Ups and Downs: Clemson vs. NC State

The race for the playoffs and hopes of a third national championship in the CFP era were dashed with the Clemson Tigers 27-21 loss to NC State Saturday night.

Ups: 

Defense— The defense fought valiantly, even down three starters—which we will get to in a second. The Tiger defense allowed only 27 points, six of which came off a turnover—which we will get to also–and 387 total yards.

Downs:

Offense— The offense was abysmal for the fourth straight game. Uiagalelei continued to struggle. Outside of a touchdown strike to Justyn Ross in the first quarter, the Tiger signal-caller struggled. Uiagalelei continued to turn the ball over at inopportune times and finished the game 12-26 for 111 yards, two touchdowns and a 112.7 passer rating.

Maybe the most confusing of offensive play calls came on third and fourth-and-5 in the second overtime, when the coaching staff, needing only five yards to keep the game going, chose to throw back-to-back passes, the latter of which was a fade into the end zone.

Turnovers— Dabo Swinney admitted that the Tigers had to stop the turnovers if they wanted a chance to win. 

"Got to stop turning the ball over, I can tell you that...We've put the ball on the ground seven times in the past two games and it's a miracle we only lost two of them," Swinney said. "That kills drives, bad field position, it's just a mess. That's nothing to do with simplifying the scheme. That's fundamentals. You just rep it, rep it, rep it."

However, the Tigers' interception led to six Wolfpack points.

Injuries— The Tigers entered the game without defensive tackle Tyler Davis, who is out for an extended period of time with a torn bicep, but they lost linebacker James Skalski, defensive tackle Bryan Bresee and numerous other players off the defense at times during the game. In overtime starting running back Will Shipley was injured. 

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