Clemson vs Syracuse – Chase Brice’s Epic Comeback Win
Part three of our look back at 10 of the most crazy, exciting, and impactful games played at Death Valley in the last 20 years…
The 3rd-ranked Clemson Tigers were at a crossroads just four games into the 2018 season. True freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence was already taking the college football world by storm even amid only part-time action. Incumbent starter Kelly Bryant was less than a year removed from guiding the Tigers to a 13-1 season and a trip to the College Football Playoff. Coach Dabo Swinney was between a rock and a hard place, no pun intended, but as undefeated Clemson entered its fifth game against Syracuse, he decided to make the switch once and for all. Lawrence was the starter now, Bryant had immediately entered the transfer portal, and with no backup signal caller with experience left on the roster, many felt Swinney was playing with fire. As Clemson welcomed the Orange into Death Valley on the last Saturday in September, the excitement for Lawrence’s first start was palpable. Then, the unthinkable happened.
Inauspicious start…
Lawrence came out of the gate firing. Moving the Tigers into Syracuse territory twice, both drives ultimately stalled despite the freshman completing 67 percent of his passes. A botched handoff to Travis Etienne on the second drive resulted in a fumble that proved costly. It would be the Orange who connected with the first salvo. Behind veteran quarterback Eric Dungey, Syracuse twice moved the ball deep into Tiger territory, and twice came away with fields goals from Andre Szmyt of 35 and 51 yards to take a 6-0 lead less than seven minutes into the ballgame. The Tigers were down, but Lawrence looked poised to bring Clemson back from its early hole.
Trevor responded…
Lawrence responded by navigating 60 yards in 11 plays on the Tigers’ ensuing drive which was capped by a one-yard Etienne plunge into the end-zone to give Clemson their first lead 7-6. It was a lead that would not last long. On Syracuse’s next possession, Dungey and company marched 70 yards in six plays before the human battering ram that was the Orange quarterback plowed in from one yard out to recapture the lead for Syracuse at 13-7. Clemson and Lawrence, it seemed, were on the right trajectory, however. With just over five minutes to play in the half, Trevor worked the offense near Orange territory. To that point, Lawrence had completed 10 of 15 passes for 93 yards.
Then the unthinkable happened…
On third and seven from the Syracuse 49, Lawrence took the snap and dropped back to pass. The Orange defensive line flushed him from the pocket, forcing the freshman to roll left and then dart for the sideline. As Lawrence fought to get back to the line of scrimmage, Syracuse defensive back Evan Foster closed in and delivered a punishing blow into the right shoulder of the young Clemson quarterback. As he fell, Lawrence’s head hit the turf and he remained down in a heap. It would be several gut-wrenching minutes before Trevor walked off under his own power, dazed but upright. It was apparent that Lawrence had suffered a concussion and likely would not return to the game. So there the Tigers were. Clemson trailed a scrappy, upset-minded Syracuse team, their incumbent starting quarterback had left the program days earlier, and the heir apparent was now in street clothes on the sideline. It now fell to Chase Brice, the seldom-used third-string quarterback with no meaningful experience in close games. It was the manifestation of Swinney’s and every Clemson fan’s worst fears. The Tigers were in dire straits.
Syracuse took full advantage…
As the Tigers reeled, the Orange went for the jugular. Just when it appeared the defense had Syracuse stopped in their tracks, Dungey took a shotgun snap on third and 11 from his own 11-yard line and lofted a pass down the right sideline to his imposing boundary receiver Jamal Custis. Custis snagged the ball out of the air for the first down near midfield, and several plays later, the Orange increased their lead on a 32-yard Szmyt field goal with 4:16 remaining in the second quarter. Brice, meanwhile, was having trouble finding his footing. Pass after pass sailed high or wide and the Tigers’ offense stalled. Clemson was even unable to get Etienne going without a viable passing attack. Things looked bleak at Death Valley.
