Barrett Carter wishes he had one play back in loss to Duke

Barrett Carter promises that he will make that play the next time. (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Thu Sep 07 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON - Barrett Carter wishes he had one play in the Duke game he could do over.

The Tigers’ season outlook took a turn for the worse after losing to Duke, dropping their ranking from No. 9 to No. 25 in the country. Now, they will have a chance to rebound in their home opener against Charleston Southern this Saturday (2:15 p.m./ACC Network). Still, the loss hurts for captains like Carter.

“Losing any game is super hard. I give all the credit to Duke. They had a great game plan, just a very well-coached team,” Carter said. “Any game that you lose, any game that you don’t come out on top is always tough to watch. But, we know what we need to do to move forward now. We figured out the mistakes. We figured out what went wrong on our side.”

While the offense looked dismal for most of the night, the defense held the Blue Devils to just six points in the first half. The second half was a different story; there were numerous missed tackles from the defenders, including one from Carter in the backfield that resulted in a 44-yard rushing touchdown from quarterback Riley Leonard.

“I definitely wish I could get that play back,” Carter said regarding that play. “I came off the edge, took on a pulling guard, and I had him wrapped up, but he slipped out, and he, of course, ran for the touchdown. So, that was super tough to watch. Again, nothing I can do about it now except just move on and focus on being better in these next games we have … I know what I need to do to correct that and make sure it never happens again.”

Mistakes were a common theme of the night for all of the Tigers in Monday’s loss. This was particularly prominent on the offense, however, with three turnovers in the second half, including two fumbles in the red zone. Despite having 422 total yards of offense, 213 of them running the ball, they only scored seven points, and those points came on an 18-yard drive.

Clemson has historically performed better at home. In fact, prior to their last home game, they had a 40-game win streak in Death Valley. However, Carter said that not having that streak allows them to be a little more free.

“Any opportunity where you get to play in our stadium is always huge, especially since there’s no longer a streak that we have to continue,” Carter said. “We’re ready to just build this new streak. But, I’m super to get back on the field with the guys and fix the mistakes that we had last game. I’m just super excited to get back in Death Valley, and any opponent that it is, I’m excited to play.”