Clemson Wins ACC; College Football Playoff Next

North Carolina is making its first appearance in the ACC Championship game and has an outside shot at claiming one of the four playoff spots if they can upset the top-ranked Tigers.

Clemson’s football team assured its fans of a pizza party for the ages on Sunday by notching an offensive performance for the ages on Saturday night in a 45-37 victory against North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game.

ABC cameras caught Swinney repeatedly blasting Teasdall after his botched fake punt play, which led to a North Carolina touchdown and a Tar Heel lead, 16-14, in the second quarter.

The Tigers turned the ball over at least three times in their previous three games but had only one turnover against North Carolina on a tipped pass thrown by Watson that was intercepted. Clemson set the tone early and never took its collective foot off the Tar Heels’ backside.

“All you media people were asking me about the polls six weeks ago and I told you it didn’t matter”, Swinney said. “It’s just the way it is”. The late hit, along with a facemask penalty kept the first Tar Heels drive alive, allowing the Heels to take a 3-0 lead.

The Tar Heels (11-2) totaled 382 yard, but they had their 11-game win streak broken in their first ever trip the conference championship game and gave up the most points on defense this season.

Clemson improved to 13-0 with the win, and removed any doubt about whether it would be in the playoff.

In the second quarter, the Tigers drove the ball 96 yards in 12 plays, capped off by Deshaun Watson’s 9-yard TD run.

The pressure from Clemson’s defensive line seemed to get to UNC quarterback Marquise Williams, who scrambled often and at times had trouble connecting with receivers who were open. This is the most wins in Clemson football history and are now moving onto the College Football Playoff.

It’s conceivable the committee could jump Bama ahead of Clemson to No. 1, as chairman Jeff Long has suggested multiple times has been debated. The Tigers’ 13-play, 97-yard drive ended with a 3-yard rush by Gallman pushing the lead to 28-16. Elijah Hood, the sophomore running back, said the Tigers “threw the kitchen sink at us, in terms of blitzing”.

Trying to imitate Madden proved to be a costly decision by the Clemson punter, as the Tar Heels went on to score the go-ahead touchdown and take a 16-14 lead in the second quarter. He finished the game with 187 yards rushing while Watson ran for 131.

Entering Saturday it had been 35 years since the UNC football team last won an ACC Championship.

“I had a chance to look at it and they missed it. They were wrong”. That shouldn’t be the case tonight against a tough Clemson defense and an offense that lead the ACC in total yards.

“It isn’t going to change”, Fedora said.

Huegel came into the game having made five of seven field goal attempts from beyond 40 yards and 21 of 24 overall for the season. Nope, just that one offsides play. He rushed for 127 yards and two touchdowns.