Thumbs up, thumbs down: Clemson vs. Syracuse

Thumbs up

Travis Etienne

The sophomore running back scored the game-winning touchdown from the 2-yard line with 41 seconds left to cap his best performance as a Tiger. Etienne rushed for 203 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries, all career-high numbers.

Chase Brice

The redshirt freshman got off to a rough start filling in for the injured Trevor Lawrence, including an interception on his third pass. But Brice settled in and led Clemson on a 94-yard touchdown drive to take a 27-23 final lead. He converted a 20-yard pass to Tee Higgins on fourth-and-6 and rushed for a 17-yard gain on that key possession.

A.J. Terrell

The sophomore cornerback was one of the few healthy players at his position left when he picked off an Eric Dungey pass in the third quarter. Clemson used a field goal after the turnover to cut Syracuse’s lead to 16-13.

Kendall Joseph

The senior linebacker missed last week’s game at Georgia Tech with a groin injury, but Joseph bounced back Saturday to record a game-high 12 tackles. He had eight solo tackles in the win.

Thumbs down

Clemson turnovers

Including Brice’s pick, the Tigers committed three turnovers, giving them eight in their last three games. They again lost the margin battle and the Orange turned the miscues into 10 points. Amari Rodgers put the ball on the ground twice on punt returns, losing one that resulted in a Syracuse touchdown. Lawrence and Etienne had a bad exchange on Clemson’s first drive that turned into a lost fumble.

Penalties

Both teams were hurt on calls for illegal players down field. Syracuse’s yellow flag came on a fourth-and-1 play the Orange converted into a big pass play in the fourth quarter, but it came back and proved extra costly after Clemson’s rally.

Third downs

The Orange moved the chains on just three of their 15 third-down attempts and were unable to take advantage of receiver-cornerback mismatches, in part because of Clemson’s pressure. The Tigers converted just 33.3 percent of their third downs.

Syracuse’s last possession

The Orange elected not to use any timeouts with Clemson knocking at the door on the goal line late in the game, and when Syracuse took over at their own 25 with 41 seconds left, the Orange had one negative yard total in four plays and two timeouts left when the game ended.