Regroup and right the ship…
Clemson came out of the locker room looking like a different team. Whatever Swinney had said behind closed doors had worked. Brice was more focused, finding the accuracy that eluded him in the first half. His first big completion came on a third and eighth play with 5:53 left in the third quarter. Chase dropped back and slipped around a strong right-side pass rush as he fired a missile to the ever-steady Hunter Renfrow who made a leaping grab in between two defenders at the Syracuse 28. That drive led to a Greg Huegel 43-yard field goal to make it a one-possession game. On the next Orange drive, Dungey tried to work the middle again, only to have his pass jumped by cornerback A.J. Terrell who returned the interception back into Syracuse territory. A second Huegel field goal, from 37 yards, cut the deficit to 16-13 with 2:13 left in the quarter.
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Mental mistake…
As if losing Lawrence had not been bad enough, disaster struck again on the last play of the third period. A defensive stand by the Tigers forced a Syracuse punt, and the sure-handed Amari Rodgers settled under it at the Tigers’ 11. As the ball descended, Rodgers tried too soon to grab it and muffed the ball. Syracuse pounced on it and had possession, and all the momentum, with 15 minutes left to play. Clemson would pay a hefty price for Rodgers’ miscue. Dungey punctuated a two-minute drive, kept alive by another long third down reception to Taj Harris, with his second touchdown run of the game. Syracuse led 23-13 with 13 minutes to play and Clemson was hidden well behind the eight ball.
It’s now or never…
The Tigers still had an ace in their paw. With their backs to the wall, Swinney called on Etienne to bring Clemson back. The electric running back who made a habit of dazzling fans week in and week out answered the call. Travis ended the Tigers’ best drive of the day with a scintillating 26-yard dash down the sideline with 11:14 to play in the game. Huegel’s point after cut the Syracuse lead to three once more, 23-20. After two more defensive stands, Clemson got the ball back one more time with under four minutes to play, still trailing by a field goal. The drive stalled at midfield with 2:50 to play, and with the Tigers staring down a fourth and six at their own 48, Swinney’s quarterback gamble seemed destined to fail with the game, and potentially, Clemson’s play-off hopes on the line. They needed a miracle.
Tee Higgins knew where to go…
Brice took the snap and saw a clean pocket as the offensive line held its ground. In less than a second, Chase fired a rocket across midfield to the right flat where receiver Tee Higgins had flashed. Higgins found his way between two Orange defensive backs and the pass threaded the eye of the needle beautifully and right into the hands of the Tigers’ most imposing target at the Syracuse 32. On the next play, Brice kept the football and barreled over defenders for 17 more yards to the 15. Two plays later, on second and goal from the two-yard line, Etienne found paydirt for the third time. The point after gave Clemson their first lead since late in the second quarter as Death Valley exploded in a cacophony of deafening cheers. Only 41 seconds remained on the clock.
Leave no doubt…
Erasing any hope the Orange had of a miracle was a job assumed by heralded freshman defensive end, Xavier Thomas. With Syracuse working in desperation at their own 12-yard line with 25 seconds remaining, Thomas exploded off the left end and obliterated Dungey into the Memorial Stadium turf. Xavier’s resounded sack resulted in a staggering loss all the way back to the four-yard line and extinguished any shred of hope Syracuse had left. For Clemson, it restored the hope that less than 30 minutes earlier had seemed lost. Chase Brice was the hero, Etienne his right-hand sidekick, and the Tigers were winners 27-23. Brice ended the game completing seven of 13 passes for 83 yards. Etienne rushed 27 times for 203 and three scores. It was Brice’s last throw, however, that will always be remembered.
The rest is history…
September 29th would see the last close game Clemson would play during the 2018 season. Lawrence returned the following week to lead a 63-3 whitewashing of Wake Forest. The Tigers’ closest game the rest of the way was a 27-7 victory at Boston College. Lawrence proved that Swinney made the right call to change quarterbacks as Clemson defeated Pittsburgh in the ACC championship game, followed by Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl 30-3, and met their arch-play-off nemesis Alabama in the national championship game for the third time in four years. The Tigers would add their postscript to an incredible season, demolishing the Crimson Tide 44-16 to bring the title back to Clemson for the second time in three years. Lawrence had become a legend, but it would be short-sighted not to include Brice as well. If not for his heroics on that late September afternoon at Death Valley, history, and the Tigers’ destiny, may have played out very differently. It was a game that nobody will ever forget, and ultimately a season that will live in college football infamy forever.
