UNC Football dominated by Clemson in ACC title game

The UNC football program was simply dominated by the Clemson Tigers in the ACC Championship game on Saturday night in Charlotte.

For the UNC football program, the start of the ACC Championship game couldn’t have gone better.

After deferring to the second half, the Tar Heels’ defense came out and got a three-and-out right away. Drake Maye and the offense got hot and scored on their opening possession.

The two teams would then trade punts, and that’s when Clemson completely took over the game.

DJ Uiagalelei got the start at quarterback for Clemson and struggled through two series. This is when Dabo Swinney went to the bullpen to call upon freshman signal-caller Cade Klubnik to try and provide a spark.

Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, that’s exactly what Klubnik did.

The Tigers tied up the game on Klubnik’s first drive under center, which was the start of a downward spiral for the Tar Heels.

On the second play of the ensuing drive, a miscommunication on a handoff between Maye and Omarion Hampton resulted in a turnover, as Clemson recovered the fumble on the play. This would lead to a second consecutive score, giving the Tigers two touchdowns within a span of just 66 seconds.

The Tar Heels continued to shoot themselves in the foot, as all they could muster up the rest of the half was a field goal. This came after their previous field goal attempt was blocked, yet another instance of things going wrong for North Carolina.

Clemson took a 24-10 lead into the half, as North Carolina had a little bit of hope given they got the ball to start the second half. However, the same story continued, as red-zone struggles were still the storyline that followed this offensive unit over the last few weeks of the season.

The final “dagger” in this one came once again in the red zone, as an errant Maye pass turned into a 98-yard interception return for a touchdown by Nate Wiggins. This marks the longest interception returned for a touchdown in ACC Championship game history.

Give credit where credit’s due: Clemson is a very good football team. They feature a ton of postseason experience and are annually a legitimate contender to make the College Football Playoff. Klubnik also deserves a ton of props, as he ignited the Tigers at a time when they really needed it.

After tonight, it’s pretty safe to say that the starting quarterback job belongs to Cade Klubnik.

With this latest performance, and the struggles over the last three weeks, it’s justifiable to ask: is this program really heading in the right direction?

The start to the season was encouraging, but was it the Tar Heels beating up on lesser opponents? Was the weak Coastal division misleading?

Did this group essentially overachieve early on and then plummet back down to earth?

The bigger question in all of this should be: is this the right coaching staff to get this program to be a legitimate contender moving forward?

Over the next few days, we should learn more about the fate of some of the team’s current players. It’s certain that the program will lose student-athletes via the transfer portal and the NFL Draft, as we’ll just have to see how bad the damage really is.

The ACC Championship game was an eye-opener for sure, as it’s a prime example of how much work needs to be done for us all to see legitimate progress.

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