By Nate Mink / Syracuse.com
CLEMSON, S.C. — Nobody gave Syracuse football a chance to come into Death Valley and continue this charmed season unbeaten.
The Orange, entering the game as 25-point underdogs, gave the Tigers everything they wanted in a 27-23 loss here Saturday afternoon before faltering in the final minute, succumbing to a relentless rushing attack and defensive front.
Clemson turned to freshman Chase Brice after Trevor Lawrence was knocked out of the game late in the first half after absorbing a hit to the head.
Brice calmly delivered a strike to Tee Higgins to convert a 4th-and-6 with 2:50 remaining in regulation. Then, the freshman quarterback ripped off a tough run before Tavian Feaster and Travis Etienne pounded the ball in for the game-winning score.
Etienne gashed the Orange defense in the second half, finishing with 203 yards and three touchdowns, including the winning score with 41 seconds remaining in regulation.
It spoiled what would’ve been the most impactful win in 31 years, the last time the Orange started a season 5-0, a victory that certainty would have lifted SU into the top 25 for the first time since 2001.
Perhaps the outcome would’ve been different if not for a crucial penalty for an ineligible player downfield on a 4th-and-1 pop pass to Aaron Hackett that negated a first down in Clemson territory with 8:53 remaining in regulation.
That’s how close, perhaps, SU came to repeating last season’s stunner, to leaving here as college football’s unofficial Cinderella of 2018.
Before then, the worst kind of deja vu struck the Tigers when late in the first half Lawrence took a hard hit to the helmet by safety Evan Foster. Eerie murmurs emanated throughout the near-sellout Memorial Stadium crowd when the true freshman phenom laid on the grass near the Syracuse sideline. He would walk off and did not return to the game.
A year ago, Kelly Bryant left the game after being thrown to the ground by Chris Slayton, paving the way for an inexperienced backup to finish the game. Five days ago, Bryant was officially benched in favor of Lawrence, and the senior announced his transfer the next day, leaving the Tigers with no experienced quarterback behind Lawrence.
On the ensuing drive, Clemson’s defense came out angry. Christian Wilkins twisted Eric Dungey’s foot at the end of the drive’s first play. Clelin Ferrell shoved him to the ground after the second. Then Dungey came back and floated a deep ball toward Jamal Custis, who hauled it in, in traffic, to extend one more scoring drive before the end of the half.
Syracuse led 16-7 at halftime behind three field goals by redshirt freshman walk-on kicker Andre Szmyt (including a 51-yarder) and a touchdown drive keyed by a 51-yard reception downfield by true freshman Taj Harris on a 3rd-and-6 from the SU 35.
It had momentum at the end of the third quarter, when a muffed punt set up Syracuse inside the Clemson 10-yard line. Dungey skied high and reached the ball across the goal line on a 4th-and-goal from the 1 with 12:58 remaining in regulation to life SU ahead by 10.
The game ended with some of the 80,000-plus Clemson fans storming the field after its comeback victory, one team’s unbeaten season continuing on into October, the other, needing to regroup after a heartbreaking loss that robbed everyone’s imaginations of what could have been.