Postgame Observations: Clemson 55, State 10
Sunday afternoon, NC State will play a basketball game at PNC Arena against Detroit Mercy.
Saturday night, across the parking lot at Carter-Finley Stadium, the Wolfpack’s football team was reduced to begging for mercy.
Already short-handed because of an epidemic of injuries, especially on defense, things got even worse for coach Dave Doeren’s struggling team.
State’s homecoming celebration was ruined early as the combination of a talented, motivated Clemson team, a multitude of self-inflicted mistakes and the loss of even more key players added up to a 55-10 thrashing at the hands of the defending national champions.
The Tigers built a 28-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back in handing the Wolfpack its third straight lopsided loss, dropping it to 4-5 (1-4 ACC) on the season.
Here are some postgame observations from an ugly evening at Carter-Finley:
◼ While there’s no way of knowing how good or bad this team might have been at this point in the season if its lineup was intact, there's no questioning the fact that injuries have taken a major bite out of the Wolfpack's season.
Thirteen players missed last week's game at Wake Forest, including seven that are listed as out for the season. Even though cornerback Nick McCloud returned for the first time since the opening game on Aug. 31, the list got even longer before Saturday's game ever began with news that starting linebackers Isaiah Moore and Louis Acceus, starting left guard Joe Sculthorpe, backup defensive end Xavier Lyas and backup safety Isaiah Stallings would also miss the game. Sculthorpe's absence was because a violation of team rules.
The result is that all three starting linebackers -- Payton Wilson, Drake Thomas and C.J. Hart -- were freshmen making their first career starts. At one point or another, all three went down with injuries, with Wilson's shoulder being the most serious.
Several other players also left the game with lesser ailments, making it almost too easy for quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the ACC's top-ranked offense to put up big numbers. Lawerence finished by going 20 of 27 for 276 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Travis Etienne rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns before joining the rest of the Tigers' starters on the bench midway through the third quarter with a 49-7 lead.
Things got so bad that the Clemson ran a play designed to let an offensive lineman score a touchdown, which 6-foot-4, 330-pound John Simpson did.
"We're down to no depth," Doeren said. "We had three walkon linebackers in there at the end of the game at one point. Guys played hard. Guys are beat up right now. ...It's tough when you've got all those guys injured like that. It's tough."
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence runs for yardage with Wolfpack safety Tanner Ingle in pursuit (Rob Kinnan/USAToday sports)
Clemson's James Skalski reaches for a loose ball after a fumble by State quarterback Devin Leary, left (Rob Kinnan/USAToday sports)
Jordan Houston is wrapped up by Clemson's defense after a short gain (Rob Kinnan/USAToday sports)
Tanner Ingle makes a tackle on Clemson running back Lyn-J Dixon during Saturday's game (Rob Kinnan/USAToday sports)
◼ While the injuries and the inexperience they have helped create are legitimate reasons for State's woes, they don't exonerate the Wolfpack for all of the mistakes it brought on itself throughout the game.
The list is lengthy.
In the first quarter, quarterback Devin Leary fumbled as he was being sacked, giving Clemson the ball at the 3-yard line. Two plays later the Tigers scored to increase their lead to 21-0.
On the next series, two significant gains -- one on a pass from Leary to Devin Carter and an even bigger one on a run by Zonovan Knight -- were nullified by holding penalties, both committed by freshman wide receiver Keyon Lesane. On the very next play, Leary simply dropped the ball as he set up to throw downfield. Clemson recovered, setting up yet another score.
There was also an offside penalty on Jakeen Harris that gave Clemson a first down when it was lined up to punt and a snap that went right through Leary's hands late in the first half that cost State a chance to score points. The coup de grace came with less than three minutes remaining when graduate student Tabari Hines inexplicably tried to field a punt as it was rolling to a stop, touching it and allowing the Tigers to recover.
These are all things that must be addressed and can be corrected regardless of who is or isn't able to play.
"Bottom line: We can't turn the football over and win a football game," Doeren said. "We turned the ball over three times in the first half against a team that's as good as anybody that we're going to play every year. You just can't do that and we did."
◼ If there was one positive to come out of an otherwise forgettable performance, it was Knight's return to form. The true freshman running back, who leads the team in rushing, had been limited to only 35 yards on 13 carries over the past two games because of a knee issue. Saturday, however, he picked up 139 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown.
Included in his total was a 44-yard run late in the first half and a 53-yard burst for State's only touchdown early in the third quarter. Although he looked like his old self pulling away from chasing defenders, Knight said he still didn't feel like himself.
"I guess with the brace, I can't fully pick up my knees, but I felt a little slower," he said. "I didn't feel as fast as I normally am. If felt good, but it didn't feel right not being able to escape everybody."
◼ While the outcome was never in doubt, there was still some drama at the end of the game. It happened with less than a minute to go, when after recovering Hines' muffed punt, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney decided to score another touchdown rather than taking a knee.
With 17 seconds to go, Doeren called a timeout, as if to give Swinney one last chance to call of the dogs and take a knee. Instead, the Tigers' coach had backup quarterback Chase Brice throw a pass into the end zone, then finally hand off to deep reserve running back Michael Dukes for the touchdown. He added insult to injury by having linebacker James Skalski attempt the extra point.
When the clock finally ran out, Swinney and Doeren met at midfield for a very icy and very brief handshake.
Swinney got testy after the game when he was asked about his motivation for running up the score. It's no secret that he and Doeren aren't the best of friends, especially after Doeren accused Clemson of illegally using a laptop computer on the sideline the last time the Tigers came to Carter-Finley two years ago.
For his part, Doeren downplayed the events of the game's final seconds.
"I don't really have a lot to say about it," he said. "It's their third or fourth (string players) in the game. you've got to stop them. Obviously, it's something as a coach that you don't like to see happen. But I've done the same thing in the past. You put your backups in and you let them play football. It is what it is."
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