There truly is nothing that compares to college football. Rivalries, traditions, upsets, last-minute wins, redemption stories, etc. Saturday night’s ACC championship game between Clemson and Southern Methodist University was a prime example of what makes this sport so great.
The Tigers entered the game as two and a half point underdogs. SMU has a mobile quarterback in Kevin Jennings that had drawn some comparison to South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers – a guy Clemson did not have many answers for in their 17-14 loss in the Palmetto Bowl last week. The defenses in this game were both holding opponents to close to 20 points per game throughout the course of the season.
In essence, there may have been some cause for concern among Clemson fans that after last week, this may not have been a favorable matchup. Afterall, if they couldn’t make the playoff field, they needed not to have another loss on their resume that could hurt their chances at a good bowl game.
In the early going, it didn’t seem as if any of those worries would come to fruition. On just the third play from scrimmage of the game, Jennings was strip-sacked by Clemson’s TJ Parker, and recovered by the Tigers at the Mustang 33 yard line. 2 plays later, Cade Klubnik connected with a wide open Bryant Wesco Jr for a 35 yard touchdown.
Southern Methodist’s tough start compounded as they went three and out on their ensuing series. Antonio Williams returned the punt 19 yards to the SMU 45, complemented with A personal foul to set the Tigers up at the 32. Four plays later, Cade hit tight end Jake Briningstool from 5 yards out to put Clemson up 2 scores.
Rhett Lashlee’s Mustangs finally found their footing on offense on their next series, marching 75 yards in 10 plays- a drive marked by 3 key pass completions of 12, 15, and 10 yards and a big third down conversion. They found paydirt on a 24 yard QB keeper by Jennings to cut the lead to 7. But the Tigers were quick to strike back.
Clemson put together a 75 yard drive of their own, capped by a 43 yard connection on a slant to Wesco where he shed a tackler and kept his footing to go untouched the rest of the way, and added on with a 44 yard field goal by Nolan Hauser to go up 24-7, a lead they would carry to the half.
At that point in the game, Clemson had dominated and taken advantage of every one of the Mustangs’ mistakes, and it felt as if they were not only fully in control of the game, but also on cruise control to get the playoff bid that after losing to South Carolina last week, seemed out of reach.
But, college football is chaotic, and the football gods would not let Clemson fans get off that easily. On the kickoff of the 2nd half, the kick returner and running back that had taken the bulk of the carries in the first 30 minutes, Jay Haynes, fell injured and would not return. With Phil Mafah not at 100% and averaging around 2 yards per carry, it looked bad for Clemson as the injury took away any threat to run the ball.
After the Tigers went 3 and out on their first possession of the half, SMU cut into Clemson’s lead with another lengthy drive. They capped the seven play, 45-yard march with a 10 yard strike from Jennings to Brashard Smith, making for a 24-14 tally.
The Tigers had one more series go for nothing in the third quarter before putting together what would be their final touchdown drive of the night. Clemson went 58 yards in 10 plays, scoring on a 5 yard slant to a sliding Briningstool in the middle of the endzone with 23 seconds remaining in the quarter, re-upping their lead to 17 and once again making it seem as if the Tigers were well on their way to the championship with very little fight from SMU.
But, the Mustangs did put up an epic fight in the fourth quarter with a little help from Clemson’s offense. Without a rushing attack they were forced into a situation where they had to pass more. It resulted in a couple of three and outs that allowed the SMU to chip their way back in, rallying with 17 unanswered points in the final quarter and tying the game at 31 with 16 seconds left on the clock.
Now is the time where the unlikely heroes emerged.
Hero #1: Adam Randall. Relegated to being a third string wide receiver and subsequently also the third string kick returner in the preseason, rather than transferring out, he stayed the course. With the injury to Haynes, he got his moment to shine, returning the SMU kickoff 41 yards to set the Tigers up in favorable position to try and play for a walk off field goal.
“We had made some mistakes on kickoff returns in the 2nd half. We had two that were supposed to be fair caught, one that we fumbled and were fortunate to get back. Self-inflicted field position issues and they really hurt us. That last kick we thought about fair catching, but I said no, we were gonna return it since anything could happen. And it was amazing. It was a great run by Adam and I am really happy for him. He didn’t have a single catch tonight and made maybe one of the biggest plays of the night. It was unbelievable”, said Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.
Hero #2: Nolan Hauser. Following a quick pass for a gain of 17 from Klubnik to Antonio Williams and a timeout, the Tigers had the ball at the SMU 38 yard line and 9 ticks on the clock. Dabo called on Hauser to come and try a 56 yarder. Any Clemson fan will tell you that thought is scary. Nolan had several kicks blocked this season from much shorter distances. The lone miss he had earlier in this game was his first of the season that was NOT blocked. Needless to say, the pressure was high. That pressure made quite the diamond that will forever be a piece of Clemson football lore as he nailed it with room to spare, shattering the ACC record for longest field goal, propelling his team to a 34-31 victory, the Tigers’ 7th playoff appearance since the CFP’s inception, and their 8th ACC title in the last 10 years.
“We anticipated that they {SMU defense} would be in soft coverage. So we ran what we call a ‘packer curl.”, said Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney of the plays leading up to Nolan’s big kick. “We told Antonio that he couldn’t just catch the ball and think he was wide open and that he could just go score there. Cade made a great quick throw to Antonio and he went down with 9 seconds left. We called the timeout and Garrett {Riley} was looking at me like we should do a Hail Mary, but I said no, we are gonna kick it. Coach {Matt} Luke asked me if I thought he {Nolan Hauser} had that kind of leg and I said well, we are about to find out. I’ve been a part of some big kicks, but this one was huge. The protection, the snap, the hold, everything. And when it cleared the line {of scrimmage} and he hit it, I was just so happy for Nolan. Especially since he’s a Charlotte kid and a freshman playing in his hometown.”
“It is a shame that someone had to lose a football game like that”, Dabo later added. “It was an incredible performance by SMU. They showed who they were and fought back. We had some mistakes that didn’t help. But, at the end of the day, we found a way. We didn’t finish last week on the last drive, and we have had a roller coaster of emotions since. I am just really proud of our program consistency and who these guys are. They believe in all things constantly, and that is just awesome.”
Clemson, now 10-3 on the season, will await their seeding and playoff matchup, which will be announced Sunday at noon.
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