To say second-ranked Clemson had been there before, would have been a lie.
Granted, the Tigers trailed late before in big games and found ways to win. However, those were teams that had Deshaun Watson playing quarterback. Not Chase Brice, a redshirt freshman at the time, who had thrown just eight passes against Furman, Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech combined before the Tigers hosted Syracuse on September 29, 2018.
But here they were, 94 yards away with 6:06 to play and staring at a possible loss and playing with their backup quarterback. Starter Trevor Lawrence left the game in the second quarter with a neck injury and did not return.