CLEMSON, S.C. — Travis Etienne wasn’t touched.

After marching most of the 94 yards down the field on the shoulders of its running back, Clemson needed only a few yards to restore order in Memorial Stadium.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Chase Brice took the snap, turned and handed to Etienne, who strolled right, and into the end zone past a burned-out SU defense. Three timeouts and 41 seconds were on the board for SU, but the clock ran out on the Orange.

Syracuse’s (4-1, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) road upset bid of No. 3 Clemson (5-0, 2-0) fell short in the final moments as Etienne put the Tigers ahead, 27-23, for good, with less than a minute to play. Ultimately, Etienne, his 203 yards and three touchdowns undid the Orange’s best efforts of repeating its 2017 stunner against the Tigers.

“If we deserved to win,” head coach Dino Babers said, “we’d have won it. We didn’t.”

In the first half, the Orange dispelled any notion the Tigers would — or could — cruise to a blowout.

Eric Dungey and the offense lurched down the field on the first possession of the game, aided by an untimely Clemson penalty, and took a 3-0 lead. Clemson ran out newly-minted starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence for its first offensive series. He delivered a strike to Tee Higgins.

The next play, Lawrence tried to pull the ball away from Etienne too late on a read option. The mishandled football fumbled to the turf, and Josh Black landed on top of it, gifting SU a possession and soon three more points.

Lawrence responded, leading a touchdown drive of his own and completing four out of five attempts for 40 yards. Etienne punched it in from one yard out to put Syracuse down, 7-6, near the end of the first quarter. For the first time all season the Orange, trailed, if only briefly. In 2017, Syracuse led Clemson 17-14 at halftime — in 2018, Syracuse led again, 16-7.  

“2016, 2017,” Babers said. “We want 2018 to be different.”

Further stoking Clemson’s fears and Syracuse’s hopes, the Orange knocked Lawrence out of the game, like it did Kelly Bryant last year.

With fewer than five minutes to play in the first half, Lawrence scrambled left down the sideline. Josh Black tripped him up before the Evan Foster’s shoulder met the side of his head. As the freshman laid crumpled in a heap on the visitors’ sideline, the Syracuse bench hooted and hollered. The 80,122 in Memorial Stadium — the vaunted Death Valley noise machine — fell silent.

Enter Brice, the Tigers last option at quarterback. Immediately, he struggled. On his first play, Syracuse nearly sacked him twice before Brice rolled right, and while stumbling, decided to underhand throw the ball out of bounds. A knee, a few Babers timeouts and two Etienne carries iced the half.

At the end of halftime, Clemson announced that Lawrence wouldn’t return. Syracuse had the No. 3 team in the country starting the second half down by nine with its third-string quarterback at the helm.

“Once Lawrence went out,” Babers said, “we needed to change a little bit.”

The Tigers started feeding Etienne. Six yard gain. Another six. Two plays off. Three yards, two. Punt. Syracuse’s defense held stout.

After two SU punts and a Trill Williams interception sandwiched in between, Clemson started at its 20. The first play, Etienne burst around the left edge, accelerating through the second level. After 21 yards, Antwan Cordy and Chris Fredrick dragged him down. Clemson kept going back to Etienne. Two yards. Four yards. None. Syracuse, after it was gashed at the start, held firm.

The Tigers kicked a field goal, making it a one score game, 16-10. Two plays into the ensuing SU drive, A.J. Terrell picked off Dungey deep in Orange territory. The subdued Death Valley exploded. A touchdown could put the Tigers ahead; a Greg Huegel field goal made it a three-point game, 16-13, instead.

Syracuse needed a play, something to keep the tide of Clemson momentum from washing away its second-straight shot at history. Then Sterling Hofrichter’s 51-yard punt squeaked through Amari Rodgers hands and onto the turf, where Jamal Custis covered it. At the end of the third quarter, Syracuse led, 16-13, and started the fourth with the ball on the Clemson 10-yard line.

Four plays into the fourth quarter, Dungey bulldozed in for a touchdown. Syracuse led Clemson, 23-13, with less than a quarter to play.

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Clemson, again, went with Etienne. The first play went for a yard. Then Brice picked up 31 in two chunks. Etienne again, 17 yards. Incompletion. Second down from the SU 26-yard line. Etienne, 26 yards down the right side, touchdown. 23-20.

Syracuse, needing a response, punted. Clemson, needing to take the lead, punted. Syracuse, with another chance to secure a paradigm-shifting win, punted.

“You can’t play the game thinking you’re going to win in the moment,” defensive lineman Kendall Coleman said. “You’ve gotta go out and play every play like you don’t know what’s going to happen and fight for it. There were too many ups and downs through the entire game with us maybe having that feeling.”

Running the football never faltered for the Tigers on Saturday. From the opening snap to the very last, the Tigers running backs more often than not worked their way to the second level — Etienne especially so.

Clemson, backed up to their own six with 6:06 left, down 23-20, had to go all the way to stay perfect. Syracuse needed one stop.

Etienne rushed for 14 yards. Then five. Adam Choice gave eight more. Tavien Feaster for 11. Then six. Then one. Etienne for two. On the ensuing fourth down, when Clemson looked to extend the game and Syracuse looked to end it, Brice picked out Higgins. First down.

Brice for 17 yards on the ground. Two plays later, Feaster for 11.

The Tigers were on the Syracuse five. The whole field, and game, had flipped. Syracuse, the new arrival, the team that hadn’t trailed since 7-6, suddenly, direly needed a stop in a goal-to-go situation. Clemson, the powerhouse, the team playing with a redshirt freshman quarterback, desperately needed a touchdown.

Less than a minute remained.

“They just kept handing him the ball,” Babers said of Etienne. “We knew what they were going to do, but we couldn’t slow him down.”

Feaster for three yards. Etienne for two. Touchdown. Clemson led and it was over.

Published on September 29, 2018 at 3:44 pm

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham