He jumped, grimaced & berated his punter on the sideline after a pretend punt failed miserably within the 2nd quarter of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday night.
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UNC had scored a touchdown with a little over a minute left in the game, and so, on the ensuing kickoff, the team went for an onside kick.
North Carolina went ahead by a field goal early on, but Clemson answered back with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson to Wayne Gallman. He completed 26 of 42 passes for 289 yards, and had a pick.
No. 12 Baylor’s season has gone from sweet to bitter and battered.
Alabama running back Derrick Henry is considered the front runner for the Heisman, but Watson is nearly certain to be invited to the ceremony in NY.
Despite the final margin and the fact that the Tar Heels surrendered the most points they’ve given up in a game all season, Clemson (13-0) gave every UNC opportunity to steal the game and, potentially, its spot in the playoff.
But the win didn’t come without suspense.
North Carolina retook the lead when Ryan Switzer caught a 3-yard pass with 3:52 remaining in the second. “They were wrong. That’s all I’m giong to say about it. They were wrong”.
Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora said that with three timeouts and the ball near midfield with 1:08 left on the clock, he was confident North Carolina could have scored and had a chance at a 2-point conversion to send the game into overtime. Anybody else got that?
“I just hope that all 60,000 of (the Clemson fans) come to Death Valley tomorrow for the biggest dang pizza party you’ve ever seen”, said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, who is making good on his promise to throw a pizza party for fans if Clemson made the playoffs.
It’s not like the Tigers were not moving the ball during the first half of Saturday night’s ACC Championship game against North Carolina. Gallman came through when it mattered most for the Tigers, as his 187 yards were the most he’s rushed for this season.
Williams threw 11 of 33 passes for 224 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception against the Tigers. The Tigers subsequent drive may very well have been the back breaker as Clemson marched 97 yards to extend the lead to 28-16.
“You really sit down and watch our 13 games, he’s the best player in the country”, Swinney said. But the Tar Heels were offside – even though television replay said otherwise – and Clemson survived. The Tigers put up a field goal after that. The Tigers handled six different bowl-eligible teams to get to this point and have maintained their No. 1 rank since Week 9. The Tar Heels aren’t without hope to make the CFP, but they’ll need a convincing victory behind versatile signal-caller Marquise Williams along with a big effort on the other side of the ball.
“There was no fake punt, that was just him losing his mind”, Swinney said. “He just tried to do something on his own”.
The Tigers are 13-0 for the first time in school history, and Swinney has his second ACC title.
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That created the first deficit for Clemson in more than 206 minutes of game time.
