After suffering a home loss in the 2016 season at the hands of the unranked Pittsburgh Panthers, Clemson repeated the performance against Syracuse, this time losing in the Carrier Dome 27-24.
Without quarterback Kelly Bryant after he was knocked unconscious near the end of the first half, the Tigers struggled to rebound from a lackluster first half, only scoring 10 points in the second half against a Syracuse team that came into the game with a 3-3 record.
Clemson's biggest mistake was trying to run a fake punt with a little more than six minutes left. Instead of pinning the Orange deep only down three points with a chance to flip the field for the tie or the win, the punter threw the ball into double coverage where it was promptly batted down by a Syracuse defender.
On the night, Clemson had a total of 317 yards on offense against a Syracuse team that came into the game ranked 46th in total defense. The loss certainly won't look good in front of CFP committee come selection time.
DOWN GOES #2!!! #clemsonvssyracuse pic.twitter.com/U5Wzs6R2cJ
— DAKnerys Targaryen (@AdrianNeenan) October 14, 2017
