A Tiger Talk: Be Optimistic About Clemson's Second Half Comeback

I saw social media during the first 30 minutes of Clemson’s win over North Carolina, where the Tigers were down double digits for the majority of the game.

In the last half, despite a bend, don’t break defense happening at times, the response head coach Dabo Swinney’s team showed was even stronger.

You could call it a tale of two halves, with Clemson going down 17-6 at half before outscoring its opponent 22-3 in the two frames of the game. But, it was also the emotion that the team showed with each snap that made the belief stronger.

Even in a lightning delay that occurred with 8:11 left in the game that set the game back more than two hours, the belief stayed on the field that was soaked with rain by the time the Tigers took the field once again.

With every first-down carry, running back Gideon Davidson ran off the sideline, excited to help the offense. On defense, cornerback Ashton Hampton had his hands up to the crowd with every incompletion to get every ounce of noise.

To close off the game, when freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds kneeled the ball to seal the game, you could see a smile grow on his face while being the first starting quarterback to win his debut start since Trevor Lawrence.

Sometimes, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, and the momentum Clemson brought into the fray on a wet, hot Saturday afternoon is optimistic. For a team that is still looking for an identity, we certainly saw glimpses of it throughout the contest, mainly in that second half.

And it couldn’t have arrived at a better time.

Penn State transfer Elliot Washington II sees the vision, and although it wasn’t pretty early, he’s seeing the identity that will bring the team confidence going forward.

“Everybody has the swagger,” he said. “So, I just feel like everybody’s just implementing it together. So, we’re all building on that.”

However, it’s not about what happened, it’s going to be about how you can retain it, and that will be the goal for Clemson moving forward.

It starts with Cal, a team out west on a 10:30 p.m. kick off that will test both the mental and physical game of the Tigers before perhaps playing the game itself. If Clemson is looking to go 2-0 heading home to face a potential top-5 opponent in Miami, they will need to use that momentum and newfound swagger to shut down an under-the-radar team in the ACC.

The frustrations were real, though, and the issues were apparent. However, being the first team to ever beat Bill Belichick after being down by 14 or more points to teams coached by him is one of the things it can hang its hat on.

The other things? Being 1-0 in conference play, defending home field and finding an identity that could be contagious among the entire team.

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