Reynolds didn't have to win this one by himself, which is a good thing for a Clemson offense with 2 running backs out for the season and a short receiver room. The Tigers scored in each of the first 3 quarters, 6 in the 1st, 3 in the 2nd and 9 in the 3rd, and got nothing in the 4th. Most of the scoring was steady field-position work, and the one big play belonged to the defense, not the freshman. Clemson closed as a slight road favorite and won by more than a field goal, so it covered.
The scoop-and-score is the play everybody will remember. Clemson recovered Angeli's fumble, took it back for a touchdown and missed the 2-point try, but it was still 18-6 with 6:39 left in the 3rd. That missed conversion would matter later, because it left Syracuse within one touchdown for the rest of the game. On a day when 31 total points were scored, a defensive touchdown was going to decide it.
Syracuse didn't score in the 3rd and finally broke through in the 4th, and Angeli's touchdown made it 18-13. The Orange trailed by 5 with 3:12 left, which is exactly the spot where they beat North Carolina by 1 and SMU by 3 in back-to-back weeks. This time there was no answer. A team that had won 2 straight close ones lost a close one, and 40 attempts for 18 completions explains why better than anything else.
Charleston Southern37-0
The preview's worry about Syracuse was that its defense lets teams back into games. On Saturday the defense was fine. Clemson's 18 points is the fewest Syracuse has allowed in any of the last 5, and the Tigers' offense went silent in the 4th quarter. The Orange lost on turnovers and their own offense. Clemson's defense gave up 41 to Miami earlier this year and was inconsistent going in, but it held a quarterback who had been finishing drives and supplied the winning margin itself.
Now the bowl math. Clemson is 6-3 and 4-2 in the ACC, it reached 6 wins with a backup quarterback, and it has won 2 straight. Syracuse drops to 4-5 and 2-5 in league play, so it needs 2 more wins to get to a bowl. After a season of nail-biters, the Orange are running out of margin for close losses.
