Trevor Lawrence threw eight interceptions during Clemson’s 2019-20 season and four interceptions in the Tigers’ 2018-19 national championship season.
And going into the Week 8 matchup against Syracuse, the junior quarterback had only thrown one pick on the season, which was in last week’s 73-7 demolition of Georgia Tech.
But Lawrence had not yet thrown a pick-six in his college career — until Saturday.
No. 1 Clemson was a whopping 46.5-point favorite against the Orange. But it was struggling to run away with the game — as it does sometimes against Syracuse — and Lawrence’s first career pick-six at the end of the second quarter certainly didn’t help.
On 1st-and-10 with barely a minute left in the half, the Tigers had the ball on their own 12-yard line. Lawrence was aiming for senior wide receiver Amari Rodgers when he was picked off by Syracuse freshman defensive back Garrett Williams, who returned it for a 39-yard touchdown.
🚨 PICK SIX 🚨
Syracuse picks off Trevor Lawrence and takes it back for the TD 👀 pic.twitter.com/FTtQGvitJL
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) October 24, 2020
And instead of having at least a 24-7 lead at halftime, the Tigers were only up 27-14.
To be fair, this interception was not entirely Lawrence’s fault because the ball was first tipped by Rodgers, but it still wasn’t great. However, the projected No. 1 2021 NFL Draft pick should probably get some credit for not giving up a pick-six until his third season with the Tigers.
At the time of this post, Clemson was leading Syracuse, 40-21, in the fourth quarter.
