The Demon Deacons were feeling confident after a win over Army last week, but an upset victory proved out of their reach Saturday afternoon as they fell to No. 3 Clemson, 56-7.
The Deacs were off to an unpromising start when Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd hit wide receiver Sammy Watkins for a 64-yard touchdown on the third play of the game. The Tigers quickly added insult to injury with a 10-yard touchdown just over five minutes in.
The Deacon offense lit
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a spark when senior quarterback Tanner Price hit senior tailback Josh M. Harris for 31 yards on the first play of the ensuing drive, but the Deacs couldn’t capitalize. After forcing a punt, the Tigers scored a 75-yard touchdown to make the score 21-0.
With just over a minute left in the half, Price put the Deacs on the board with a 10-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Sherman Ragland III for the first touchdown of Ragland’s career. The extra point from sophomore Chad Hedlund made the score 21-7.
Big back-to-back drives for both sides finally slowed Clemson’s momentum. After three straight touchdown drives, the Deacon defense forced three straight three-and-outs to begin the second quarter.
However, with four and one at the Wake two-yard line, Boyd got into the end zone on his second attempt to make the score 28-7.
After two unproductive drives for the Deacs, Clemson ran the two-minute offense well and scored to take a 35-7 lead heading into halftime.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Tyler Cameron took over for Price at the start of the second half. Cameron completed his first pass to senior flanker Michael Campanaro, but fumbled on the next play to give Clemson the ball. The Tigers then capped a 10-play, 46-yard touchdown drive with a one-yard run to make the score 42-7.
Even with a new quarterback of their own, the Tigers quickly found themselves in the end zone again as backup quarterback Cole Stoudt completed an 18-yard touchdown pass to make the score 49-7.
The Tigers added another touchdown in the fourth quarter to make the final score 56-7.
The Demon Deacons will head home to fight another ACC battle against NC State Saturday, Oct. 5, at 3:30 p.m.