The Clemson Tigers found a way.
As the football sailed deep into the Charlotte night off the right leg of true freshman kicker Nolan Houser, every Orange-clad fan, coach, and player held their breaths. And then, pandamonium.
Houser’s 56-yard kick propelled the Clemson Tigers to a 34-31 victory, the ACC Championship, and an automatic bid to the College Football Play-offs. But it should not have had to come to a miracle boot for Clemson to win. For much of the game, it appeared as if the Tigers would run away with it. But something happened on the way to a comfortable win.
The Clemson Tigers jumped out to an early lead when T.J. Parker strip sacked SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings which set up a 35-yard scoring strike from Cade Klubnik to Bryant Wesco. Clemson upped the lead to 14-0 on their next drive on a five-yard pass from Cade to Jake Briningstool. After the Mustangs briefly trimmed the lead to 14-7, Klubnik found Wesco again for a 43-yard touchdown to make it 21-7, which would be the score at halftime.
The lead would grow to 24-7 in the third, then 31-14 early in the fourth, but with the offensive slowing down after the first quarter, as we have so often seen, the defense began to tire, and SMU started to take advantage. Jennings and running back Brashard Smith exploited the Clemson Tigers’ fatigued defense and tight end Matthew Hibner became a factor as well with a touchdown grab that sliced the Tigers’ lead to 31-21. An SMU field goal would bring the Mustangs to within 31-24, setting up the histrionics of the final seconds.
After the Mustangs got away with an absolutely flagrant facemask that was not called despite an official looking directly at the play, the Clemson Tigers were forced to punt it away and SMU calmly marched down the field while bleeding away the rest of the clock. Jennings connected with Roderick Daniels Jr. on a four-yard touchdown pass, and the point after capped the Mustangs’ frenzied comeback.
But sometimes, teams with experience on the biggest stage find a way to make miracles for themselves. And the Clemson Tigers found a way, as they so often did during their reign of dominance from 2013-2020, and it started from an unlikely source.
A short kick-off was taken by Adam Randall, who had not touched the ball all night, and returned 39 yards close to midfield with nine seconds to play. A Cade Klubnik to Bryant Wesco 17-yard pass later, and with just three seconds on the clock, Houser jogged onto the field and into Clemson Tigers immortality with a sly wink to head coach Dabo Swinney.
At the end of the day, Clemson won the game and the ACC Championship. The ninth for Swinney. Houser’s kick will go down in infamy among the annals of monumental plays in the history of the program. Still, the Clemson Tigers nearly gave the game, and their season, away.
As Clemson turns its attention to the play-offs and a match-up with #5 Texas in Austin on December 21st, the Tigers have to find a way to keep their foot on the gas when they get a lead. Stopping the run, as much as that sounds like a broken record, must improve. But maybe the Tigers find a way again, just like they did on Saturday.
Their first-round match-up with Texas will be the first-ever meeting between the Tigers and the Longhorns. And it should be a good one. And storylines abound. Former Clemson All-American Andrew Mukuba starts at safety for Texas. Clemson freshman receiver phenom Bryant Wesco is from Midlothian, TX and chose the Tigers over the Longhorns. There is still a lot to unpack, digest, critique, and celebrate from Saturday’s win, but in the meantime, let’s enjoy another ACC title for the Clemson Tigers.
