Clemson, SC
Clemson came into Thursday night’s contest with lofty expectations going into the 2019 season. The Tigers ranked #1 pre season for the first time in program history, look to repeat as both ACC and National Champions in 2019. With a National TV audience watching live as the ACC Network Debuted with its inaugural game of its newly christened existence. The pressure was squarely on Dabo Swinney and his team to come out and live up to those expectations.
Coming into the game Tiger phenom QB has been all the talk of the press and fanbases across the college football landscape. In the Tigers 2019 debut Lawrence seemed rusty at times actually throwing 2 interceptions in the game. But, also scored the Tigers first TD of 2019 and ended the night 13/23 for 168 yards and 62 yard bomb to Tee Higgins for a TD. Travis Etienne the other Heisman candidate out of the Clemson backfield managed to run for 205 yards on the evening on justs 12 paltry carries for a gaudy per carry average of 17 yards per carry. Tee Higgins was the offense top reciever grabbing 4 catches for 96 yards and the one TD.
On the other side of the ball the Tigers were led by Isaiah Simmons and his 10 tackles and flashed his athleticism on more than one play. Also defensive tackle Tyler Davis (Freshman) got the start on this night and was very disruptive and made several play in space and behind the line of scrimmage.
The Tigers scored early and sporadically throughout the contest. A drive would stall, punt and the defense would hold. Then a 9 second drive or 23 second drive on big plays that lit up the scoreboard. With the Tigers offense skipping beats the defense was very solid on the night stopping the Jackets at almost every turn. Georgia Tech managed to score twice in the second half but it was not nearly enough to keep pace with the #1 ranked Tigers. Clemson wins the first game ever on the ACC network and goes to 1-0 overall and in conference play as they swat the Jackets by a final score of 52-14. Dabo Swinney and staff now turn their eyes toward Texas A&M and the 12th ranked team in the nation as they come to Clemson for a top 25 matchup with big implications for each team.
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