It served as the springboard for what has been arguably, the best season ever recorded by an UNC quarterback.
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Clemson totaled 605 yards, second to the 623 it had at N.C. State this season.
Clemson’s Shaq Lawson celebrates in the closing minutes of his team’s 23-17 win over Florida State.
The Tar Heels have qualified for a bowl game every season during Fedora’s tenure. Clemson scored on three straight possessions.
Stat of the game: Averaging almost 500 yards a game this season, North Carolina was held to 103 in the first half and 227 after three quarters. Watson was also the most efficient passer in the conference, owning a 161.9 rating, helping Gallman rank third with 1,145 yards.
Clemson racked up a conference championship game record 608 yards, eclipsing the 500-yard mark for the ninth consecutive game.
North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams, speaking recently of his team’s defeat at Northern Iowa last month, emphatically stated that he’s never gained anything from losing. The Clemson Tigers are 11-1 and 8-4 against the spread. They’ll need all hands on deck to keep him in check. If they can put some doubt into the Tigers mind and hang with them, watch out.
Heading into another appearance in the SEC championship game, there’s no indication that anyone is close to knocking off Nick Saban’s behemoth from Tuscaloosa. North Carolina hasn’t seen anything comparable. Now they can ruin Alabama’s season. The longer North Carolina has the ball, the better chance they have of pulling off the upset.
Clemson knows all about that. The Tar Heels, who haven’t won an ACC football title since 1980, are now ranked 8th in the Associated Press poll and 10th in the College Football Playoff poll.
Watson looks like a Heisman Trophy victor this season.
The senior’s launched 18 touchdown passes and thrown for 2,605 yards, while gaining another 786 yards and 10 more scores on the ground to finish second in the ACC in total offensive yards. He finished with 185 yards rushing, with two touchdowns. He rushed for 127 yards and two touchdowns. “Both those guys will play a good bit, I’m sure”. It might not be on a defensive line that has helped Clemson compile 36 sacks. Quarterback Marquise Williams completed 11 of 33 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns, but ran for his life much of the game. Hood has been on an absolute tear the last few weeks of the season as arguably the hottest player in all of college football. Last week in Raleigh Sophomore RB Elijah Hood busted out 220 yards off of 21 carries and TJ Logan added 100 more and a Touchdown.
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The conventional wisdom is that the title game Saturday night is essentially a play-in for one of the four pre spots in the College Football Playoff. He passed 26 of 42 for 289 yards and 3 touchdowns.
