Clemson coach Dabo Swinney marched to his team’s defensive bench and let his secondary have it near the end of the second quarter Saturday afternoon against Duke following Darian Mensah’s fourth touchdown pass of the half.
Moments after Duke converted on its fourth fourth-down try, Mensah found Que’Sean Brown behind Clemson’s secondary for a 43-yard score to knot the game at 28 with 11 seconds left.
Clemson, coming out of an open date, allowed 21 first-quarter points to the Blue Devils and fell behind by two scores early before roaring back to take a 28-21 advantage prior to Brown’s second score of the half.
Swinney got in the face of safety Khalil Barnes and several others after blowing a coverage against Brown.
Duke covered all four fourth downs it attempted in the first half and by intermission, Mensah was 15 of 24 for 241 yards and four touchdowns. In addition to the long touchdown to Brown, Mensah also found Cooper Barkate wide open for a 77-yard score.
If Clemson loses to the Blue Devils, the Tigers are in danger of missing a bowl game for the first time since 2004. Clemson has never missed a bowl in its 18 seasons under Swinney, who said before the game his team “has had a great week” of practice and was anxious to play Duke.
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