As a sports fan, you’ve heard the expression: “Big players make big plays in big games.”

It’s a sports cliché almost as old as “It ain’t over till its over” or “defense wins championships.”

The thing is, a cliché becomes a cliché because there’s a kernel of truth at the roof of the expression.

Big players? They do tend to make big plays. And when do you notice it the most? Big games.

Name a Clemson great during the Dabo Swinney era, and they’ve all had their big player moment.

Trevor Lawrence? How about 27-for-39 for 327 yards and 3 touchdowns in the College Football Playoff semifinal Dec. 29, 2018, against Notre Dame? That was the “moment” you knew a freshman quarterback could win the national championship at Clemson.

Hunter Renfrow? You have 227 seasons to choose from but “the catch” in the National Championship game Jan. 9, 2017, always will be Renfrow’s moment.

You remember Justyn Ross, right? Before his All-American career was limited by tragic injuries, there was the National Championship game against Alabama on Jan. 7, 2019. Ross’ stat line on that magical night in California? Six receptions, 153 yards, a touchdown, and a 1-handed catch for the College Football Hall of Fame.

The point? Big players at Clemson have their big moment. They usually come in big games.

A big game doesn’t have to be a College Football Playoff or national championship game, either.

Perhaps the biggest Clemson play this century came in neither. The star? Tajh Boyd.

Like Renfrow, Boyd’s “moment” was 1 play: 4th-and-16, Chick-Fil-A Bowl, 2013. Boyd eludes a furious LSU pass rush and throws a strike to a sliding Nick Hopkins for a 1st down. Clemson goes on to win, and perhaps in 1 play, the fortunes of the entire program change. If you don’t think that was a big game, you probably don’t understand the entire story of Swinney building Clemson back into a national powerhouse.

Saturday night, Clemson will play in yet another huge game when the 10th-ranked Tigers take on No. 24 North Carolina for the ACC title in Charlotte (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC). While many eyes might be on Clemson’s enigmatic quarterback, DJ Uiagalelei, or North Carolina’s sensational redshirt freshman quarterback, Drake Maye, I’ll be watching another young player set to have his “moment” for the Tigers. That player? Sophomore running back Will Shipley, the most explosive player Clemson has and perhaps the player who gives either team a decisive edge in Saturday’s game.

Shipley, a former 5-star recruit who will be playing near his hometown and in his 1st ACC Championship game, is primed to explode Saturday. Everything about the matchup screams “Carpe Diem, young man! Seize the day!”

North Carolina’s biggest weakness? Run defense, where the Tar Heels are a dire 91st nationally against the run. North Carolina’s main problem against the run? Giving up plays of 10 yards or more. The Tar Heels have surrendered 53 such rushes this season, including 18 during their 3 losses, to Notre Dame, NC State and Georgia Tech.

Shipley, the driving force behind Clemson’s run game, is an explosive-play machine, with 36 runs of 10 yards or more this season. That number is good for 15th in the country and 2nd in the ACC, behind only Pitt’s Israel Abanikanda. Shipley also is productive in the passing game, having caught 30 passes this season, a testament to his versatility as a playmaker offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter can line up anywhere on the field. Shipley is so versatile he just became the 1st player in ACC history to earn all-league honors at 3 positions: punt returner, kick returner and running back.

North Carolina will have to account for where Shipley is on every snap, a tall task for a defense that has struggled to stop even vanilla schemes.

Shipley is known for his burst and breakaway speed, but it’s his elusiveness and power that often impress the most, like on this “Did he really just a hurdle another human being and run through 2 safeties” touchdown run against a salty Louisville defense this season.

Shipley is a bruiser after contact as well, ranking 5th in the ACC in yards after contact despite a slimmer frame.

Given North Carolina’s run deficiencies and Uiagalelei’s recent struggles, Shipley likely is to be a focal point of the Clemson gameplan Saturday night. Of course, leaning on Shipley seemed logical just a week ago, when Clemson hosted a South Carolina team that struggled all season against the run. Shipley was wildly successful for 3 quarters, too, rushing for 114 yards on 13 carries and 2 monstrous touchdowns during the first 3 quarters. That’s when Clemson did the 1 thing that can stop Will Shipley. The Tigers stopped giving him the football.

Shipley carried the ball just 2 times during the 4th quarter, as South Carolina eked out a 1-point win, ending Clemson’s 7-game winning streak in the series and the Tigers’ College Football Playoff hopes in the process.

After the game, Shipley, while diplomatic, made his feelings known.

“I have full confidence,” Shipley said during a lengthy postgame interview, “in coach (offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter) and CJ (running backs coach CJ Spiller) to get me the ball when I need it and when they feel like I need it. My job is just to go run the plays. I get the signal and I line up and I go. I try to give input or give anything I can that I see on the field, but it’s up to them if they take it or don’t. I do my job. There are definitely some things out there I feel we could have attacked, but they chose to do other things and those were there as well.”

Then Shipley let his emotions go, if only for a moment.

“Hell yes, I want the freakin’ rock with 5 minutes to play and the game on the line against our rival,” the sophomore running back said. “That’s me as a competitor. But I’ve got full confidence in the coaching staff and what they’re calling.”

Shipley might have been diplomatic, but I don’t have to be.

The truth is, against the Gamecocks, Clemson’s staff failed to get the ball to its best player with the outcome in the balance.

Swinney, to his credit, acknowledged that Monday during his media session, acknowledging he “wished” Clemson “got Shipley the football more.” The decision not to do so cost Clemson any chance it had left at the College Football Playoff. From here, the best way to avoid feeling that way again is to make sure Shipley gets it early and often Saturday night.

Like so many Clemson stars before him, that means Saturday might be Shipley’s “moment.”

If Clemson is going to capture an 8th ACC championship under Swinney, it better be.