Clemson notebook: Two field goals, two tackles for Greg Huegel

Most kickers shy away from making tackles, but Clemson’s Greg Huegel is not one of them. And on Saturday he showed up not only on the scoresheet — kicking his first two career field goals — but in the defensive stats as well.

With the Mountaineers showing a pretty good return team, twice Huegel found himself in position to make a tackle on a runback and he got the job done both times, closing out the first half with two takedowns.

Of course Job One is kicking, and from that standpoint Huegel’s day was a mixed bag.

His first field goal almost went down as a miss, but a 49-yard effort that was off the mark was wiped out when App State was flagged for offsides.

The Mountaineers got another offside call to put the kicker 39 yards away from the goal posts, and he split the pipes to give the Tigers a 3-0 advantage.

His second field goal try came on the first play of the fourth quarter with the game out of reach at 38-3, but this time he pushed the ball wide right.

His last sidewinder of the day came from 47 yards away and tacked on the final three points for the winners in a 41-10 rout.

By the end of the afternoon the redshirt freshman from Blythewood had accounted for 11 points and a pair of takedowns.

“I’m just glad that we were able to have some opportunities where he could get a little work. He did a good job,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “The first one, the 50-yarder, he really hit it good. That’s the biggest thing I was looking for right there. That’s a tough first kick to go out there and it’s 50 yards, first career kick. They moved it up for us a couple times and we were able to knock it through there so, it was good.”

A mixed bag

The rest of Clemson’s special teams produced mixed results.

Punter Andy Teasdall bounced back from a tough Week 1 to average 43.5 yards on six boots; he had a long of 52 and pinned three inside the 20.

The return game didn’t produce much until freshman Ray-Ray McCloud returned a kickoff 73 yards down the right side in the third quarter.

“Andy Teasdall was tremendous,” Swinney said. “Huge play in the kick return by Ray-Ray. We did a lot of good things.”

The kickoff coverage, however, “left a little to be desired.” Three of App State’s eight kickoffs went for 28 yards or more, including two over 30.

“We’ve got to get that film and correct and teach those young guys,” Swinney said. “We’ve got a couple of freshmen in there making some mistakes. I know we can get better from it.”

Reunion weekend

Saturday marked “Reunion Weekend” for three past Clemson teams, as the squads from the 1965 ACC champions, the 1990 team that won 10 games and the 2005 club that finished in the Top 25 were recognized.

While all three were accomplished, it was the 1965 representatives that took home the most hardware.

Those Tigers shared the ACC championship with North Carolina State, marking the program’s first league title since 1959.

In addition offensive tackle Johnny Boyette, linebacker Bill Hecht, tailback Hugh Mauldin and defensive end Butch Sursavage were named First Team All-ACC.

In an odd side note to the season, the Tigers won back-to-back games by tallying one field goal in each, beating Duke 3-2 and then defeating TCU 3-0 the following week.

Injury update

Several Clemson players, including QB Deshaun Watson, center Ryan Norton, DE Shaq Lawson, had to leave the field with the help of trainers at some point Saturday. Watson and Lawson came back immediately, while Norton missed some time. Swinney said after the game that the medical staff reported no serious injuries. QB Kelly Bryant, who left the game in the second half after losing his helmet, took a shot to the nose, but Swinney wasn’t told that it was broken.

Odds and ends

For making the trip down from Boone, N.C., App State received $900,000 from Clemson. … Before the game, the Northwood Little League team was honored on the field; this summer, that squad became the first from South Carolina to make the Little League World Series in 65 years. … Former Belton-Honea Path standout and App State sophomore linebacker Eric Boggs recorded seven tackles in his return home. … Clemson captains Saturday were Charone Peake, Joe Gore, Ben Boulware and T.J. Green.

Tough day for Lamb

Appalachian State quarterback Taylor Lamb opened the 2015 season in style, completed 16-of-21 passes for 209 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing four times for 41 yards in just over a half of work in a 49-0 rout of Howard on Sept. 5.

Week Two, however, was far more challenging.

The sophomore signal caller closed out a long day against Clemson with a stat line that read 9-28-3, with one of his interceptions a pick six that helped the Tigers gain some early momentum.

He did toss a late touchdown pass, but finished with just 95 yards through the air.