Clemson D did a lot of Good Things

Unfortunately, it was the bad stuff that stood out in loss to Tennessee

Caitie McMekin / USA TODAY NETWORK

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Clemson’s defense did a lot of good things against Tennessee’s top-ranked offense on Friday night.

The Tigers held the Volunteers 16 points below their season average. They forced five three-and-outs and had four sacks.

Tennessee punted a season-high eight times and was 3-of-13 on third down and had just 375 total yards, 138 yards below the season average.

However, despite all of those good things, Clemson came up short on the scoreboard, as Tennessee won the 2022 Orange Bowl, 31-14, at Hard Rock Stadium.

“I thought at times we were able to get (pressure),” Clemson defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin said. “Then there were a couple of times where I felt like we were coming free and (Joe Milton) got it down field.”

Milton threw three touchdown passes on his way to earning MVP honors, including a 46-yard touchdown pass to Ramel Keyton that gave the Vols a two-touchdown lead midway through the fourth quarter. Milton also threw a 50-yard pass to Squirrel White to set up Jabari Small’s 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

“Just gotta clean up our technique,” Goodwin said. “Credit to them. They had great execution. So, we just got to clean up our technique. We could have been better on that.”

Milton threw for 251 yards while completing 19 of 28 passes. Running back Jaylen Wright ran for 89 yards, including a 42-yard jaunt that set up Tennessee’s third touchdown of the night.

In all, Milton threw scoring passes to Bru McCoy of 16 yards, 14 yards to White and his 46-yard heave to Keyton.

“Credit to him. He’s not gonna stand there and let us tee off on him, but I wish we could have affected him a little more, obviously,” Goodwin said.

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