It hasn’t been a spectacular effort from the No. 1 team in the country, and that’s the scary part.
Clemson has methodically put Syracuse in a headlock over the first half at the Carrier Dome, carrying a 17-6 lead to the locker room.
The Tigers opened the scoring with a 16-yard strike from Trevor Lawrence to Amari Rodgers, then on the next drive Lawrence scored himself on a 1-yard keeper.
Syracuse had something cooking late in the first half when consecutive swing passes to running back Moe Neal went for 50 and 17 yards, taking the ball from the Syracuse 25-yard line to the Clemson 8, but the Orange stalled from there and settled for a 25-yard Andre Szmyt field goal.
Lawrence is a workmanlike 13-of-25 for 198 yards while Travis Etienne has 40 yards on nine carries. For Syracuse, Tommy DeVito is 9-of-17 for 139 yards with minus-32 rushing yards.