The Tigers defense came up big again, forcing a turnover on downs and all but sealed up the game. All Clemson had to do was drain the clock.
Swinney made sure he let Davidson know the plan: If you break away, just go down and let the clock run.
But he didn’t tell Tyler Brown.
Brown got the ball on a reverse and found a gap, breaking away like Swinney warned Davidson about. He didn’t go down, instead running 34 yards to the end zone to make it a 28-20 Clemson lead, leaving UNC one minute to potentially tie the game.
“There was part of me saying, ‘Go down, and the other part was like, ‘Aw, heck no,’” Swinney said. “‘Let’s score.’”
Brown running astray from the plan he was never told put added pressure on the defense. The unit worked UNC into a fourth and 1 scenario. Swinney said he expected UNC coordinator Bobby Petrino’s offense, which rushed for 214 yards in the game, to put the ball on the ground.
Instead, it was a play-action pass from quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. sent deep downfield. All Clemson defensive back Elliott Washington saw was his man and the ball, he said.
He came down with the ball.
Clemson makes a stop against North Carolina on Sept. 19 in Clemson.
Growing up
Swinney had said since preseason Clemson needed to play some games to figure out what the 2026 Tigers were truly made of. They still might not know, but the final eight minutes showed what they could be.
“For them to get it rolling and for them to see that, feel that, it just builds confidence and it builds belief, and that’s a huge part of this game,” Swinney said.
No individual Tiger did more growing in the win than Tait Reynolds. In his first start, the earliest a Clemson true freshman has started at QB since Willie Jordan in 1975, Reynolds threw for 215 yards and a touchdown. But the product at the end of the game took some growing from early mistakes.
