdown-plus-two-point-conversion.
RB Elijah Hood has had a breakout year and his 1280 yards, 16 TDs only trails FSU’s Dalvin Cook in the ACC statistics.
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I most definitely do, The Tar Heels fourth-year coach said Friday at a news conference.
