Tigers Klub Tar Heels in ACC Championship Game

Klubnik jumps for joy after his touchdown. (Ken Ruinard /USAT)

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Sat Dec 03 23:40:36 GMT-04:00 2022

CHARLOTTE, NC – After a one-year hiatus, the ACC once again runs through Clemson… and Cade Klubnik.

Clemson’s offense started off sluggish, but after a quarterback change on the third drive of the game the eighth-ranked Tigers (11-2 overall, 9-0 ACC) were all gas in a 39-10 dismantling of No. 23 North Carolina (9-4, 6-3).

Klubnik completed ten passes before throwing his first incompletion of the game. He finished the game 20-of-24 for 279 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a touchdown.

Freshman Cole Turner was Clemson’s leading receiver with three catches for 101 yards. Joseph Ngata added five catches for 46 yards. Clemson’s offense finished with 385 total yards - 317 through the air and 68 on the ground.

North Carolina’s Drake Maye was 26-of-42 for 268 yards and two interceptions. The Tar Heels amassed 384 yards - 273 passing and 111 rushing. Josh Downs led Heels with 11 receptions for 100 yards.

"Well, man, that was fun. It was a fun night," head coach Dabo Swinney said. "Really proud of our team and these seniors and for these guys to have an opportunity to roll out of here, we've got some guys six years that are leaving with five of these, and guys with four years leaving with three and guys with five leaving with four. So this is a great night for us. I'm really proud of this team and I'm proud of the consistency of our program.

"But tonight was special. I mean, it really was. It's hard to win. No matter what happened tonight, we had a good year, but anytime you can win 11 and you win your league, you had a great year. This was a culmination of a great year and a lot of good things that happened tonight. First of all, we didn't turn it over, and we got takeaways. We were plus 3 in the margin. Defensively we got after the quarterback, had four sacks, and then probably the biggest thing is -- because they moved the ball, but we got stops in the red zone, something we have not been doing well."

Swinney said the plan was to play Klubnik early.

"There were a lot of good things that happened in the red zone for us which was a huge difference, and then obviously offensively we really played well. Cade came in and we went into this game with him coming in the third series no matter what," Swinney said. "DJ did not play well the first two series and didn't know what he was going to do, and then he came in and really played well.

"We rolled the rest of the way. So a lot of guys made some plays. It was good to get Cole Turner back in there tonight. We talked to him all year about, hey, listen, we're going to need you to win a championship. Didn't know it was going to quite be like that, but it was really awesome. He really don't even know what he's doing yet, but he's going to be a great player, and he really doesn't even know he's good. Super excited about just our future and a lot of things that I saw tonight. But man, Trotter was awesome. He had three sacks. And again, the third week in a row we've scored on defense."

Clemson lost the toss, and after three straight passes – two that fell incomplete – the Tigers punted.

North Carolina, however, methodically worked its way down the field as Maye orchestrated an 11-play, 78-yard scoring drive that took over five minutes off the clock. Maye completed five-of-six passes for 47 yards and carried the ball three times for 18 yards, including the three-yard touchdown run that put the Tar Heels on top 7-0 at the 8:50 mark in the opening quarter.

After Clemson's second possession went unsuccessful, Uiagalelei was pulled in favor of Klubnik, and the change at quarterback was just the spark the Tigers' offense needed. The first play was a 16-yard pass to Antonio Williams, followed by a dart to Davis Allen for six yards. Two runs netted 13 yards, and then Klubnik hit Williams again for 22.

Klubnik followed that with an 8-yard run to the UNC six. Three plays later, facing a 2nd-and-goal at the one, Klubnik rolled right and waited for Allen to break free in the corner of the endzone. Klubnik put the ball on the money, and the Tigers were able to tie the game at 7-7. Klubnik was perfect on his first drive, going 5-for-5 for 50 yards.

On the ensuing North Carolina drive, Maye dropped the ball while attempting to hand it off to the running back. Ruke Orhorhoro fell on the fumble on the 23-yard line.

The Tigers reached into their bag of tricks after the turnover. Klubnik pitched the ball back to Mafah, who then hit Klubnik down the UNC sideline for a 19-yard catch-and-run to the four-yard line. Mafah rumbled into the endzone on the next play for a 14-7 Clemson lead with less than a minute to play in the first quarter.

Clemson's defense stood tall in the redzone as Nate Wiggins broke up a third-down pass on the goal line and blocked a 31-yard field goal attempt on the next play. After a few short gains, Klubnik showed off his arm, airing out a 68-yard pass down the sideline to freshman wideout Cole Turner to the one-yard line. On the next play, Klubnik faked the handoff to Shipley and rolled left to walk untouched into the endzone for a 21-7 lead with just over six minutes to play in the half.

The Tar Heels again drove down the field to Clemson's six-yard line. Jeremiah Trotter, Jr. sacked Maye to force a 25-yard field goal to cut Clemson's lead to 21-10 with 1:20 to play before intermission. With the sack, Trotter became the first Clemson player with three sacks in a game since Clelin Ferrell against Syracuse in 2017.

It was also Clemson's 40th sack of the season, making the Tigers the only program in the country to record 40 sacks in every season in the College Football Playoff Era.

Clemson and BT Potter answered with a 52-yard field goal – which tied his career-long – as time expired to extend Clemson's lead to 24-10. The field goal was also the longest in ACC Championship Game history and put Potter over 100 points for the season, making him the first player in ACC history to score 100 points in four different years.

North Carolina and Clemson traded punts to open the third quarter before the Tar Heel offense was on the move again. Maye moved the Heels into the redzone, but on third-and-five, he tried to force a throw into the endzone that fell into the hands of Wiggins, who raced 98 yards for a pick-six. The Tigers faked the extra point as holder Drew Swinney raced into the endzone for two points and a 32-10 Clemson lead with 5:05 to play in the third quarter.

The interception is the second-longest in Clemson football history. In 1970, Don Kelley returned an interception 102 yards against Duke.

Clemson’s offense found its rhythm again late in the third quarter with a 9-play, 86-yard drive capped off with a two-yard plunge into the endzone by Will Shipley to open up Clemson’s lead to 39-10 with just under a minute to play in the third quarter.