Uiagalelei says He Would Have Taken Himself Out of the Game, too
CLEMSON, S.C. — DJ Uiagalelei said if he was Dabo Swinney, he would have taken himself out of the game, too, on Saturday.
The Clemson quarterback was lifted in the third quarter for backup Cade Klubnik after throwing his second interception of the afternoon. Klubnik, along with running back Will Shipley, sparked a fourth-quarter rally that saw the fifth-ranked Tigers score 17 unanswered points in a 27-21 victory over No. 14 Syracuse at Memorial Stadium.
“You have to get a spark when the quarterback is not playing good and especially how I have been playing and how I feel like I should have played,” Uiagalelei said after the game. “You got to be able to make a change like that.
“At the end of the day, for me, stats are not everything. My number one stat is to win or lose. Today we got a ‘W’ by Cade going out there. That is Coach Swinney’s number one job. There are a hundred and thirty-five guys on this team and at the end of the day, his responsibility is to the team, not me.”
Uiagalelei, who completed 13-of-21 passes for 138 yards, was pulled in favor of Klubnik after he turned the football over three times. He threw a first-quarter interception to go with his third-quarter pick.
He also lost a fumble inside the Syracuse five-yard line, which Orange defensive back Ja’Had Carter picked up and returned 90 yards for a touchdown.
Carter also picked off Uiagalelei at the Cuse 15-yard line in the first quarter to prevent another potential scoring drive.
“I thought a couple of times, I just made a couple of bad decisions,” Uiagalelei said. “Of course, there was the fumble and then just bad decisions right there, I thought.”
Klubnik did not fill up the stat sheet in leading the Tigers back from a 21-10 deficit, but he did not turn over the football and used his legs to make a couple of first downs. One first down came when he scrambled to his right on third-and-long and ran out of bounds following a 10-yard gain.
Elijah Fuentes-Cundiff was called for a personal foul on a hit out of bounds, which extended the drive. A few plays later, after Klubnik picked up another first on third-and-short, the Orange was called for a personal foul penalty as linebacker Marlow Wax tried to rip Klubnik’s helmet off.
All of that set up Phil Mafah’s one-yard plunge on fourth down to cap a 15-play, 80-yard scoring drive.
“I’m just excited to get my moment,” Klubnik said.
Klubnik finished the game just 2-for-4 for 19 yards, while also running for another 13 yards. The numbers are not flashy or anything of that nature, but he did what he had to do and more importantly, he took care of the football.
He did put the ball on the ground one time, but he got it back. On the next play, running back Will Shipley took a handoff and raced 50-yards down the near sideline for what turned out to be the game-winning score.
“We ran the ball on them all day,” Klubnik said. “They really could not stop our offense. We were just shooting ourselves in the foot whenever we had some good drives going. I don’t think it was anything the defense was doing. It was just us hurting ourselves.”
Clemson finished the afternoon with 450 total yards, including 293 on the ground. Shipley led the way with a career-high 172 yards on 27 carries and scored two touchdowns.
“Cade came in and played amazing. He picked us up,” Uiagalelei said. “He won that football game for us today, along with the offensive line, the running backs. Shoutout to (Klubnik) he did an unbelievable job today.
“He did a great job managing the game. Going out there and trusting yourself and playing. I am super proud of Cade today.”
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