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It’s not often that you see a team win their conference title four straight seasons, but that’s exactly what Clemson has done. The tigers continue to dominate the ACC, and Pitt turned out to be no match for the Tigers.

Travis Etienne opened up the game with a 75-yd touchdown run on the first play, and then a 3-yd TD run on the second drive of the game. Clemson got off to a fast 14-0 lead, but Pitt fought back.

There was a period in the first half where Pitt was finding consistent success with the dynamic duo of Quadree Ollison and Darrin Hall. After a slow start, these two back brought Pitt back into the game mid-way through the second quarter.

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence didn’t have a huge day through the air, but he did a good job of managing the game, and taking advantage of Pitt’s mistakes. Really, the turning point of the game came late in the second quarter. Pitt received the ball back from Clemson via punt and had the ball on their own 20-yd line with 55-seconds to go in the first half. 

Watching the game, you would have expected a couple of hand-offs and Pitt is going into the locker room down 11, which honestly wouldn’t have been a horrible spot. Instead, Pat Narduzzi chose to be aggressive, and on 3rd and 10 quarterback Kenny Pickett through an interception that was returned by Clemson’s A.J. Terrell to the Pitt 10-yard line with 29-seconds to go in the second half. 

The next play, Lawrence found Tee Higgins for a 10-yd touchdown pass to put Clemson up 28-10, and Pitt didn’t score again. Watching the game, you had to wonder what  Narduzzi was thinking. You have a young quarterback, who is more of a game manager at this point in his career, and you were trying to go 80-yards in less than a minute when you hadn’t had any success at all through the air the entire game. It’s one thing to be aggressive, but it’s another to be good at making in-game coaching decisions. 

Pickett finished 4-of-16 for 8 yards and an interception. Lawrence only completed 50% of his passes, but made the big plays when he needed to, throwing two touchdown passes. Pitt wraps up the year with a 7-6 season before heading to a bowl. Clemson will take on Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinal. More on this game, and all of the bowl action around the ACC to come over the next couple of weeks.

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